Edward Jones Financial Advisers Speak to FMA Members

Managing Editor

Photo by Linna Jones

Voice of Experience- Edward Jones Financial Adviser Melissa Young tells about her experience with Edward Jones during her 10-year career with the company. Young started working for Edward Jones in 2000

   The Financial Management Association learned about the job opportunities and benefits for students who might want to work for Edward Jones Nov. 5.

   Financial Advisers Melissa Young and Rena Day spoke to the member of FMA describing the processes how to become a financial adviser.

   Young works out of an office in White Hall and Day works in an office located at 147 North Park Drive in Monticello near Wal-Mart.

   Young described three hiring paths for people to take when they decide to enter Edward Jones.

   She described the first path as “The Traditional.” The Traditional path starts out with a person being hired as a financial adviser. A person goes through a training program and will be immediately licensed; they start work with people.

   The second path is the "Apprentice Approach." The Apprentice Program is specifically designed for students who graduated in the past two years and in that program an employee comes into Edward Jones and spend three months working in a financial adviser’s office.

   The path gives students a chance to perform administrative tasks in the office, sit in on appointments in the office and watch the day to day activities of it to see if it is something they truly do want to commit to, After three months, Edward Jones evaluates the employee and if they pass, they can decide to continue on if they want to.

   All employees go through the same training program when they enter the company and for students it does matter what major they have.

   After being hired, employees have to take the Series Seven Exam. Young described the exam as hard. Edward Jones provides a very structured program where students are assigned to study certain chapters and they learn on computers. The employee gets paid for the 6-8 weeks of study while they prepare for the exam. Edward Jones employees have a pass rate of 93 percent. The industry pass rate on that exam is approximately 80 percent.

   After the test, Edward Jones trains their employees and then sends them to their office in St. Louis, Mo. The employees spend a week in their ‘Know Your Customer Class,” knowing the customer is one of their rules.

   Graduates of program then start doing market research. Market Research means building a business in the community they will be established. They can do this by cold calling out of the phone book, making face-to-face contact with people in the community, making themselves known by knocking on doors and visiting businesses.

   Young said the graduate starts building a base from people they have met and learned something about. She continued saying there is about a three months train program before a person even gets a license turned on so they can start giving someone this valuable advise they have soaked up.

   “Training is continuous in our field, we are required to have a lot of training so the classes really never stop and the first two years especially is pretty intense,” Young said.

   The final path is the "Pass Program." The pass program takes fairly new graduates into their home office in St. Louis and rotates them through some of the support departments. So they spend a few weeks in the different areas and, at the end of that rotation period, they will also have to take the Series Seven Exam. At the end to the rotation period, they have the option to move out into the field.

  
   With Edward Jones, Young tells people they need to really build your business where they are going to live five to six years from now.

   “Because you certainly don’t want to do all that work and then say ‘No, I think Monticello is a little smaller than I want to be in. Maybe I would like to be in Dallas and then you go to Dallas and start over,” Young said.

   One of the questions Edward Jones asks of potential employees is where you want to live. Edward Jones employees have many opportunities to work anywhere; they want to know where an adviser wants to build their business.

   Young has been working with the company for 10 years, built her business in Pine Bluff and said she loves what she does.

   “I really do. I stand in line with my customers at the grocery store, run into them at Wal-Mart. I sit next to them at ball games when they go there, and I am responsible for helping make sure these people have the quality of retirement they are planning on,” Young said. “The way I get to do that, there is a lot of person to person. No one person is going to have the same prescription history and your clients are not going to have the same investment history. “

   She described it as a big responsibility, but a lot of fun.

   She investigated the company before deciding on career change. She investigated in 1999 during the technology bubble. The most consistent criticism she heard about Edward Jones was that it was too conservative. At the time, Edward Jones was telling clients to pull back from their technology.

   Not everyone can be Edward Jones client, if a person wants to trade stocks five or six times a day.  She said she is not there to trade stocks every few minutes. Young helps people make plans, stick to the plan and build wealth over time.

   Edward Jones gets to tailor their offices to their personalities. Each financial adviser has a different client mix. The offices will only be the same when it comes look,

   Edward Jones offers a single office philosophy meaning one financial adviser and an administrative assistant per office. She described the company as a great environment and a good company to work for.

    Edward Jones offers diversification trips and 40 percent of their financial advisers qualify for the trip. The trips are a part of a compensation package Edward Jones wants their financial advisers to earn.  They earn these trips through production and building a balanced book and business.

   Young described the company as as partnership and not a publicly traded company. They compensate their employees by offering four types compensations:

• Commissions
• Diversification trips
• Bonuses
• A chance to be invited to become a partner

Photo by Linna Jones

Financial Advisers- Edward Jones Financial Advisers Melissa Young (left) and Rena Day talk with Financial Management Association about Edward Jones and the different training programs available. During the meeting, the guest speakers told about their experiences and when they started working with Edward Jones.

   A small percentage of people who apply actually work for Edward Jones. A financial adviser needs to be very self-disciplined to do this job. The rewards are tremendous, compensation-wise average first year compensation is about $40, 000 and by year five at about $100,000.

   Edward Jones requires a worker to be legal, profitable and equitable. Young defined profitable as generating enough profit to pay for the office, the financial adviser and the full-time assistant.

  When a financial adviser starts out it is really structured. They need to talk to 25 people everyday for their bare minimum performance, which means making contacts and present them with investment opportunities.

   “This isn’t an especially difficult job, we tell you what to do and how to do it, but it is very, very hard,” Young said

   Rena Day, who started in 2006, described how a financial adviser can make 25 calls, most likely to be denied 24 times average, but once a financial adviser accumulate assets, its gets easier.

   The Edward Jones application is the same as a resume. Students should not apply more than eight months before graduation.

   Young described the ultimate place at Edward Jones is to be a financial adviser. It takes about four months from hiring to become a licensed financial adviser. A financial adviser can hire their own workers and the number of offices in one location depends on the area. There may be more offices in one location than another.

  The Edward Jones application is the same as a resume. Students should not apply more than 8 months before graduation.

  
   Edward Jones looks for several qualities in college graduates:

• A business or finance degree, but degree does not matter what a graduate has everyone goes through the same training program.
• People who make good grades
• Involved in student organizations and leadership roles
• Look for people who either through work or scholarship paid their own way through college, because it show us people who have initiative.

 
   “If this is something you are interested in learning about take a look at the CD, call Rena’s officer and say “Hey, can I have 10 or 15 minute of your time I would really like to learn more about (Edward Jones)’,” Young said. “If you’re considering coming into this type of career, I can’t think of a better company to work for than Jones.  They do what they say they are going to do.”

  
   For more information about Edward Jones or becoming a financial adviser, contact Rena Day at 870-46-0047 or at 147 North Park Drive in Monticello near Wal-Mart.

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