Edward Jones

I was told Ed Jones was different, it seems they are like most large brokerage houses. They have set funds they use our money to invest in. The Big backlash- they'll just watch my money dwindle down down down, and do little or nothing to slow the losses. When I question my broker his excuse You chose that path It will come back blah blah. Waiting for 2 years. There's no accountability.

I was in search of an investment firm to for my daughter so she would have a good start for college. I decided to select Edward Jones because they have offices everywhere and for convenience. Some with staff there and they advised me on select securities they thought would be best for long term growth. Advisor projected with her age (3 at the time) by the time she was 18 she would have roughly 400k, now 12 years later she has exactly 2k less than I initially invested. To make matters worse, I've paid capital gains on money that was NEVER gained to the government. After doing some investigating I've been informed Edward Jones funds are highly manipulated by their own large stakeholder investors that receive alerts to pull their money at "CERTAIN" times. I never received these alerts as a off the street investor as when I spoke to the staff they simply say it's just bumps in the road, it will recover. Now she's 2 years away as has less money than when she started.

In less than 8 months I lost 10% of my portfolio despite steady rises in interest rates, recession fears and a declining stock and bond market. EJ answer was that it will come back, it always does. There are tons of old adages they use to excuse their passive management of portfolios. I expected an advisor who was charging me 1% of my portfolio to help me, not sit on their hands and not move a dime into a better or less risky fund. EJ philosophy is to sit and wait and wait until hopefully their dartboard picks return to at least what you paid for them. They did not and would not calculate an RMD for an account. EJ website is very low tech, you cannot research funds histories, trends, etc. I quit, I could not see ANY benefit for me, only EJ was profiting. I have no plans to use a paid "advisor" again. Take a class or read a book about saving money and investing, know your risk tolerance, do your research, invest confidently and sleep well.

Although I'm conservative I decided to move my 401k to Edward Jones to keep up with inflation. I stated my retirement plans were 2 to 3 years out. I was convinced to get out of my comfort zone to reach a higher goal. After 6 months I had lost 6% of my money so I called stating my concern. Bear with me was the reply but 3 months later I was down 24%. The market will return but not in the time frame I layer out when I invested my money there, so worse decision in my future planning in over 10 years. Investment do grow over time but my plan wasn't listened to and it cost me dearly. Don't use this company is my best advice, but if you invest do it long term because yes the market does come back. But when everyone sees the market going down your money should be protected especially if you plan to retire soon.

Avoid this firm at all costs. They will charge you fees when they buy your investments, charge you monthly fees to do absolutely nothing and will then charge you termination fees when you leave. Their advisors request you to make an appointment just to talk to them and their general Client Relations phone number will keep you on hold for up to 30 minutes or more! Horrible service and very high fees - there is NO reason to use this firm!

My parents did business with Edward Jones for over 20 years before their death in the 1990s. Edward Jones at that time was a consumer oriented, locally managed, franchise based company. Consequently, when the opportunity arose, I also chose Edward Jones to oversee and manage part of my investment portfolio. I do business with Fidelity, Schwab, and Merrill Lynch as well. Of all of these brokerage houses, I can say that Edward Jones is the least consumer friendly, has the poorest website and Internet services, and the most expensive fees of any of the investment companies. If you want a brokerage house that charges extraordinary fees, in my case $400-600 for a stable, non-traded stock portfolio, to warehouse your stock portfolio, and a poorly designed website that makes determining your profits and losses an exercise of futility, then I would recommend Edward Jones.

Great pep talk, nothing really fiduciary letter from advisor, poor performance for a year period, and having my own brokerage account with the same amount to check performance, stayed in green, meantime Edward Jones lost money, their fees structure helped, no doubt as well. Stay away!!!

I've been dealing with Edward Jones for about 10 years and so zero growth! Only losses and bad advice. I recently sold my house and gave them my life savings. They forced me into the bond market assuring me it's the safest market. 8 months later I lost 20 percent of my life savings, all I got was assurance that it will rebound. I have no faith in these people. I will be transferring my other account next week. There are so many other options out there, do your research and stay away from this Ponzi scam.

Edward Jones advisors are as bad as advisors as I have had. They are phony pretending to be your friend and developing a relationship and all the while taking your money from savings only to be lost since all they want is to pad their pocket. Using this line " You don't make money having your money in a savings account, put money into mutual funds and you'll make more money with their stupid percentages they throw out to you. Beware of this line of crap and use your own common sense and don't fall for their lines all they are salesman. The worst kind of salesmen taking your money. Remember no one cares more about your money than yourself. I am very very sorry I got involved with Edward Jones and hopefully I'll make money back from mutual funds that are losers now and then I am totally out of Edward Jones. I am a millionaire and I didn't get my wealth by being stupid. Don't get involved with Edward Jones.

Ian has been handling our financial planning for over 15 years and has been a great asset to our family in advising us on everything we needed to plan for our children's college savings, planning our for our short term financial needs as well as the long term. He has given us excellent advise over the years and we have seen great gains when the economy boomed and he also sheltered our investments very well when the economy suffered. I cannot express our gratitude to Ian for all that he has done for our family over the year. He is an excellent advisor and gives great advise for whatever your short or long term goals. He is personable, down to earth and explains the markets in a way that is easy to understand. You will be very happy with the services from him as well as his excellent staff.