Edward Jones investments

milla

I would like to give my experience of this company.

My mother died last year and my dad assumed that the nil rate band advantages had been lost .

Subsequently we spent time with his solicitor who then put us in touch with an adviser from Edward Jones ( as the solicitor explained that he had great confidence in this company).

The adviser visited Dad's home that afternoon and from then on liaised with the solicitor to sort out the probate , help us draw up the required Deed of Variation and to set up the Trust.

The adviser made many visits to Dad's home in the following months ( as Dad became ill and spent some time in hospital )and guided us through the 'fog' at our own pace. Everything has now been set up and we have a saving of over £100,000 on an inheritance tax bill.


I can only speak of my own experience (Westhoughton/ Bolton Branch ) but I have nothing but praise for the sympathetic help and courteous ,professional service that we received from this company.

HAVEFAITH

Hi,

Interested in this post as i've been looking to change careers and looked at this company. Does anyone have any thoughts on them?

benood

I've had some dealings with this company although not through cold calls - wasn't particularly impressed but they weren't dreadful. I wouldn't use them again, because once they'd sold a product that was it.

Chrismaths

Sell Sell Sell. Nasty.

HAVEFAITH

it would be good to hear more from ifa's or Edward Jones worker on this post.

dunstonh

You have two IFAs and an investments manager posting on this thread. Not one in favour of this company.

HAVEFAITH

dunstonh wrote:

You have two IFAs and an investments manager posting on this thread. Not one in favour of this company.

ok, perhaps you could suggest some companies to approach?

dunstonh

Any IFA that doesnt belong to a salesforce (regional or national).

HAVEFAITH

HAVEFAITH wrote:

ok, perhaps you could suggest some companies to approach?

Thank you, any particular companies for pointers?

skoon

I am an FA for EJ in the US and ran across this thread. Allow me to clear up a few things. First, EJ FAs are not considered independent.

EJ was founded in 1922. Their business model has included "face-to-face" contacts since almost the beginning. Ted Jones, the son of founder Ed Jones realized that the big NY firms were ignoring those in the heartland of America. So from almost the beginning Jones was set-up as individual offices serving their local communities (that may be why people believe they are independent FAs). Ted believed in developing personal relationships with clients and believed the only way that was possible was by meeting them face-to-face. I'm not sure what the attitude is like in England about this approach but in the US it is well received by a lot of people. I have had people move their assets to me simply because I had made an effort to get to know them...more then they could say about their current broker.

EJ must be doing something right...they are consistently ranked by Fortune magazine as one of the 100 best places to work, they were recently ranked #1 in customer satisfaction by JD Powers and Associates, they are ranked number one among FAs for employee satisfaction by Registered Rep (trade publication) and Money magazine has ranked them as one of the top large firms.

You are correct that we don't charge wrap-fees or managed account fees (that may change soon), but our level of commitment to our client and the time spent advising them is not affected at all by this. In fact, many people I have talked to pay fees to advisors and then never hear from him.

As for the products we offer. Jones has a very conservative philosophy, therefore we do not offer products that we feel are a big risk to our clients (i.e. options, penny stocks, junk bonds, etc..) We also believe that there are better products out there that we could never duplicate ourself so why develop our own mutual funds when American or Lord Abett or GS or Oppenheimer can do it better?

I hope this helps to clear a few things up.