I actually won that picture of Doug “3mil” Hill and I would never have put that up in my office.  It could possibly go down as the worst photograph I have ever seen of an executive.  My former BOA and I couldn’t believe that this was given out as a prize.

I hope you kept the frame- I kept all of mine- pop the St. Jones pictures out and they can be recycled quite nicely. Best Prize we ever got were those smoked turkeys. Looked forward to those every year,- at least I knew since I had taken a vow of Poverty to work at Jones, my family had Thanksgiving dinner provided.

You have to be kidding Spike! The WORST prize ever was that colored pencil drawing of John Bachmann! He looked like Toad from American Graffitti. That one NEVER made it on the wall.

Muny...lol we did the same thing with our frames too - but I want to know does everyone have their "crystal ball" still?

I always enjoyed the recruiting contests.  First there was "Recruit for a Suit".  If you gave the name of a recruit your name went into a hat and one lucky winner received a business suit (value not likely to exceed $200).  Once the GP's realized that it was too expensive to run such a contest in each region it quickly became "Recruit for a fruit".  That's right folks...get a recruit hired and you are given a friggin fruit basket.  I am not making this stuff up! 

Muny…lol we did the same thing with our frames too - but I want to know does everyone have their “crystal ball” still?

Me too.  They were nice frames.   Don't have a crystal ball on my desk but I do have a "Magic 8 Ball".  I use it when clients ask me what the market etc is going to do. 

Me:  Hmmmm, let me get my analytical tool and see what the market is going to be like. 

They get a big laugh out of that.

Gone Indy:

Once the GP's realized that it was too expensive to run such a contest in each region it quickly became "Recruit for a fruit". 

------------------------------

I'm sure that went over real well in San Francisco!

Devoted SA,

    I've seen two Jones brokers that were below standard move to LPL the last few years.  One is still working from home, yes, over three years from his house.  Wonder if LPL would let him move in with his parents to save even more? That's why the average gross production at LPL is less than 150k.....yes, that is truly a joke.

    The last person I know that went to LPL was at Jones 7 years ago, then moved to Paine (now UBS) then Bank of America and finally a step down to LPL.  over 10 years in the business and less than 25 million in assets.  I can't make this stuff up.

   No wonder there are questionable sales practices on indexed annuities, fixed annuities, VUL's, LIRPS, etc.  Is it the appropriateness of the product or is it trying to find the highest yield to broker?

    There are good advisors everywhere, but anyone that brags about their payouts over and over is grossing less than 200k, doesn't have an assistant, goes to the local free health care office, and sits on the site all day trying to sound superior.  By the way, hit the gym, because as sensitive as your are, I can tell you are either morbidly obese or olive oil skinny.

[quote=rankstocks]

Devoted SA,

    I've seen two Jones brokers that were below standard move to LPL the last few years.  One is still working from home, yes, over three years from his house.  Wonder if LPL would let him move in with his parents to save even more? That's why the average gross production at LPL is less than 150k.....yes, that is truly a joke.

    The last person I know that went to LPL was at Jones 7 years ago, then moved to Paine (now UBS) then Bank of America and finally a step down to LPL.  over 10 years in the business and less than 25 million in assets.  I can't make this stuff up.

   No wonder there are questionable sales practices on indexed annuities, fixed annuities, VUL's, LIRPS, etc.  Is it the appropriateness of the product or is it trying to find the highest yield to broker?

    There are good advisors everywhere, but anyone that brags about their payouts over and over is grossing less than 200k, doesn't have an assistant, goes to the local free health care office, and sits on the site all day trying to sound superior.  By the way, hit the gym, because as sensitive as your are, I can tell you are either morbidly obese or olive oil skinny.

First: There are questionable sales practices on Indexed Annuities because you don't have to have a license to sell them and until recently you could sell them from your home in your underwear and not run them through a b/d. (my FAVORITE ad in California Insurance Commissioner newsletter shows guy lounging in boxer shorts on the phone and ad boasts..."Give yourself a raise")

Second: In the 7+ years I have worked with my rep I can can count on ONE hand (that would be five fingers) the number of times we've used FA's, ILIT's, Life Insurance Policies.

Third: Your retort about my needing to hit the gym? Best comeback I've EVER seen since the third grade, was so precise and totally relevant! FTR, I'm in fine shape and could probably teach you a few things about the "gym".

Rank: It’s Olive Oyl, not Olive Oil. Now go back to filling out your WCOM claim forms.

[quote=munytalks]

WOW- I took a couple days off and look at all this noise.

For all you Brokers out there who have never worked for Jones- what you are missing here that is going on between Current and Ex-Jonesers is this: When you are hired at Jones you take a vow of poverty. Every morning when a Jones IR comes into their office they are to face St. Louis and bow reciting the Five Critical Activities of a New IR.  They eat a strict and regimented diet of sliced fresh fruit, stale muffins and coffee. The gladly volunteer their time to recruit, train and mentor other converts to the Jones Faith. Just before graduating to go out on their own-which literally means door knocking- they must be able to correctly sell a Mutual Fund using a Cake Mix box and sell stock using a brick. When Brokers fail the test of Poverty -they are called Unethical. When they leave Jones - they become infidels. And when they speak the truth- they become Morons.  If a Broker can somehow manage to navigate this system of Judgmentalism , walk the halls of St. Louis viewing all the portraits of the St. Jones brokers before them and sell his soul for the firm- he becomes a ...... General Partner

[/quote]

Muny,

What's the difference between a large pepperoni pizza and a new Jones broker?...

The large pepperoni pizza can feed a family of four.     

What about the larger producing EDJ reps that move to LPL, RJ, SB, etc.?  Every firm has their "rejects" that bounce around to avoid being let go or are simply job-hopping.  Each firm also has their great recruits who move from a platform that they and their clients have outgrown and spend the rest of their career at firm #2. 

BrokerRecruit, what are the stats on a broker moving only once in their career? My experience is that those that make a move are highly likely to do it again. Unfortunately, I do not always feel it is for the “right platform for their clients” but what is in the brokers best interest. I have seen a few of my friends make a move in the last 10 years (all grossing over 500k), many times (ok most) for money, and the majority of them have moved again and one came back. Are there any stats out there on this? 

Not that I've looked for.  As I go through our database and update miscellaneous dates from the NASD, I've seen at least half that have moved once and not again.  Many reps saw how difficult it would be and didn't want to go through it again.

Others took a great deal of time to research where they wanted to go, what the pain was at the current BD, how it would be remedied at the others and is the pain of staying greater than the pain it is to make a move. 

I'm sure stats are out there, but I try to not worry about that as much as I try to look at each situation differently and specific to that rep and their clients as opposed to an "everyone else is doing it" approach.

[quote=peanutbroker]Everything that Spike koolaid wrote can happen at any firm including Jones. I call people like him a crook no matter which firm the work for. He will make more money in the fee based platforms than in missing 100k breakpoints over time...much more. That is why he made the move. Someone that constantly looks to screw his clients into paying gobs more money never makes career choices based on what will be better for his clients. I find more screwballs are independent that at wire houses and banks because they can really get paid.[/quote]

Spoken like an idiot who has no clue what other products exist outside the Jones system.  A fee based business is not an easy business to build or maintain.  You get virtually nothing up front, and have to actually service the accounts quarterly.  If you want to really make money you can sell L share annuities with up to 5% up front and 1.25% trails.  You are trained by Jones that fees are evil because they cost more over time, which in a static portfolio for 20yrs is true.  But if that is your business you can have it.  Just realize that Jones has you selling a shares so they can hire 200 idiots like you every month and try to open 15000 more offices in the next few years. They need that up front payout to fund growth, and having you start at 0 each month keeps you hungry and gathering more assets for their machine.  They get plenty of recurring revenue from revenue sharing that they wont have to share with you until you are grossing near 300k.  Even at that level your share of the recurring revenue is nothing to get excited about.  So go ahead repeat the mantra like the rest of the drones who have yet to see the light. 

RJFS attrition is about 3% if memory serves.  Where you gonna go if your already at a decent indy firm? 

I've seen reps from LPL and RJ (can't touch RJ since we do some work for them) that have moved to boutigue/smaller independents for a handful of reasons.  They'll range from higher payouts to different fee structures that will more positively impact their specific situation.  You don't see a lot of it, but it happens every once in a while.  We had a $750k LPL rep move to one of my smaller indy BDs last year, for example, but that's the only LPL rep they've brought on in the last five years.

I'm sorry, but as a client, if my rep wants to charge me 4% on a fee-based account and is netting me higher increases than the proportional fees/increases associated with funds, I'm all for it.  It's about what's best for each specific client and not the masses, you American Funds schlocking boob.

You are right, though, peanut.  It happens everywhere.  Keep in mind, though, that not all independents or wirehouse reps are 100% fee-based and most charge, at most 1-1.5% of assets under management.  Most of the fee-based reps I know don’t even charge 1%.  They will still have their clients that like being in funds, stocks, bonds, etc.