Been at Jones 7 years, just north of $40M, $350k gross...toy with the idea of going indy every now and then but seems to good to be true that depending on the firm it’s 80-90% payouts. This accurate?

Been at Jones about double your time, about double your assets, about double your gross. I’ve considered the Indy option several times, and yes, you can/will receive upwards of 90% payout in Revenue. But, don’t forget, you’ll need to pay all expenses out of that. Your BOA, rent, technology, marketing, advertising, your own Div Trips, profit sharing contributions, etc, etc, etc. Also, make sure and ask yourself the value of the Edward Jones 100 year old brand and reputation vs only your name on the door? Have you ever received a call from a prospect who googled EJ, because they were familiar with and trusted the brand? Those will be gone. Have you ever had someone retire to your town and want to transfer their account to you the local advisor? Those will also be gone. They’re are things I still have difficulty with working for Jones, but in the end, I don’t think there’s an Overall better gig! Best of Luck with your decision and Biz!

Former Jones guy here, in a similar boat to you. 45mil, 360k, and 9 years in. RJ has lots of former big Jones producers and the water only flows one way. That alone should tell you something. This is coming from a guy who had a great experience at Jones. I was able to reduce client fees and still come out ahead myself. 1 Year out. Both are good companies; however, if you’re truly entrepreneurial and want more flexibility RJ is a better fit. Plus your cost are fixed, when your income goes up you take a bigger piece of the pie. So much better for me, but it’s not for everyone. I am still friends with Jones buddies; however, I now have no arranged friendship meetings anymore.

I’m still at Jones and it’s getting more and more frustrating

Was at Edj for 13 years partner and reg leader, left to go independent. First at Raymond James (13 years) now at LPL. Edward Jones is the best captive firm in business, raymond James would be most comfortable move for a jones broker because they are very similar. I found that Ray Jay was becoming more and more like a captive, LPL at a 93% payout with a signing bonus of 4-5% is a good fit if you want to be totally independent. Don’t move for $$. Move if it fits your long term business plan. Very happy with being independent but miss the camaraderie of Edj

I made level 5 in 5 years with 35 MM under management. I’ve been an independent for 4 years now, I feel it’s the best option for me and for the clients I serve. The reason why you surrender 60% of your grid is to cover branch cost, let someone else pick your “trip” and support the partnership. You file a 1206 and it give you some advantage, but at the end of the day, you’re an employee, you don’t run your own business and you have very limited investment options. I netted over 750k last year, have and employee at 36k year and own my own commercial building and equipment... all expensable. I pay less in taxes than a million dollar producer at jones and vacation when and where I want. I tell people there’s the right and wrong reason to go Indy.... don’t do it for the money, do it for investment selection and to better serve your clients. Not everyone is meant to run their own business, some function just fine as Edward Jones employees.

I left jones over a year ago and you don’t leave jones to get paid more ( although it’s nice). You leave for the political crap you have to deal with.l at jones and the ability to be a business owner. Everyone focuses on payout, but you also need to take in to account expenses.

All in all, I’m so glad I’m independent !

Hey OP- if you go to LPL they will give you 35% up front signing bonus witu only 1 yr handcuff and the payout is 90%. I also joined an existing LPL office and piggybacked off them. They cut me a deal where i can use their admin, rent is covered anf office costs like poatage and ink ia covered to an extent- for 15% so my all in cost is 25%. Maybe tack on 3% more for the fees abd trade costs but even then my true NET is 72%. At jones the net was lets say 50% after bonis and trips but yoi also paid postage and ink and other office costs. But the kicker is not just the extra 22% payout but now you own your book. When you retire you will get 2x revenue instead of 1x at jones. You are 1099 so tax time you are treated better as a busoness owner- esp after trumps new tax plan, if you want to you can acquire books from retiring LPL advisors- LPL will even finance it for you at an extrenely low interest rate. There are just too many pros of going indie than pros of staying at Jones

There’s a tipping point where the fixed cost is more appealing than losing a percentage of your total revenue. And if you do it right with a few other advisors it isn’t nearly as expensive as all these firms that want to keep their advisors try to say it is

They’ve started sending “low frequency trading letters” if you don’t have much activity in a fee based account. They continue to look at investable assets in the area and dump more and more noobs on top of you. So you can’t stand out, AND they want you to help increase you’re own competition. As soon as I can, I’m out

The grass is greener. Not a perfect shade of green but overall much better and not filled with “fertilizer” to artificially keep it green.
Headed home from a week with the family with no required meetings or dinners. We picked what we wanted to do at a much better cost.
Jones is fine but the message from STL is very controlled and not accurate about what I have found outside of Jones

As mentioned above....just ask yourself how many times you've seen an indy advisor go to a big firm like ej, rj, or the big 4. Then ask yourself how many have left those firms to go indy. That scorecard should tell you all you need to know

Hurry up and go Indy. You can use Jones Wealth Management as your DBA and get a 92% payout

Was regional leader with Jones. Was with jones 13 years. Went independent 16 years ago. May want to talk to me before decision. Happy to discuss.

Yes there are fixed costs associated, however. You can talk with someone at TD Ameritrade and they’ll tell you everything you need to know They’re awesome.

Former jones guy that was all in on jones: go Indy. The sooner the better. You make more money and you own your book. Tax time is better too.

I escaped Edward Jones seven years ago. It has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. The truth is the first year as an entrepreneur it is a bit of a learning curve but after that things tend to work themselves out and you become comfortable in your new normal. I’ve lowered my clients fees and I making more money. Also, I own my book of business so all of the work that I’m putting in, I know won’t be simply given away at my retirement, it will have to be purchased and it does feel really good to see my net worth jump up considerably as equity in my practice continues to grow. I could care less about Edward Jones brand, I believe in myself and I ultimately know that the clients do business with me and the financial firm is simply who are used to place my trades through. Don’t drink too much of the Kool-Aid there, if you’re doing really well at Edward Jones, you can make it almost anywhere else. The grass is actually greener, I didn’t say perfect, but compared to Edward Jones it’s St Augustine grass.

How do you guys get out of EJ without getting sued? Most of the time that’s the story I hear. The exiting advisor is sued by EJ

Is $15mill (worst case) too little to make the move?