Conservative values overshadowed by lack of support and training
Pros
Holds firm to its conservative investment philosophy.
Cons
The firm has been behind the times for decades. It is great that they are finally trying to get up to speed, but the rate of change is not manageable. There has been a high turnover in support staff and it's hard to get accurate information when needing support. It also seems like they have lost their original focus of being the local friendly financial advisor in your backyard and being accessible to the masses. The focus has shifted to high-net-worth individuals and catering to the wealthy. I've watched several advisors get pushed out because they expressed concern and needed support they weren't receiving. When hired as an advisor I was told I'd receive all of this wonderful training of what to say and how to overcome objections and did not receive any of that training. Most of the training is a high-level overview with homework of figuring it out on your own time. In order to be successful as an advisor at Edward Jones, you need to plan on working 80 hours a week for at least the first five years at the firm with little to no support.