Financial Advisor??

[Walt34]

I agree with the others - run away. Now.

Investing is not that hard - search for "Couch Potato Portfolio". Investing in fewer than half a dozen low cost index funds will get you much better results than anyone at Edward Jones. Their main objective is to transfer as much money as they can from your wallet to theirs.

 

[MRG]

Ummm, that's a little over the top and not just because of the NSFW aspect. That certainly does not match my experience with my advisor, even when he WAS with EJ, and my experience with American Funds has been very good or I would have gotten out of them (and did get out of some over the years). There was no account churning. His sole statement on annuities was "If you want an annuity I can sell you one". YMMV- as I said, the actual advisor is key, and even though I'm a 64-year old widow I'm not the clueless LOL portrayed in the video, and my advisor knows it.

You had a good one.

Several former co-w*rkers are there as FAs after Megacorp was tired of them. My comments and believe in the comments come from my sometimes daily interactions with these clowns. My manager wanted to throw the one guy out an 11th floor window around 3AM once. It would have been justified, still illegal.

American Funds is an OK company once you get around the loads. I think they're all managed funds, with industry average fees. They're very focused on customer service.

 

[Trooper]

DW and I inherited a portfolio upon her mom's death, managed by Edward Jones. Over the years, the FA became a friend of the family, which I'm sure is part of their training. The portfolio included a bunch of Unit Investment Trusts (UITs), and other high load, actively managed funds. I tried to convince DW to move away but needed to tread lightly. After a few meetings with me, I think he realized that I wasn't a typical customer and has refrained from churning the account. As the UITs mature I have him move them into VOO.

The only real problem I have with the investments is the inability to forecast capital gains distributions for tax purposes, and they tend to be hefty because of the active management.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

I am with Athena53. I have had a good experience with EJ.

About 18 years ago, I had no time to monitor the 40 plus investments I had. Kids funds, DW, me, IRA, 401k. You name it. Interviewed a number of brokers. Liked the EJ guy best. Very little turnover in funds. AA is good. Mostly American Funds and Hartford. Now that I have time, I thought of taking it over myself but the big fees were paid years ago.

I have not rolled over anything to EJ in 16 years. I have an account at Vanguard where I invest rolled over 401k money.

 

[athena53]

Several former co-w*rkers are there [EJ] as FAs after Megacorp was tired of them. My comments and believe in the comments come from my sometimes daily interactions with these clowns. My manager wanted to throw the one guy out an 11th floor window around 3AM once. It would have been justified, still illegal.

I get the feeling that a lot of financial services firms take on very little risk when they bring an FA aboard. I know EJ has brick-and-mortar offices but many just bring you on as a commissioned salesperson, work from home, you eat what you kill. You're given sales training, pressured to meet with all your friends and relatives and cold call from lists to get business. If you swim, fine. If you can't make it work and leave, the accounts you've brought in generally stay with the company and the accounts get transferred to another FA. When my Dad left AG Edwards, the office manager cherry-picked the best accounts.

 

[street]

Many years ago I had stock funds with EJ. I learned in a hurry and moved my funds.

 

[Ed B]

My ah-Hah moment with Ed Jones or any firm like them was when I was talking about investments with a friend who works for Fidelity. He manages large corporate accounts including funds for a couple of pro sports teams.

I mentioned meeting with an Ed Jones rep, and he asked me why. He said, "they aren't doing anything you can't do for yourself." That was about 5 years ago but it stuck with me. I started reading and educating myself.

Oddly enough it was the Ed Jones lady who told me to consider TD Ameritrade as a way to invest about $700 I was holding for my 10 yr old grandson. She said fees would eat it up if we tried to do anything with it thru her.

I opened the TD Ameritrade account, linked it to a savings account at my bank and transferred that ~$700 over. I bought FTEC on his behalf and have enjoyed watching it grow.

Since then I opened a self-directed account for my Megacorp 401k, also using TD Ameritrade, and move 70% over. I can't imagine using someone like Ed Jones, Amerprise, or others like them. I do think I should send flowers to the Ed Jones lady that suggested TD Ameritrade though.