Edward Jones

While I realize the stock market is unpredictable, my EJ advisor, Gary ** in Potsdam, NY told me I could expect a return of 6-7% annually on average. What I actually received was a return, over 26 months, starting in Nov. 2017 and ending 1-13-20 was 3.29%. This anemic return over 2 years when the stock market was soaring! Then, when I went to roll over to another broker on 12/20/19 my transfer was delayed and did not occur until I made several calls to EJ and my present adviser, until 1-13-20 which delay necessitated my paying 2 "program fees" totaling over $100, PLUS and $95 "transfer fee." All in all, Edward Jones made more money than I did over the 26 months. 3.29% over 2 years doesn't even keep up with the rise in the cost of living.

I have read all your posts about EJ and the situations that you are all in. I am in a similar boat. I have about 30k tied up in a SEP IRA and it was originally 1 account and they separated it into multiple accounts which I am furious over and just learned of. I call my EJ FA and can never seem to get him live on the phone and when I do they say hold for the long term etc same old advice. Does anyone know of a company where I can transfer my money out of EJ with minimal fees so I can get liquid to invest those funds into real estate instead? Would love to hear some feedback. Thank you.

I was doing my due diligence when I was looking for a FA and I wanted to go with Edward Jones since the office in Des Plaines, Illinois was close to my house. I found that Will ** the FA was knowledgeable and trustworthy. What I found to be disturbing was his employee was not financially responsible. I quick search showed that there was a poor credit history which concerned me, greatly. Are there no background checks on the employees who will have access to your money? Do your due diligence people. Charles Schwab is where I ended up going and feel much safer with that decision.

I had an incident with a FA discussing my IRA without my permission. I complained to the FA and he forwarded it to a complaint advisor that didn't even bother to call me or offer a sincere apology. Only the Fa's side of the story. I decided not to use this advisor yet he kept calling and even told my probate lawyer that I needed to call him. Way too pushy and when I complained that he shouldn't be discussing my account with my probate lawyer he all of a sudden 'didn't recall' that conversation. The complaint advisor 'investigated' but never talked to me personally even though I left 3 messages. She gave his version of a story and didn't even address my complaint about a FA should NEVER discuss an account without consent of a client. I'm glad I didn't use this company for investments.

In May 2015 I opened two accounts with a office of Edward Jones in Tarpon Springs, FL. I closed those accounts in August 2019. I trusted the financial advisor; he was in the same Rotary Club as myself. The IRA account I had with $2,500 was divided into seven (7) different funds, all with high expense ratios. The Individual account was also divided into seven(7) funds. My return was minimal. I have since found that Edward Jones practices "churning", a method of them steering money into accounts which has benefits for them.

My experience with Edward Jones. Edward Jones will advise you to buy certain stocks. Edward Jones will charge you approximately $250 for each stock they advise you to buy. Then you have your 2 per year meetings to "discuss" the stocks you have purchased, based upon their recommendations. In those meeting they will then advise you to sell certain stocks that they have previously recommended. Again charging you another $250 fee for each stock you sell. Some of the recommendations to sell their recommended stocks were within 6 months of buying their recommended stock. If you are confident trading stocks yourself then open an account at E Trade or Ameritrade and make trades yourself. Both of these companies allow you to trade for free. If you're not comfortable trading stocks then put your money into a low cost index fund from Vanguard or Fidelity. Good luck.

Edward Jones is nothing but a “Bottom of the Barrel” company. It didn’t take me long to figure out just how bad they were. You name it, they screwed it up. Anything from my address to changing account status and not correcting any of their mistakes. I was even told I may have to just live with it. Unfortunately there is no law against being stupid. But there were enough red flags that alerted me to the fact that they didn’t know what they were doing. If they can’t handle simple or medium tasks, there is no way they could handle big tasks (my money). I even looked into filing a FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) complaint. It may have been necessary if I had let things go on like they were. What a nightmare. I took my money out as quickly as I could.

I had a trust fund with them and I moved it because they lie on the fees, you can never get ahold of them. My lawyer could not even get ahold of their lawyers. They use coercion. I had to sign a paper that I would not sue them, but my lawyer said that is not worth the paper it's written on to get my money out of their hands. It was a nightmare and my lawyer could never get a hold of their accountants or lawyers. Also it is brokerage firm, not a bank. That is a different animal than a bank.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! Their advice is horrible and their Guide Solutions SUCK! Beware if you are a new investor. They are so incompetent that you will be ill-informed or not told everything about how they do business. Preying on the inexperienced is their business model. They are only looking out for themselves…not you. Protect your money and go somewhere else. Anyone would be better than them.

A new office opened in our small town. We have seen them nationwide in our travels and decided to roll over a large retirement plan with someone local. 1.5 yrs later in the best market we have had in 20+ years and it is flat. Initially it dropped like crazy and did come back to near initial investment, but 0.66% gain in 12 months is all it has performed. My work 401K I manage is earning 15%. Meanwhile EJ has charged over $1800.00 in fees so far just this year (Jan- Sept). They have made more than I have. I became suspicious and had another CFP review my portfolio and he said EJ is borrowing money and using client's money to pay back very risky investment losses. This is called a marginal Flex account on my statement. The CFP stated he will not do this with client money and very rarely for himself without daily monitoring... RISKY and legal!! I am pulling everything ASAP.