Best full service broker | Page 2 | General financial discussion | Discussion forum

Alexandra said
I remember years ago in the 80's and 90's, I had some extra funds can't remember how much but over $50K anyway. I had an older gentleman from Scotia McLeod as my broker. Honestly, I didn't have a clue about stocks especially in the 80's. He treated my as though I was his daughter. At first he put me in treasury bills. I think they were paying between 15-19%. He didn't throw me into stocks right away as the TB rates were so good. then after awhile he put me into "blue chip" stocks. So I purchased shares in CIBC & BNS as well as BCE, Bombardier and Moore's. I remember losing some in Moore's. The rest I did well in. Anyway, I eventually cashed in to purchase a home. He was great, he always kept me informed and explained everything to me in detail. Don't know if they have people like him anymore. For a very small period of time I was in mutual funds with Investors Group. I had taken a buy out at work and wanted somewhere to place funds. I didn't stay long. Talk about pressure. You would think I was there to buy a second hand car. I would NEVER deal with them again.  

Interesting experiences.

We bought long provincial bonds back when you were with Scotia McLeod, held them to maturity, did very well on them, avoided all the ups and down of the stock market. We had to buy them through a broker, who wasn't very happy about being asked to get them for us as he wouldn't make much on them.

There probably still are some guys out there like the one you had at Scotia. The issue is how to find them. One of the pieces of advice I have read in the past is that in choosing such a person you should look for someone who has already been through at least one market meltdown as it makes them more realistic and cautious since it gives them a better appreciation of risk and volatility. Undoubtedly you found one of them.

I'm not surprised at your experience of Edward Jones, at least in recent years. A few years ago our library system had a series of informative sessions on finance offered by various people who had professional experience in the area. The library has a policy that such people may not use these sessions to recruit customers, but, obviously, anyone who is sufficiently impressed with a presentation could seek out the speaker.

I attended several sessions and thought that, for the most part, they were informative and the speakers followed the rules.
The one that stood out negatively was Edward Jones. They sent 5 or 6 people rather than the usual 1 or 2. At the end of the session, these people were ready with their clipboards and fanned out in the room, with one stationed by the door, clearly and pointedly recruiting clients. It would have been difficult to escape without being approached by them. In addition, some of the information in the session seemed biased.
I was so surprised at this behaviour that i sent a complaint to the library. Edward Jones did not reappear among the speakers the following years.

I cringed when I saw Edward Jones mentioned. The person I talked to was very agressive bordering on harassing. Think twice about sharing contact info.