Edward Jones, which employs its financial advisors, is just behind the three largest wirehouses (Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Merrill Lynch) in terms of the size of its advisor force — but ahead of independent giant LPL Financial.
Dan Timm, partner of branch development for the St. Louis-based broker-dealer explains its recruiting plans.
What's your current growth target?
At 12,726, we are up from the 12,615 we had at beginning of the year. In 2009, we grew by about 800. Our design this year is to grow by about 1,100.
Of the 800 advisors brought on board in 2009, 100 were producing transfer advisors and 475 had a securities license.
How are you doing at meeting this 2010 target?
Based on results so far, we are on track to hire 650 or so FAs this year. So we may not be perfectly on pace, but we are in the ballpark.
The aggressive growth plans for 2010 were laid out in Edward Jones five-year 2008-2012 plan, which will be tweaked somewhat later this year.
