WEBVTT - Penny Pennington on Wealth Management (Podcast) 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:06.800 This is Masters in Business with Barry Ridholts on Bloomberg Radio. 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:10.480 This week on the podcast, I have an extra special guest. 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:14.840 Penny Pennington is the head of investment Giant ed Jones. 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:19.480 Technically her title is managing partner. She is the sixth 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:23.079 such partner in the eight year old firm, and the 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:26.320 first one not to be part of the founding family. 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:30.720 She was originally a financial advisor who just came up 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:33.919 through the ranks. If you are at all interested in 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:38.960 things like asset management, financial planning, what it's like to 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:43.480 run a giant firm with fifty employees and seventeen thousand 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:47.800 financial advisors, who better than Penny Pennington. This is really 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:52.199 just an absolutely fascinating conversation. There's a little bit of 0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:55.560 it that's kind of inside baseball, and and I'll let 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:59.279 you guys in a secret. I treat these conversations as 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:02.040 if it's a one on one and I just asked 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:05.600 the questions that I'm genuinely interested in. I learned a 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:08.320 lot and I think you will too. So, with no 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:14.320 further ado, my conversation with Edward Jones, Penny Pennington's This 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:18.840 is Master's in Business with Barry Ridholts on Bloomberg Radio. 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:22.679 My extra special guest this week is Penny Pennington. She 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:26.959 is the managing partner of Edward Jones, a year old 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:31.120 Fortune five hundred company. They have seven million clients and 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:35.919 about one point three trillion in assets managed by forty 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:40.920 nine thousand associates. She is the first non family member 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:44.440 to manage the firm, and she was ranked number thirty 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:49.640 three in Fortune's Most Powerful Women in Business list. Penny Pennington, 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:53.840 Welcome to Master's in Business. Thank you, Barry. It's great 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:56.400 to be with you. Great to be with your listeners today, 0:01:56.600 --> 0:01:59.840 Really nice having you. You have both an interesting back 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:03.279 round and an interesting career path. But I'm gonna jump 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:06.560 a little bit towards the ends. Tell us what was 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:09.840 going on, oh eight oh nine, What was happening in 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:13.560 the firm? How did you respond, How did clients react 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:17.480 to suddenly you know, lots of people were pooh poohing 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:21.040 the oh, it's no big deal, it's contained until it 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:24.079 wasn't tell us what the great financial crisis was like, 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:28.160 what were clients calling and worrying about? And then how 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:32.079 does this version compare? It seemed people sort of learn 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:36.160 their lesson not to panic in O eight oh nine. Uh, 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:38.360 that's that seems to be what at least the lesson 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:42.880 was in. But what was your experience. Yeah, well, as 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:45.840 it relates to clients and what they were experiencing. If 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:50.280 you go back to eight oh nine, UM, the catalyst 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:56.200 for the ignission switch, for that market volatility, what happened 0:02:56.280 --> 0:03:01.720 in the global markets was a financial ignition switch. It 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:06.240 was a meltdown in certain aspects of the financial markets, 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:10.800 and as a result, the stock market, as we certainly 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:16.320 remember UM did a deep dive and remained deep and 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:21.640 volatile for some period of time. While the financial markets 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:26.800 UM were to some degree rebuilt. Regulation was a part 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:32.240 of that. UM new entrance and new new partnerships among 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:36.640 financial services companies were part of that. But the investing 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:42.800 public UM got a got got UM a reminder of 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:48.760 what significant volatility and a deep um reduction in the 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:52.240 stock market felt like. And uh it took ten years 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:57.360 to rebuild from that. The difference with the the effects 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:01.160 of what I've called a triple pandemic over the past 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:04.360 eight months or so is that the ignition switch had 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:08.200 nothing to do with the economy or the financial markets. 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:11.880 It was a health crisis that was the ignition switch 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:16.400 for a period of market volatility that was actually pretty 0:04:16.440 --> 0:04:20.200 short in February and March. We have had some more 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:23.440 recent market volatility and we expect that that will continue. 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:26.920 But the markets because for for a lot of reasons 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:32.159 that we could talk about, the markets actually recovered pretty significantly. However, 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:37.560 the anxiety in the marketplace is still there, and anxiety 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:43.320 for investors sometimes means that they question, uh, the way 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:47.800 their portfolios are built, um, they become more risk averse, 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:54.520 and very importantly, they turned to a financial advisor to 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:57.560 help them make sense of all of that. So that 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:00.880 was a common feature of oh eight oh nine for 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:05.120 for investors and how they responded. The common feature for 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:09.000 us and our financial advisors and how we respond is 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:11.839 to keep people focused on their long term goals and 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:15.760 help relieve as much as we can um the anxiety 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:19.320 that people are facing with market volatility, but this time 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:23.560 with things like health crisis, loss of jobs, their kids 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:27.000 and grandkids who are going through through significant changes in 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:30.480 their lives. So sometimes I asked questions that I just 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:32.680 want to know the answer to, Hey, how do you 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:37.000 create a consistent experience from advisor? Advisor even if they're 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:41.040 in different offices. The portfolios might look similar, but how 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:45.360 do you maintain that corporate culture. It's a really challenging 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:48.480 question because it's you know, it's not an easy thing 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:54.040 to do, especially during working from home. Our financial advisors 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:57.880 and our branch office administrators are client service professionals. They 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:01.080 have been in the branch the whole town on. Our 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:05.120 branches are very safe and we closed them to the public. 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:09.640 So we've been meeting with clients, investors, and prospects by 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:13.599 zoom and virtual means. But the financial advisors are in 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:16.560 our branches and that really has helped. It's been a 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:20.600 centering mechanism for them in a way. That's that's kept 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:24.080 us all together. So that raises a really interesting question 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:25.760 which I was going to ask later, but let me 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:30.520 ask now. Edward Jones has something like thirteen thousand branches, 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:35.680 Is that right? They were all branches fifteen thousand, so 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:39.840 I'm looking at old data. So all fifteen thousand branches 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:45.839 were open and actually operating lights on during during the 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:51.120 entire m during work from home during pandemic lockdowns. It 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:53.880 wasn't open to the public, but you had people going 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:57.880 into those offices and turning on the lights. Absolutely. Most 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:01.240 of our branches we have two to three people in 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:06.000 the branch, so they are by their nature safe places. 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:09.680 We could differ o our colleagues could be distanced from 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:14.320 each other UM and we were deemed in essential services. 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:18.720 So because of that, even during state by state lockdown, 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:21.080 and boy, I remember the night that we got the 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:24.720 news that Pennsylvania was locking down. That was the first state. 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:30.160 You know, just just a wave of emotion and a 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:32.880 bit of oh my gosh, this is really happening, and 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:35.920 this is going to happen across the entire country. And 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:39.600 so we got set up very quickly, within a matter 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:43.360 of hours and days UM to ensure that our branches 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:47.200 could remain open, but also to ensure that our financial 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:50.640 advisors and our b O as branch office administrator, the 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:54.160 client service professional in each of our branches could work 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:58.320 remotely if they needed to or wanted to. So within 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:01.480 a matter of about ten days days, we went from 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:07.320 fifteen thousand remote connections available across our firm to fifty 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:11.600 thousand remote connections. So while every single one of our 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:16.920 branches has remained open, our colleagues can work flexibly and 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:20.360 through through all kinds of virtual means like Zoom and 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:24.360 Skype and webbex with with clients, investors, in prospects, and 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:28.160 with each other. So what do you think the impact 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:34.200 of keeping fifteen thousand branches open has been, and let's 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:37.360 talk about all of your essential communities. What do you 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:40.720 think it's been on the local community, the employees, the clients, 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:46.400 and and any perspective clients of seeing the lights on? Yeah, um, well, 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:52.760 I believe and I've got evidence that proves um that 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:56.400 that our clients and our perspective clients have seen those 0:08:56.520 --> 0:09:01.200 lights on and recognize that we are purpose riven to 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:06.640 be there for their well being. You know what what 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:10.240 has been going on with clients and investors, the anxiety 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:14.280 that that this pandemic, the economic downturn, and the social 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:20.880 unrest have caused across our communities. That anxiety has impacted 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:25.280 clients and investors. It's also impacted every single one of 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:29.240 us who serves them. And so we've been going through 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:33.080 the same things that they have. But what being in 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:37.600 the branch is, what being on the job at work 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:41.680 for their benefit, for their well being has meant to us, 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:46.880 is that we're doing something bigger than ourselves, despite our 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:50.320 own personal anxiety. All of us have had to deal 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:53.960 with all kinds of disruptions in our own lives, but 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:56.719 we get out of bed every morning thinking about our 0:09:56.760 --> 0:10:00.960 clients and helping them reduce the anxiety in their lives. 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:03.440 I'll tell you a real quick story, um and and 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:06.200 it's and it really is. An image it was sent 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:10.240 to sent to me back the beginning of April from 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:13.760 a branch in Florida where the branches were closed to 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:16.840 the public, but our financial advisors and boas are in 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:20.080 the branch. And the image that was sent to me 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:24.920 was a client standing outside the branch with their hand 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:29.920 pressed up against the window of the branch and one 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:33.000 of our Edward Jones colleagues on the other side of 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:38.240 that window, hand to hand with their client, just passing 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:42.679 back and forth. Good energy, Thank you for being there. 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:47.280 We know you're there for us. And words didn't have 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:50.520 to have to go back and forth, papers didn't have 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:53.360 to go back and forth. That that was not the 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:56.760 ethos that was being expressed. It was this, Uh. It 0:10:56.880 --> 0:11:01.640 was a convergence of love, of taking care of each other, 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:06.040 of being in it together, of knowing why we're here, 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:09.040 and that is to relieve the anxiety of our clients 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:12.720 and keep them focused on the long term. It sounds 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:17.280 as if there are certain key values and certain key 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:21.400 ideas you want to make sure every Edward Jones customer 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:24.880 experiences or or am I putting words in your mouth? Should? 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:31.199 Is it more variable from office to office, advisor to advisor? Yeah? 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:34.400 I like the way that you said that, UM, the 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:38.880 experience they have UM may be different in terms of 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:43.000 the products, the services, the tools UM that they are 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:47.520 exposed to or that they're utilizing. That what is common 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:53.600 is the outcome UM, that they achieve financially, whatever it 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:55.920 is that's most important to them, and that they have 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:59.839 the have this sense of well being as as we 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:03.720 are helping them achieve that. So you raised a number 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:07.600 of interesting points that I want to unpack one by one. 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:13.480 Let's start with why you believe this particular cycle was 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:17.520 so tight. Why was the downturn in February and March 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:21.320 six weeks as opposed to oh eight or nine where 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:27.520 it was eighteen months, which by itself was relatively short. Yeah. Well, 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:29.960 in large part it has to do with what the 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:37.000 ignition switch was. UM. The the economy before the pandemic 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:42.360 was fundamentally quite strong, a period of low interest rates, 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:49.760 a period of very high employment, a period that fundamentally, 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:54.199 UM was very healthy for the economy. Lots of people working, 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:57.440 and in our country, lots of people spending money. And 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:01.760 since two thirds of our economy as driven by consumer 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:05.800 spending in demand, when people spend money, UM, stocks are 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:09.319 doing well and UH, and the market is fairly sanguine. 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:13.359 That was the environment that we had before the pandemic. 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:16.200 The environment that we had an O eight oh nine UH, 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:19.920 we discovered was a little more fragile in terms of 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:24.120 the fundamentals of the economy as well as the fundamentals 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:27.680 of the financial services industry. UM that caused a ripple 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.360 when when it began to come apart, caused a ripple 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:33.800 effect that we know now is global. So that really 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:38.640 is the distinguishing difference. Now, UM, why UM, why we 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:43.920 had relatively little volatility. Then at the beginning of the pandemic, 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:47.640 we do have to look at the broad stock market 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:54.319 indexes and realize that a few growth companies have performed 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:58.640 exceedingly well, in large part because of the way that 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:04.200 they have served the consuming public and businesses during the pandemic. UM. 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:08.600 I think the five or six highest growth stocks are up, 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:12.440 you know, over the past six months or so, and 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:14.800 the rest of the S and P five hundred is 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:18.960 up far less and in some and on some weeks 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:23.280 is down. So it's a pretty narrow market that is 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:28.680 driving those, uh, those those broad benchmarks. So a lot 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:34.160 of moving parts with how the contraction came about, how 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:37.960 the economy recovered, what sectors are doing well. But I 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:40.960 want to focus on what you brought up earlier. You 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:46.440 have over sevent financial advisors. How do you make sure 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:51.600 everybody has the same client experience, whether it's portfolio management 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:55.800 or customer service. How do you translate that army of 0:14:55.840 --> 0:15:00.240 advisors into one I don't want to call it uniform warm, 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:06.160 but a consistent experience, a consistent interaction with Edward Jones, 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:11.960 no matter where your office is, where your advisor is. Yeah, um, 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:15.880 what what a what a great conversation that we can 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:18.840 have about that. So um, we have nineteen and a 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:22.800 half thousand financial advisors. We were the largest firm in 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:26.800 terms of number of financial advisors in our industry. Those 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:31.600 financial advisors are spread across the United States and in Canada. 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:36.120 We have forty nine thousand colleagues all together Um, so 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:40.320 we are all pulling in the same direction in terms 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:45.120 of what drives us Barry, our purpose, what gets us 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:48.760 up in the morning is making a meaningful difference in 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:51.400 the lives of the clients that we serve, the seven 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:55.200 million that we serve today and the tens of millions 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:59.840 of more that that look like serious, long term individual 0:15:59.880 --> 0:16:03.000 investors that we would like to serve. Now, you said, 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:06.200 how do we ensure that every client is having the 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:12.680 same experience, Well, actually we don't, because we we really 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:17.920 focus on the humanity of each of our clients and 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:23.440 discovering what it is that's most important to them, tailoring 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:29.680 the experience to what they need, um providing to them 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:34.760 as completely as we can a an experience that improves 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:40.160 their financial well being, thereby their entire well being, and 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:44.480 the experiences that that that is rooted in that the 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:49.400 emotions that that those experience are rooted in is a 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:53.120 common factor in terms of what we're seeking to deliver. 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:57.760 We know that our clients want to feel understood about 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:01.960 what's most important to them, in full about how to 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:06.720 achieve that financially uh and how they're progressing toward that 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:11.159 in control. They want to feel like they've got some agency. 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:14.560 Albeit no one's got control over the market, but some 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:18.119 some control and agency in their own lives. And we 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:21.040 know when they feel those things that there's a sense 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:26.560 of security and confidence about their long term path. So 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:30.440 the experiences that we seek to deliver, family by family, 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:35.800 individual by individual are all focused on helping individual clients 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:40.280 and investors feel those emotions and and how that's achieved 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:46.320 is through a deep trusted personal relationship with a financial advisor. 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:50.400 We don't have call centers, Um, we have financial advisors 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:54.720 in in communities, working face to face, one on one 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:58.960 with clients and their families. Huh. Quite interesting. So Penny, 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:02.680 let's talk a little little bit about financial advisors. What 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:06.199 what makes for a good financial advisor? And is that 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:09.439 something that can be taught or is it you know 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:12.480 you either are or aren't. What makes for a good 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:19.240 financial advisor is someone who recognizes that what we do 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:26.159 is a balance of e Q emotional quotient emotional intelligence 0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:32.640 and i Q so knowledge that can be learned, expertise 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:38.840 around the financial markets, around building a portfolio, around balancing 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:47.000 complex trade offs between among a client's goals. That's the 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:51.440 EQ part of what we do, and there is Boy, 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:55.959 there's lifelong learning associated with with the I'm sorry, with 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:58.720 the i Q part, with the intelligence quota, there is 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:02.000 lifelong learning a sciating with that, and UM bear your 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:07.080 organization helps financial advisors and and folks in the financial 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:11.840 marketplace with that lifelong learning and insight and perspective. The 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:17.360 EQ part is now more than ever and will continue 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:24.320 to be a hallmark of what really great financial advisors do. 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:33.040 The EQ part is being empathetic, recognizing that listening to 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:36.960 another human being about what their hopes are, about what 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:40.200 their fears are, and how those are changing over time, 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:46.280 how they're impacted, especially now by current events. Really generously 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:50.680 listening UM to that on the part of another human being, 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:55.960 and UM with with with that kind of empathy and 0:19:56.080 --> 0:20:01.200 with that sort of expertise, building up not only a plan, 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:07.960 a financial plan, but building a plan based on relationship 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:14.000 to keep people focused on their long term goals, notwithstanding 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:16.919 the short term ups and downs that are part of 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:20.720 that UM to keep people focused on the long term. 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:28.680 So empathy, generous listening, UM the process of of of 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:33.119 thinking a short term to long term, All of those 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:36.440 things make for make for the strength of a financial 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:39.639 advisor and back to my earlier point about the i 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:43.280 Q part of this, A lifelong learner someone who is 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:47.320 really interested in continuing to dial up their own skills 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:52.200 from an expertise standpoint, but also from from from an 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:56.200 empathy and EQ standpoint. So let's stick with the concept 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:59.800 of advisors. You guys are coming up on your hun 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:04.159 birthday not too far off in the future. You began 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:07.840 as a brokerage firm, and in the early days most 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:13.359 of your employees who were client facing were brokers. How 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:17.639 has over the past century, how has that changed to 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:22.080 what Edward Jones is today. Yeah, Well, it's a fascinating 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:26.960 history and it's really one that's rooted in um recognizing 0:21:27.560 --> 0:21:33.080 what was scarce in the marketplace and boldly and sometimes 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:40.240 of admittedly in a in a very unusual way, going 0:21:40.320 --> 0:21:45.680 after serving that underserved market. So back in the fifties 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:51.040 and sixties when Ted Jones are founder's son, recognized that 0:21:51.240 --> 0:21:56.280 the brokerage companies were all congregated in the large cities, 0:21:56.720 --> 0:22:00.600 but there was there were significant numbers of both with 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:05.800 wealth and uh with with businesses and jobs where they 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:11.680 were creating wealth who really deserved access to financial information, 0:22:11.880 --> 0:22:15.280 to products and services, to the ability to open an 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:19.040 account and do a transaction in the financial markets, uh, 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:22.960 in a really seamless and person to person way. Ted 0:22:23.080 --> 0:22:26.760 Jones recognized that that was scarce. It was scarce in 0:22:26.800 --> 0:22:30.240 more rural communities, and so he went about building a 0:22:30.320 --> 0:22:35.520 distribution system that spoke to to those clients. Now fast 0:22:35.560 --> 0:22:38.840 forward to today. You know, as I say opening an 0:22:38.840 --> 0:22:42.720 account and doing a transaction with scarce, then it certainly 0:22:42.880 --> 0:22:46.320 is not. Today. That's not what's scarce, and that is 0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:50.080 not what what is is the definition of value today. 0:22:50.119 --> 0:22:52.720 In fact, the ability to do a transaction in the 0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:57.160 financial markets is nearly a free good today, um, with 0:22:57.280 --> 0:23:01.000 zero commissions on trading and that sort of thing. Today, 0:23:01.040 --> 0:23:08.639 what is scarce is that hyper personalized, human centered relationship 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:14.200 for tens of millions of people whereby they can get 0:23:14.280 --> 0:23:18.159 good advice in achieving what's most important to them. And 0:23:18.200 --> 0:23:20.880 that is across the arc of generations as well as 0:23:21.280 --> 0:23:25.560 across the arc of complexity of needs. And so we 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:29.800 don't have account minimums and we don't have account maximums. Um. 0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:34.320 We work with clients who are serious long term individual investors. 0:23:35.040 --> 0:23:41.439 That means UM, they value relationship, they want advice, and 0:23:41.480 --> 0:23:46.119 they're focused on the long term in their lives. Quite interesting. 0:23:46.760 --> 0:23:50.439 You followed Jim Wettle, who was the managing partner at 0:23:50.560 --> 0:23:55.680 ed Jones for thirteen years. He oversaw a giant rise 0:23:55.760 --> 0:23:58.719 in both clients and assets. Edward Jones is now one 0:23:58.720 --> 0:24:02.080 of the nation's biggest wealth management company. Those are some 0:24:02.080 --> 0:24:05.160 pretty big shoes to fill. Yes, they are, and I 0:24:05.200 --> 0:24:08.800 feel it every day. If if you were in my office, 0:24:09.200 --> 0:24:11.800 uh and on the floor where where a number of 0:24:11.800 --> 0:24:15.200 our offices are there, there's some paintings down the hall 0:24:15.520 --> 0:24:20.040 and there are five paintings of our former managing partners. 0:24:20.040 --> 0:24:24.439 Are five former managing partners, including two whose last names 0:24:24.480 --> 0:24:29.280 were Jones uh then Doug Hill, John Bachman, Jim Wettle 0:24:29.960 --> 0:24:34.600 and um. Right across the hallway from those those paintings 0:24:34.680 --> 0:24:38.800 is a picture of Ted Jones, who was our founder's son, 0:24:39.119 --> 0:24:42.200 our second managing partner, And it's a picture of Ted 0:24:42.280 --> 0:24:45.600 with his horse and a couple of dogs out on 0:24:45.680 --> 0:24:50.520 his farm and he's talking about what he loves and 0:24:50.600 --> 0:24:56.000 what he's grateful for. And those those uh, those paintings 0:24:56.040 --> 0:24:59.520 and that picture of Ted remind me every day that 0:24:59.560 --> 0:25:02.320 I'm in the office of what our roots are, what 0:25:02.440 --> 0:25:06.639 our values are, who we came from. Importantly, all of 0:25:06.680 --> 0:25:13.159 our former managing partners were financial advisors. They sat with clients, 0:25:13.400 --> 0:25:16.280 building trust with clients. Albeit all the way back to 0:25:16.440 --> 0:25:19.800 nineteen two, there's a lot that changed about that, but 0:25:19.880 --> 0:25:24.480 what's fundamentally the same is building trust with clients. And 0:25:24.560 --> 0:25:29.600 as you said, UM, my immediate predecessor, Jim wettele Um 0:25:29.880 --> 0:25:34.000 was the leader of tremendous growth and growth and impact 0:25:34.440 --> 0:25:37.720 and our firm that took us from a few thousand 0:25:37.760 --> 0:25:43.399 financial advisors to today, um, nineteen thousand financial advisors in 0:25:43.760 --> 0:25:47.720 every nook and cranny, every large city and suburb in 0:25:47.920 --> 0:25:52.200 North America, in Canada and the United States. So following 0:25:52.200 --> 0:25:55.320 in those footsteps is it is an incredible responsibility, a 0:25:55.359 --> 0:25:59.720 great opportunity because what I learned from studying those former 0:25:59.760 --> 0:26:05.360 managing partners, they all looked forward boldly to the needs 0:26:05.440 --> 0:26:09.760 of millions of investors who we weren't serving yet, uh 0:26:09.840 --> 0:26:13.520 and took some some some pretty distinctive steps in order 0:26:13.600 --> 0:26:17.000 to serve them differentially. And perhaps we'll we'll talk some 0:26:17.240 --> 0:26:19.520 about some of that as week as we go along today. 0:26:19.840 --> 0:26:22.320 That is definitely on my list to get to. Did 0:26:22.359 --> 0:26:25.160 you get to work directly with Wettell. Did you pick 0:26:25.200 --> 0:26:28.240 up anything from him? Oh? Yeah, but well picked up 0:26:28.320 --> 0:26:32.119 tons from him. So I was part of the management 0:26:32.119 --> 0:26:37.440 committee and executive committee while Jim was managing partner. Interesting story. 0:26:38.040 --> 0:26:41.640 I was a financial advisor in Michigan from two thousand 0:26:41.760 --> 0:26:46.280 to two thousand and six. Jim was the managing partner 0:26:46.560 --> 0:26:50.120 who came in in two thousand and six and that 0:26:50.240 --> 0:26:53.920 year invited me to become a general partner in our 0:26:54.000 --> 0:26:58.760 firm and moved to St. Louis UH into home office leadership. 0:26:58.920 --> 0:27:03.600 And so had a ring side seat UM too Jim's 0:27:03.680 --> 0:27:07.280 tenure as managing partner, how he made decisions, how he 0:27:07.359 --> 0:27:11.200 thought about opportunity. I also had a ringside seat to 0:27:11.760 --> 0:27:15.840 UH to our leadership team working through the Great Recession 0:27:16.480 --> 0:27:20.280 and the impacts of two thousand eight two thousand and 0:27:20.400 --> 0:27:24.240 nine on clients, on our industry, and on our firm. 0:27:24.320 --> 0:27:28.560 And boy taught me a lot about about decision making 0:27:29.119 --> 0:27:33.040 during crisis. And I've while we haven't had a playbook 0:27:33.480 --> 0:27:35.800 for what has occurred over the last eight months, I 0:27:35.840 --> 0:27:39.520 have drawn on those experiences UH to know how to 0:27:39.560 --> 0:27:45.120 move forward. So full disclosure, we're recording this a few 0:27:45.200 --> 0:27:49.959 days after the election, but before the outcome is announced, 0:27:50.000 --> 0:27:53.960 so we have an inkling as to what might happens, 0:27:53.960 --> 0:27:57.400 but we really don't know for sure what the outcome 0:27:57.440 --> 0:28:00.399 is going to be. But let me ask you a 0:28:00.440 --> 0:28:04.040 couple of questions sort of in that in that area 0:28:04.760 --> 0:28:09.280 in my office before the election, that's all any client asked, 0:28:09.760 --> 0:28:13.000 what's going to happen? What does this mean for my portfolio? 0:28:13.119 --> 0:28:16.479 What does it mean for my taxes? On and on 0:28:16.520 --> 0:28:19.320 down the road. What what sort of questions have you 0:28:19.400 --> 0:28:23.440 been getting from clients about the election? Is it an 0:28:23.440 --> 0:28:25.760 issue they care about or is it, you know, just 0:28:25.840 --> 0:28:31.040 another element that occasionally comes up. Oh sure, our experience 0:28:31.080 --> 0:28:33.320 has been the same as yours bury. You know, we've 0:28:33.320 --> 0:28:36.240