Thread regarding Edward Jones layoffs

@185 I agree and I’m doing the same. There is nothing left for me at the firm anymore

@OP as an FA for over 15 years at edj, she has just ruined this company!!! She has taken away ‘legal, ethical and profitable’ standard as minimum standard. She is raising minimum commission expectation 37.5% to 55k per month from 40k. She needs to go to every office and take Ted’s picture down, because money is definitely her god!!!

@OP WOW, well written and you are spot on in your analysis. Though, I believe the Pennington express has already sailed. As far as I am concerned the only question at this point is whether Edward Jones itself goes public, or if it is bought by one of the giants. Let's face it, this firm lost its compass as did most of the rest, when the firm went fee based.

Brokers really aren't brokers, they are relationship managers and success is measured solely by creating and retaining clients. People much like they get attached to their car insurance person or company, now do the same with their brokerage person. Beyond filling out the New Client paperwork, there really is not much value added as it relates to actual investments. That's not to say a good Advisor cannot have a profound effect, because they can as it relates to discipline and managing anxiety. Beyond that, we are no longer much more than robo investing.

And now, we are fully embracing the bright lights of the really big city so that the Partners can get one last really big pad day and then shift the narrative to how they kept the firm from dying and they did what they had to do for all involved.

If I could bet on it, I would bet heavily on a but and ki-l with little more than the clientele being purchased. Face it l, EDJ is always late to innovation, late to changing clients needs and early to counting the money.

It is what it is, but starting with Weddle and accelerated by Penny there is basically a 4-Sale sign on the marquees.

We do deserve better. However, in 37 years I’ve seen zero examples of leading courageously. Don’t hold your breath. I’m sure Ted Jones is spinning in his grave at the way they’ve perverted our culture. I said yes to the VSP. I believe it’s the only way I can leave with a little dignity. And now that I’ve made the decision, I can’t wait to go. Not the way I’d hoped all these years, but I don’t want to be part of what this place has become.

@OP This is a good observation of this country.

@r2 just make sure they pay you to leave.

@jz Genius reply to a genius post. Nailed both ends of the sentiment at Jones. That's why I'm leaving. This place is a complete s**t show, only now with no differentiating quality or USP over any other firm in the industry. They just pay less and don't participate in the broker protocol. No upside in that equation.

Dear Penny, Thank you for your very honest reply and good riddance to Edward Jones. To be fair, the problem was always in the way Edward Jones falsely marketed itself to new candidates as the aw shucks Midwestern firm who was all warm and fuzzy, claiming they cared about people (both employees and their families AND the clients), blah blah blah. So you should not be surprised that we believed it and relied on it to our own detriment. Not everyone is as astute as you obviously are. Congrats on your successfully setting the record straight...just little too late to benefit anyone but you.

@jz that post has Chubak written all over it.

@jz
You know what you can do with your coffee maker.

I joined this form because of its values. Because Edward Jones is about people, both the client and our team.

PP has been sc--wing us since she took over. Zero trust left…

I’ve been at EJ for 10+ years, almost always Exceeds Expectations and a few promotions. I’ve never felt less motivated. I can’t imagine working harder after she lays off 20% of the firm. I’m already over worked and under paid.

PP making $29 million in 2024 threatening the average EJ employee making less than $100k. She has no appreciation for the employees who are putting in the hard work making her the big bucks. TJ must be rolling on his grave. Guess it’s true what they said. She’s the first managing partner who never met TJ. The main concern was EJ culture slipping away and boy were they right. We had a good run fam. Love you guys.

Sounds like it's become another company to be avoided.

I've been saying this to my friends for a couple of years. The Insta-partners from the Big Banks and Wirehouses talk a good game....one is the heir-aparent. But they are he-l-bent on morphing us into their failing model..... because it's all they know. Edward Jones excelled precisely because we were NOT a wirehouse.
I was at a Wire House for 10 years before coming to Jones. In my 20 years with the firm, I can honestly say, it was the best move I could have ever made. We were SOOOO different from the wirehouses in the best ways. In all fairness, we have been adopting some good practices from them, but we are now frogs sitting in the soon to boil water. I pray Penny wakes up and turns off the fire.

Could not have said this better. I pray every day that Penny's heart finds the way back to what is right for this firm and the reason this firm was founded. To ensure financial success for the middle class. They still need us

I fear it's worse than we know.

Very well written

Go for it what do you have to lose?

@a1 she is reading this along with the others trying to figure out if they an fire anyone for their anonymous posts

This almost brought a tear to my eye.

And then I remembered that the entire vision of the firm has shifted. Our target client is no longer the long-term individual investor who is interested in buying a mutual fund, someone with a small amount of money to invest and time to watch it grow. Our target client has “high net worth”. And because we are chasing dollar signs, our business is shifting to compete with the big warehouses and broker dealers. We aren’t interested in growing financial advisors (scratch starters). We don’t want small towns and “small time” investors because we aren’t a “small time” firm anymore. Get that straight.

We have to hire “East coast elites” to sharpen our vision. Think of them like LASIK surgery for our near-sighted eyes. That’s why we need new fancy offices in West Palm Beach, Washington, DC and New York. That’s why we need private jets for our partners to fly to recognition conferences. The only way to get us to that 2030 vision is via a surgical laser burning away anything that made us remotely “small time”, you know, like those small minded citizens with only a few hundred bucks to start investing. We can’t serve them anymore. They don’t matter.

Penny has been named “Most Powerful Woman” or whatever but let’s not forget absolute power corrupts absolutely. And while everything you wrote is beautiful and true (and is, I might add, very inspiring), it breaks my heart. Why? Because I know it will never happen. The firm we knew is dead and the beast rising is like a Frankenstein monster rising from the table and taking it’s first labored breaths from re-animated lungs. And we all know how that story ended.

So forget the LASIK analogy. Insert AI and watch the monster flash it’s cyborg eye at the competition like a famous terminator we all once feared. There is no room for sentiment—only profits.

@OP
Nicely written. Unfortunately I suspect PP was a wolf in sheep clothing. No turning back now. 2030 will be the beginning of the end.

Send it in the Suggestion Box! It’s no longer anonymous, but is is “confidential”. Whatever that means. He-l, just sign it!

@a1
She doesn’t care. She’s counting next years 40 million dollar bonus.

This is incredible. Who's going to send it to her?