edward jones
My advisor doesn’t charge he says. Does Ed Jones only charge on buying and trading and investing my funds?
Terry Says
Edward D. Jones is a fine, full-service brokerage firm. You need to ask specifically if they have gone to the new model of investment advice, charging a FEE ONLY on the assets you bring to them. And the fee should be no more than 1 percent of assets. (And even that is too much if you are keeping a substantial portion of your money in safe money market funds.)
If they say “fee, plus commission) then you know you are paying additional fees, which is unnecessary. If they put you into mutual funds, ask about TOTAL COSTS, including annual management fees charged by the fund it self (on which they get a portion) in addition to their own annual management fee. Too much!!
Finally you can get at this directly by asking your broker to sign the Fiduciary Pledge — in writing. Ask him/her to sign this statement:
I am a Fiduciary, and agree to put your interests ahead of my own and to fully disclose all fees and commissions charged to this account.
If they won’t sign, go directly to a FIDUCIARY advisor. Find one at NAPFA.org.
