Tranquility Base
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2017
- Messages
- 104
I had an interesting visit with a new Edward Jones representative in my city the other day. I heard the doorbell ring when I was upstairs. I don't usually answer the door but I had seen a neighbor out in his yard and for some reason guessed he might have come over to ask me something. So I answered the door even though I was anxious to get cleaned up after doing my own yard work.
It was not my neighbor. It was a younger man in his late 30s or early 40s (I am terrible at guessing ages). He was very pleasant and was not pushy; I will give him that much. Right away he told me he wasn't selling anything and asked a few questions about the house next door which is for sale. After some brief conversation I managed to pull out of him that he is setting up a new EJ office in town. (Gees, another one? Like most/many cities, where I live, EJ offices are as numerous as dandelions and crabgrass.) Right now he is still working with a mentor/trainer.
I chose not to answer various questions of his such as my name, whether I worked or was retired, what my line of work was, etc. Just looking at me and given the time of day, it should have been pretty obvious whether I still worked or was retired. Even though I didn't answer his questions, I did tell him what I thought about EJ, EJ's website, EJ's pushing of funds with big front end loads and high expense ratios, and how generally EJ's focus was on anything but the actual customer/investor. I wasn't trying to put him down or make him miserable standing in the cold and the wind. But I didn't seek him out; he rang my doorbell and sought me out. So I felt free to share my opinion about EJ.
I told him at one point that although I was a self-directed investor and did not care for EJ, perhaps there was a place for EJ and other brokerages like it for some investors. Perhaps for an investor who would be prone to jump off a cliff the first time they experienced a downturn in the market. Or an investor who would otherwise be sucked into terribly inappropriate investments or invest in whatever the person next door told them was "hot." I also mentioned assisting an inexperienced investor to avoid cryptocurrency (granted, not everyone shares my opinion of crypto) and Ponzi schemes.
I mentioned the recent crypto fund mess created by Sam Bankman-Fried. I couldn't remember the name of the exchange (FTX) but I specifically referred to him by name, said he was currently on trial , said he was often named in the media as "SBF, and described him as the kid with the big head of floppy hair who had to be extradited from the Bahamas to the United States. I don't know how much of a poker face I have but I certainly needed one when the EJ rep told he had never heard of Sam Bankman-Fried. Huh? I also could see the face of Bernie Madoff in my mind but couldn't think of his name. I referred to Madoff as the most recently convicted Ponzi schemer who had died at the Federal prison in Butner, NC. That didn't ring any bells either.
It was getting colder by the minute so I ended the conversation so I could get back to what I was doing. But now I kind of wish I had suggested he talk to some of my neighbors. Maybe he would want to talk to John Bogle who lives in the white house across the street. Or Chuck Schwab who lives next door to the Bogles. And there is Bernie Madoff who lives in the blue house down the street at the corner. Or Jerome Powell who is my back yard neighbor. It would have been interesting to see if he recognized any of the names of my "neighbors." So you are going to go to work as an Edward Jones representative and you've never heard of Sam-Bankman-Fried?
It was not my neighbor. It was a younger man in his late 30s or early 40s (I am terrible at guessing ages). He was very pleasant and was not pushy; I will give him that much. Right away he told me he wasn't selling anything and asked a few questions about the house next door which is for sale. After some brief conversation I managed to pull out of him that he is setting up a new EJ office in town. (Gees, another one? Like most/many cities, where I live, EJ offices are as numerous as dandelions and crabgrass.) Right now he is still working with a mentor/trainer.
I chose not to answer various questions of his such as my name, whether I worked or was retired, what my line of work was, etc. Just looking at me and given the time of day, it should have been pretty obvious whether I still worked or was retired. Even though I didn't answer his questions, I did tell him what I thought about EJ, EJ's website, EJ's pushing of funds with big front end loads and high expense ratios, and how generally EJ's focus was on anything but the actual customer/investor. I wasn't trying to put him down or make him miserable standing in the cold and the wind. But I didn't seek him out; he rang my doorbell and sought me out. So I felt free to share my opinion about EJ.
I told him at one point that although I was a self-directed investor and did not care for EJ, perhaps there was a place for EJ and other brokerages like it for some investors. Perhaps for an investor who would be prone to jump off a cliff the first time they experienced a downturn in the market. Or an investor who would otherwise be sucked into terribly inappropriate investments or invest in whatever the person next door told them was "hot." I also mentioned assisting an inexperienced investor to avoid cryptocurrency (granted, not everyone shares my opinion of crypto) and Ponzi schemes.
I mentioned the recent crypto fund mess created by Sam Bankman-Fried. I couldn't remember the name of the exchange (FTX) but I specifically referred to him by name, said he was currently on trial , said he was often named in the media as "SBF, and described him as the kid with the big head of floppy hair who had to be extradited from the Bahamas to the United States. I don't know how much of a poker face I have but I certainly needed one when the EJ rep told he had never heard of Sam Bankman-Fried. Huh? I also could see the face of Bernie Madoff in my mind but couldn't think of his name. I referred to Madoff as the most recently convicted Ponzi schemer who had died at the Federal prison in Butner, NC. That didn't ring any bells either.
It was getting colder by the minute so I ended the conversation so I could get back to what I was doing. But now I kind of wish I had suggested he talk to some of my neighbors. Maybe he would want to talk to John Bogle who lives in the white house across the street. Or Chuck Schwab who lives next door to the Bogles. And there is Bernie Madoff who lives in the blue house down the street at the corner. Or Jerome Powell who is my back yard neighbor. It would have been interesting to see if he recognized any of the names of my "neighbors." So you are going to go to work as an Edward Jones representative and you've never heard of Sam-Bankman-Fried?
