What was your eye opener event at Jones?
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I left when:
I decided I wanted to manage money using a fee based platform. I came to the conclusing this way of doing business was better for my clients, me, my family, and my peace of mind.
A local IR got preferencial treatment in the last LP offering. I couldnt figure out how he got more than me when I was more profitable. Then I found out he is a relative of the RL/GP in our area.
Screwy P&Ls that were screwing me.
Limited tools to do planning. Limited products. Unintelligent environment. "Buy and forget."
I got sick of all the holier-than-thous that I had to put up with.
I saw a friend build up $50,000 in fee based business with in 8 months after leaving.
I only wish I had left sooner. THe fee based business has grown much faster than I ever dreamed it would. First 1 1/2 years were difficult though I will admit. I had a lot to learn.
Here's a story that told me all I needed to know about Jones;
It was starvation time in one of the dull moments of the mid-90's when Mr. Bubbles was doing water torture a 1/4 at time and Hillary was nationalizing health care. We had "conference" in Hersey PA. near the chocolate kingdom at a dive of hotel with about 150 mostly newbie brokers. For some crazy reason I joined this firm as transfer and I just happened to be at the top of class based on the strange way they measured everything. Anyway, most of the people were starving. Some were going bankrupt. The motivational speaker was a guy who spent 8 years as POW in Vietnam. Not that I didn't respect him but there was something a little draconian in the message here. Then the GP follows up and tells the story about broker who didn't use heat for a year but was now a success at Jones.
By then I realized it wasn't a business but a cult to encourage such irresponsible acts. Although I was only there for a year 85% of my "class" was gone before me. I started at ML as many did and I thought that was cold but Jones was worse. At least at ML they were honest and didn't try to suck you down by manipulating you out of "expenses" while still trying to "own" your accounts. This is a basic issue with the firm.
I don't know if it's improved but they also had a habit of defaming, often in some small way, just to mark your u-5. It took me 2 years for them have a slander retracted off my record.
[quote=Player]How about the IR porking his BOA and in walks the Regional Leader....[/quote]
I missed that one!
Well, that would certainly open my eyes.
It could have been worse. Could have been his wife who walked in, or a client who held some moral principles.
What was my "eye-opener" at Jones? It's so hard to choose...
Maybe it was the regional meeting where the RL came in dressed as a superhero, complete with green outfit and cape, calling himself "Captain Visine". As in, he "gets the red out" - red IRs being those who underperformed.
Or maybe it was the regional meeting where we were all issued "Edward Jones Thunder Sticks", and encouraged to bang them together for every lame award handed out. It was humiliating - and deafening.
Or maybe it was the regional meeting where we all played "Edward Jones Jeopardy", and were programmed with the rewritten history of the firm. I assume that the current version of the game has no category "$75 million".
And others. There was one good thing about those meetings, though - there were no guns present, so I couldn't atone for the embarrassment by killing myself.
Ugh. I finally went back to selling used cars, and am now active in politics - two areas where I can respect myself.
captain visine? wow, my regional leader did that too. also the sticks. can there really be 2 idiots doing this?
Ever think, guys, that you might be in the SAME region?!!!
At any rate, that is an incredibly lame idea...don't blame you for bailing on such a cheesy organization...
And then there was the time he bought us all copies of "Green Eggs and Ham", read it aloud at the Regional meeting, and built an entire session around the messages for better business building in the story.
It was the infamous Tom Bartow who read the entire firm "Green Eggs and Ham" over the sat video/audio system about ten years ago. The reference was to get new IR's to ask for the order. I won two DR. Suess T shirts with "Sam I am" and the green eggs on the front.
Stuff like that was kinda hokey but--they are actually some of the better memories I had from Jones as a noob. Once the greed and selfishness of the top GP's (as well as the arrogance) took over--that was enough for me.
I still have my T-shirts and will occasionally wear one as they always get a good laugh. Bartow was a classic and didn't care for management's "new attitude" and he bailed. He was hardcore but probably the best sales trainer Jones has ever had. If you did exactly what he said as a new broker (and you often did out of fear) you just knew you would make it. There is nothing like seeing a keyboard getting smashed in front of your face to get your attention. Or, a 6 AM jog to get your day started. He actually took roll. AND everyone showed!
Another for me, as I think about it, was the final straw was another Jones advisor and I had a great opportunity to do a 1 hour radio show with a very strong radio station in our area on Saturday mornings. Unfortunately, the independent thinking and freedom loving jones was having none of it. Another great example of how restrictive they are compared to true independence.
WOW, I too remember that, and some of my best memories came on the Saturday promo's, and I won a lot of stuff from shirts to hats, chicken, steaks,etc.
There was a lot of corny stuff, that was very funny, but Zacko nailed it above..........Greed and Arrogance of GP's did take over...and ruined it..........
I had so many shirts and hats, coats with Edward D Jones and Edward Jones Investments, I gave them away, in fact yesterday I saw a guy holding a sign on the freeway exit asking for money and I swear he was waring my Jones hat and sweat shirt.........how the times have changed
Bartow was, and is, a freakin' idiot as far as I'm concerned. All of his wanna-be drill sergeant antics are a lawsuit waiting to happen in today's workplace. I did the military thing. Was pretty damn good at it, too. Having some jack-off like Bartow acting like a "Gunny", trying to make an example of people in front of their peers is stupid and demeaning. I got up and walked out of his training session as the RL looked on in horror. He buzzed right over to my office as soon as the thing was over to let me know how I had embarrassed him and the firm. He went on to say that the session I had walked out on was "mandatory."
I responded by saying he and Bartow were an embarrassment, and that the definition of "mandatory" meant there were consequences for not complying. I asked what the consequences would be. When he didn't respond, I told him I wouldn't be attending in the future, either.
[quote=csmelnix]Another for me, as I think about it, was the final straw was another Jones advisor and I had a great opportunity to do a 1 hour radio show with a very strong radio station in our area on Saturday mornings. Unfortunately, the independent thinking and freedom loving Jones was having none of it. Another great example of how restrictive they are compared to true independence.[/quote]
csmelnix,
Please refrain from calling Edward Jones Investment Representatives (IR's) "ADVISOR", as you well know they can't advise on anything, nor can they have any other title than IR on their card or stationary. Independent thinking is not part of the Kool Aid, and freedom is just another word for Gestapo, or follow the Firm line or be banished, you won't get LP for that kind of talk..............your point is right on..
The word Dictator sounds like Managing General Partner at Edward Jones, answers to no one, can only be over thrown my the State Attorney General and the SEC.............There is no FREEDOM, only GP's (Greedy Parasites) ignore and just go on like nothing ever happen........Kool Aid will you up...............
Soothsayer - great to hear somebosy finally say that - my thoughts exactly!
I love the following - this is what's different about the selling agreements Jones has:
Edward Jones Mutual Fund Scandal OverviewFrom the mid 1990s until the present, Edward Jones has had selling agreements with upwards of 240 different mutual fund families. Seven (7) of those mutual fund families became known as Edward Jones’s “Preferred Families” of funds. The Preferred Families included American Funds, Federated Investors, Goldman Sachs Funds, Hartford, Lord Abbett, Putnam Funds and Van Kampen Investments.
The mutual funds in the Preferred Families paid extra incentives to Edward Jones in return for Edward Jones soliciting/recommending its clients to purchase these funds. The SEC determined that the incentives were worth tens of millions of dollars each year to Edward Jones, on top of the commissions and other fees Edward Jones received for selling Preferred Families funds. The incentives proved to be powerful motivators, as more than 95% of all Edward Jones mutual fund sales were made in these 7 Preferred Families.
However, this incentive program was not adequately disclosed to the clients of Edward Jones. This left clients of Edward Jones unaware that Edward Jones had a strong motivation to recommend the purchase of the Preferred Families to the exclusion of the other fund families they could recommend, regardless of the client’s best interests.
In December 2004, Edward Jones settled the charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC, press release, Order Instituting Proceedings) and, the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD, press release, Letter of Acceptance Waiver and Consent), which are the governing bodies of the securities industry, as well as charges brought by the New York Stock Exchange. The charges involved Edward Jones’s failure to disclose to investors the extra incentives it received for recommending certain mutual funds. To settle the charges, Edward Jones paid a total of $75 million dollars.
On the date that this settlement was released, the California Attorney General (press release, Complaint) filed an additional suit against Edward Jones. The California Attorney General stated that he did not believe that the $75 million settlement was sufficient. The California Attorney General also stated that Edward Jones could have accepted up to $300 million in improper payments.
Edward Jones has also entered into a settlement with the securities regulators in its home state of Missouri. In the settlement Edward Jones stipulated and agreed to findings that it failed to adequately disclose the revenue sharing arrangements to Missouri residents and agreed to pay fines totaling $1.5 million. (press release)
What You Can DoIf you have lost money while invested with Edward Jones, please contact us today. We can determine whether Edward Jones violated your rights.
We help people who have suffered losses as the result of investment fraud such as this and will work on your behalf to recover losses that you have sustained.
I remember a story about him singling out some fat guy and said there was no way he could be successful because the way he looked. Got to admit it was funny, but no way this would fly today.