Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Any financial planners here?

I am considering a career change to go to work for EDWARD JONES. Anybody work for them or have any advice for making this transition from a career in from pharmaceutical sales.

10 pages, minimum

Just who I want advising my finances, a former pharmaceutical salesman... I say 20 pages.

Idunno.
Maybe make a bundle on a hard viagra play........

Big pharma?

Or street corner pharma?

Geno

yep financial planner here, but only my own finances.


could have done a lot better, could have done a lot worse.


prolly should have hired a pro

I don't work for them, but I have a degree in Finance. I don't know for sure, but you will probably have to take the series 7 and 66. Don't know if they are a pre-requisite to employment or not but be prepared.

if he was street corner he'd have no need to become a financial planner. just plan to buy more coke.

I knew a girl named Pharma, once.
Biblically.

or maybe it was Sharma,
anyway, she was known.


Vinny

P.S. She did not sell stock options, btw.......
She sold fun. I loved her....
til I ran out of money.

That’s good feedback. I can only imagine the training and financial education I would have to pursue. How long does it take to complete those series?

It's a tough industry since everyone thinks they know more than you and your bosses will have quotas and they often will just hire and fire until they find that sticks. I really liked doing it and I enjoyed helping people but it became clear that doing the right thing for the client was not OK if it didn't include selling them something, and I got out.

I never took them myself. I did a degree in finance, realized I hated sales and became an accountant. My degree was obviously geared toward taking these tests though so they came up a bit. It was recommended to study for 80-100 hours a week for two months. Series 66 is supposed to be easier than the 7. Cost isn't that great. Less than $200 per test but I couldn't comment on the study materials, I don't know. Either way the CFA (are you going to pursue this?) is easier than the $5k CPA I'll be going for.

This is why I ditched my idea of being a financial advisor. I hate sales, and after working with some at a bank I worked at I realized that sales, not what was best for the client, was the name of the game.

I graduated high school with honors and never had a class I though was hard...and the seris 6 test was by far the hardest test ever. And I really studied hard. So yeah its not simple stuff and often you will have to learn it while selling enough to stay afloat etc

The industry has not learned yet that it's way better to treat their employees well and have longevity and build trust with clients and have a stable long term relationship. They want sales, period.

I was pharmaceutical sales for 19 years. I quit sucking ass and being apart of the problem 15 years ago. Do what makes you feel good.

edward D is going to require you to make somewthing like 1200 or so house to house calls as part of the training process. They are fairly regimentated in terms of products they offer per a profile.
Usually they are one man offices.
As to the licenses, a series 6 and 7 would be required before you sell anything or talk to anyone about selling anything.
66 is mutual fund 7 is the general securities license, and there are a bunch of others such as insurance and so on.
It is not an easy profession and the failure rate is pretty high. Not because of lack of intelligence, but the discipline needed to do it.
I know one guy at one firm he started selling singer sewing machines, i think he has been in the business now for probably 25years.
Not all people working in the financial industry have financial backgrounds.
For a lot of reasons i don't know if it's really needed. If you were intending to be a certified financial analyst, or certified financial planner, there
are additional training classes and methods to gain those designations.

and by the way, some of the licenses make the series 66 look like a childs game.

Well, if you was a former DJ, that'd be one thing.

But, don't go by me.

Sure, I could retire on my investments, today.

But, I'd hafta die by next Wednesday.

I know all about financial planning........

Don't get married.
Don't have kids.

There, now pay me a couple hundred.

Most guys at Edward Jones never sell anything except mutual funds, which requires a Series 6. The Series 63 in the general state exam, which would also be required.

As an employee of Edward Jones, you would not be a financial professional, just a salesman who happens to sell mutual funds.

Expect to be pushing funds with a 4% front in load when anyone can go on the internet and choose from thousands of no load, no transaction fee funds from a company like Schwab.

As previously mentioned broker churn is high, and most full commission houses expect you to begin by selling to all your family and friends. in other words, they expect you to sell over priced product to your family and friends.

Failure rates for the series 6 and 63 are high, the the 63 actually having the higher failure rate. Of course neither compare to the Series 7. Failure rate for the 7 is around 70%, if it's required, and you don't have an above average IQ, don't expect to ever pass it.

In the old days you could build a book by cold calling, but now those methods are dead. You would need a modern marketing strategy and to knock on a lot of door.

Did I mention you would just be a licensed, but glorified door-to-door saleman?