Pros
You have flexibility and you get your own office. You earn commission, so you can eventually make a decent living and have more control over how much money you earn than you usually would at most companies. Diversity trips - trips that you earn the right to go to every year if you do well enough. Paid training and licensing.
Cons
To be honest, the only reason that I have this company/position at this company a 2/5 is that it certainly is better than other terrible jobs out there, but given the likelihood that an employee will have at least a Bachelor's degree...this really is not a great place to work. Certainly, for someone who is a very hard worker, who has an entrepreneurial spirit, but not analytical/intellectual then this would be a good way to make a decent living. The only thing different from working independent is the beginning - getting a salary while you train and get licensed. You then still have a salary which drops off several times until you are pure commission within the first few years. Really this is the only good thing I can think of working here. Why work somewhere, have standards, and several people "support" (hound) you when you could work independent somewhere else and not worry about that? This was especially bothersome to me because one of the great benefits that is often touted is the autonomy you have at jones and how it doesn't have the typical corporate culture. Which also leads me to this - the people really getting rich are the few hundred General Partners...kind of like a big corporation - like the ones they often trash in meetings. DOOR KNOCKING! This is probably one of my biggest regrets about working here. I have to worry whether people will notice me as the clown that knocked on their door to "let them know that I was an advisor in the area." Which is Jonesese for "let come here then come back again and again and get your phone number and annoy you until you tell me to stop or buy some crappy mutual fund A Shares. The above leads me to my next point - you are a salesperson. You are not an advisor - this is a façade and I believe many other firms do this as well and it is unethical and I have no idea how it is allowed. Some advisors really do act or believe they are acting in a clients best interest - but the relationship really hinges on a client being profitable for you and the firm and in order to do that you can't just manage their money - they have to buy from you. Another unfortunate truth - the firm does not officially state this huge figures of what you will or could earn a whole lot, but the promise of a large income after a few years of working 60/70/80 weeks is very frequently brought up. It simply does not add up or seem to be true according to another advisor I spoke with who was almost 5 years in. He was the 2nd best in his region for his tenure and was only earning $47,000 per year... You could work a 9-5 job that is half as difficult and 1/10th as stressful and make more in your first year with the qualification it would take to work at jones. The benefits are terrible. Insurance through the state is cheaper and the coverage is terrible too. High deductible - $3500+. Essentially, bust your butt and work really hard for a few years for a pauper's salary to then actually earn your pauper's commission until one day you earn a decent living which seems to take longer than advertised. All the while, you are knocking on doors, annoying people, making a fool of yourself and it all comes with this annoying façade that you are helping people and putting the clients best interests first... If that is true, then I wonder why the partners balked at the proposal of fiduciary standards and actually sent emails to everyone requesting (SEVERAL TIMES) for us to sign a petition against fee based accounts for IRAs. I didn't sign that unethical garbage. It's one thing to be an unethical company or typical finance company which tend to have bad reputations when they get larger - not that they all do. But to play everything off how Edward Jones does is irresponsible and dangerous for consumers that don't know any better. It's not about the client or managing money or giving advice - it's about selling them investments. Despite my issues with the industry and ethics - I still would not think this is a good place to work. Door knocking...really? Benefits... an embarrassment. I have no idea how this company gets in the top 10 all the time for Forbes best places to work - which they will remind you all the time. You are not trained to add value or to help clients - unless telling you that the client comes first counts as training for that item. You are trained to sell and pad the GP's wallets. If you want to make a lot of money - go sell somewhere else. If you want to actually help people, go somewhere else. How does this place exist? You charge clients a ridiculous amount of money when you sell them investments they could easily just buy online. The FAs do not get paid as much as if they were independent and if anyone actually knows about finance then why would they stay here so they can hock american funds mutual funds?