Edward Jones Review – Worth the Annual Fees?

Warren Buffett has famously said that the best investment most Americans can make is a low-cost S&P 500 index fund that will simply track the market’s performance over time. Buffett even went so far as to wager $500,000 of his own money that such an index fund would outperform a basket of hedge funds over a 10-year period — a bet he handily won.

Let me preface this by saying that I am biased insofar as I am the spouse of an Edward Jones advisor.

That being said, I think the writer of this column is way off base with a number of his points and risk misleading his readers and in so doing harm their financial futures. My hope is that after reading this post he shows some journalistic integrity and fixes his incorrect assertions.

I feel that I can clarify some mistakes that the writer made as I am very familiar with the firm as both a spouse of an advisor and as a client as well.

1. Edward Jones is not perfect, nor is it perfect for every investor. You should interview multiple advisors and firms in order to determine if they are the right fit for you.

2. Cheaper isn’t always better. In financial advising, you get what you pay for, like most things in life. You can go to a Wal-Mart financial advisor (Vanguard, E-Trade, etc.) or you can go to a full-service broker. There’s nothing wrong with the “Wal-Marts” of the world. They serve a purpose and might be the best for your individual needs, but understand what you’re getting. You pay less because you get less.

3. In the writer’s column, he list IRA fees and stock fees as additional costs and that’s a bit of a misnomer. At Edward Jones you can be in either a transactional account or a fee based account. In a transactional account, you pay a cost when you buy or sell an investment. This type of IRA would potentially have an IRA fee depending on your balance at Edward Jones. You would also pay a percentage when you buy a stock in this type of account. If you are in a fee based account (a flat percentage for the year) you do not pay an IRA fee, nor would you be charged a percentage when you buy or sell a stock. They’re both included in your fee. Edward Jones offers both accounts so that their clients can choose what is best for them, unlike some of their competitors that moved to a fee only service.

a. Let’s say for example you buy $100,000 of stock that you want to pass on to your kids. In a fee based account, you would pay $1,350 per year at 1.35%. That would fluctuate up or down with account balance, but let’s assume the balance stays exactly the same. That’s $13,500 over ten years. Not a great deal compared to E-Trade if that’s all you were paying your advisor for. This is what advisors call “reverse-churning”. Collecting a fee for management and then not doing anything. Understand that your EJ advisor CANNOT churn this account as the writer mentioned. It’s an impossibility. You could make a million trades a year in this account and you’d still only pay the $1,350, way better than your E-Trade account. You only have to worry about reverse-churning.

b. What your Edward Jones advisor would most likely recommend in this scenario is that you instead make use of a transactional account and let’s say you pay $2,000 up front, or 2%. You then leave it for 10 years, and you still have only ever paid $2,000. Making your average fee percentage, a whopping 0.2%. Not bad. Keep in mind, that in this type of account, you would have to be concerned about churning, as you would anywhere. This is WHY EJ has your best interest in mind by offering both. You can pick what works the best for you.

4. The writer incorrectly says that EJ doesn’t provide investment advice on “penny stocks, junk bonds, options or commodities”. That’s not true. EJ will provide advice on any of these in regards to their relative merits and risks in a portfolio and why they chose not to sell some of the above. However, you can actually invest in both “junk bonds” (i.e. non-investment-grade bonds) and commodities at EJ through mutual funds or ETFs.

5. I’ve already stated why the writer is incorrect about “active trading”. Depending on how active a client is, they could pay FAR less than a discount brokerage firm. There is also no potential to churn accounts. That’s another one wrong in the “Cons” section. Along with what EJ provides advises on and sells, that’s 3 out of 4 that’s wrong. Last one standing is fees…

6. The thing that the writer is probably most incorrect about is the fees. The assertion that accounts under $10M are paying too much is ludicrous. First of all, 0.5% on a $10M account is $50,000 per year! If all a financial advisor does is portfolio management, why would a millionaire pay that much money when they could just go to Vanguard? They could save millions over their lifetime. Yet, your average millionaire will be paying that bill to a full service brokerage firm like Edward Jones, Merrill Lynch or UBS. Meanwhile the writer wants you to bat an eye at the $135 a year on your $10,000 account? That’s the cost of your Netflix subscription for a highly educated financial professional. This is an example of one reason why the rich are rich and the poor are poor. Most of the rich understand that value of leaning on a professional for advice in their specialization. Your EJ advisor will help you with more than just portfolio management. They will work with your CPAs to develop specialize tax plans, your estate attorney to create the legacy that you want for your family, hold your hand through down markets to keep you from making mistakes, knowing and caring for your family, etc. But, don’t take my word for it. Take the word of a company that has been brought up multiple times in the comments section: Vanguard. They did a white paper showing just how much value a financial advisor brings: https://www.vanguard.com/pdf/ISGQVAA.pdf. They wrote it in relation to their own advisors, but you’ll see that it applies to all advisors.

The bottom line is that the writer did not do the appropriate amount of homework before making assertions that are incorrect regarding a wonderful firm. I could go on further, but I know this is already a long post. Suffice to say there’s a reason why EJ is consistently rated as one of the top financial advising firms based on customer satisfaction: http://www.jdpower.com/press-releases/jd-power-2017-us-full-service-investor-satisfaction-study.

I would challenge the writer to challenge his own assertions. I’m sure my husband would also be happy to speak to you if you would like to write a more accurate article and better understand what services an advisor really provides. They’re no longer “stock-brokers” like you’re treating them.

Go to Edward Jones and an old saying applies. A fool and his money are soon parted.

At Edward Jones the planning is what you pay for. A good financial advisor will seek to understand what is important to you. He or she will build a personalized strategy to help you achieve your financial goals and will partner with you throughout your life to help keep you on track.

I’ll try to make this simple and it applies to every financial company out there, not just EJ. In todays market environment, one should only expect 6-8 percent returns when planning long term, i.e. retirement. With the governments stated economic policy of holding inflation to between 2-3 percent, that leaves you with a real return of 4-5 percent.

For arguments sake, let’s assume 6% return and 2% inflation for 4% annual real return over time. If you are giving away 1% in the form of an asset under management fee, that equals 25% of your returns for the year. On a $1 mil account that’s 40K real return – 10K in fees, year in and year out. For those that believe this is a reasonable arrangement, I wish you luck.

For my money, throw it all in one of the Vanguard LifeStrategy funds based on your own risk tolerance. One fund to rule them all. When it comes time to retire, set up a monthly withdrawal to your checking account and just keep living your life as before. This method is based on the KISS principle of investing (Keep It Simple Stupid).

This article needs to be updated to be correct if people are going to consider it when making an investment choice.

Jones advisors are fiduciaries under the new laws rolling out this week. They have always been encouraged to follow that standard even when it wasn’t the law.

If you pay a management fee of 1.35% to invest you DO NOT ALSO pay annual account fees or stock investment fees.

The ongoing fees built in to mutual funds are set by the mutual fund company and exist universally wherever that fund is held – 401k, at the mutual fund company or in a brokerage account such as Jones.

The cons provided are not accurate. Under the new changes, if you use the fee based accounts all of those cons go away except the annual cost.

However you are getting a personalized CFO for your family for that cost. We tip 15-20% or more when we eat out but people balk at 1-2% to manage your wealth. As long as your individual advisor is doing their job that should easily be made up by the flexibility of the new account.

The cold hard fact is Edward Jones is very expensive and doesn’t provide great service if you don’t have very much money. A successful Edward Jones advisor makes hundreds of thousands of dollars per year managing the financial affairs of several hundred wealthy households and their time is extremely valuable. To get a piece of that time, you have to pay. If you have money (~$500k+) you will probably get good service and the fees will most likely be low to moderate and competitive with other similar companies in the industry. If you don’t have much money, it is going to be very expensive, because you are trying to compete for attention with people who have a lot more money, and pay a lot more for the advisors time than you do. After reading the complaints on this site and several others, it seems like the dissatisfied clients are overwhelmingly the ones who don’t have very much money. That is just the nature of the business.

I find all the article and comments irrelevant to my experience with EJ. I opened an IRA with EJ in 2002; all in American Funds mutual funds. They charged .75% upfront to manage my money. The fee was based on the amount of money I was giving them to invest; higher fees for less money. I haven’t paid any additional fees to EJ. My investment advisor does get money from American Funds, but not me. Over the life of my investment, I have averaged 7% per year. Since I’m not greedy, this works for me. I’ve had the same advisor for 14 years.

Edward jones Advisory Fund is by far the worst investment I have Down almost 6% over the last year.

Just transferred IRA from Edward Jones to Vanguard and of course Jones slapped me with a $135.00 fee. Vanguard $0 for in/out transfer. So done with Jones, wish I’d kicked ’em to the curb years ago.

I’m amazed when people think Edward Jones is a viable alternative. Out of the 11,000 branches out there, there might be some good “advisors.” I have a sizeable inheritance (now not so sizeable because of Edward Jones’ churning.) I have been through four “advisors” in the last year, including our trusted family advisor. Either I am treated differently from most clients, or Edward Jones just is not a good bet.

These people aren’t financial advisors. They are pushy salesmen with an agenda: to sell Edward Jones’ products or bust. They do things I consider criminal, or in any other industry would be considered criminal. My original advisor took me out of mutual funds that were doing well. He then charged me $30,000 to put me into some new mutual funds, all without my knowledge. Then, because he would no longer talk to me, I moved over to another “advisor.” This guy was an out flim flam person. I won’t go into what he did, but he sold me some stocks I didn’t want. (Edwrad jones chargest a 2% commission on individual stocks.)

My third advisor told me he was going to selll all of my assets because I refused to buy an annuity fruom him. So, I moved to a fourth. He is horrible, calls me every day when he has something to sell. He once called me in the hospital. He lies through his teeth. I recently asked him to sell an asset. He refused.

I mean, how does Edward Jones survive???? Their advisors are crooks, out to cheat people. It’s incredible Meanwhile, I have lost a sizeable portion of my investments. Now I am panic-stricken. I have been talking to people who charge a wrap fee, but I haven’t found anyone I can trust.

I’m starting to move my assets to Schwab. Hopefully they will be better. I think the problem is that I am a single woman, somewhat older, with no one to help out.

Very Disappointing

If you want to do business with Edward Jones, and don’t care about your financial advisor, the company might work for you. After 14 years, my advisor reassigned me to someone in his office (someone I did not like) and refused to return my calls when I wanted to discuss my concern. Guess I didn’t have enough money in to rate his attention. That’s loyalty for you. Be aware that this is Edward Jones’ policy – they can move you around from advisor to advisor without your permission or consent. But ignoring my inquiries (both by email and phone over a 2 week period of time) – that was nothing short of rude.

I just met with an edward jones financial adviser yesterday – the quote that I got was 5.75% fee to purchase a mutual fund… We were talking specifically about setting up a roth IRA, but I am pretty sure she said the 5.75% applies to basically all purchases of mutual funds. Any help making sense of that, based on the 2% quote mentioned in this article?
Thanks!

Just finished a complaint process with Edward Jones, of course they found themselves in no fault. They cost me thousands in horrible customer service and bad advice. IROCC was even involved, and they say not the first complaint against this company. Steer clear of these thieves, it will cost you a lot more in the long run. They should be ashamed of themselves. Ripping off the public and not caring whatsoever.

Edward Jones is, by far, one of the most ethical firms in the industry. Personal financial success is directly correlated to asset allocation and risk management. It appears that a few of these responses are due to either a lack of understanding regarding market volatility or fee structures. Cheap is not always better as index funds are market- weighted and more susceptible to “bubbles”. I do sometimes use some as a core but would never use entirely. Too many intelligent people are prone to chase returns and, in the end, buy high and sell low. Ironically, this error presents itself without prejudice. Most people need an Advisor and many are wise enough to admit it.

My friend n I both got sucked into Edward Jones both lost money. It was at the time the market was still going up. So happy we got out. The market has started to go down n im sure we both would of lost much more. All they say when the market go’s down is now is the time to add more to your account. Hell that would be every day. They will tell u that there fund have high dividend stocks in them but what they do not say is u do not get the dividend.

My wife and I use Edwards Jones as a CFP (Certified Financial Planner). Our agent looks not only at investments, but insurance coverage, various retirement funds, my wife’s small business, taxes, tax accounting, college account for baby and so on. In other words, my wife have a lot going on with entire money picture and need someone to handle it. It is too much for the young family to keep up with. Our agent checks in 4 times a year. Again, full service brokerage is for someone that just does not want the extra hobby of managing their money. It is too time consuming and I would rather do something else than read Money magazine, WSJ and watch PBS Money Hour. We look at this full service as retirement planning for the long haul and money management for the entire family. The cost to us is worth it and in this sense, they do a great job. They have to get paid somehow.

New technology makes financial advising easier for the average person. Online robo advisors such as Betterment, Wealthfront, FutureAdvisor, etc. make the need for high fee charging firms like EJ a dinosaur. If you want/believe in the face to face value of having an advisor to talk to then pay the higher fees.

The above arguments and comments highlight the problem with the financial education and perception of the mainstream. In this “back-and-forth” between everyone in this thread are not even being discussed.If you people are going to argue about fees and performance, and passive VS managed, and DIY VS an advisor, you must understand that there are simple, timeless truths at the foundation of the argument that you are failing to integrate here.

1. Regardless of the position you take on active VS passive management, the real issue is that MOST human beings cannot handle the volatility that comes along with any investment that (for example) tracks the equity markets (S&P 500 we will say) and yields a similar long term annual average rate of return. Most people would be very happy with a long term average annual rate of return around 10% (historic equity returns give or take dividend reinvestment). The problem is that people CANNOT deal with the inherent and recurring temporary declines, even though those declines are simply a means to an end of their long term performance. THEY CAN’T HANDLE IT. Humans’ strongest emotion is fear and fear is not navigated with rational thinking. How many people do you think piled into the technology euphoria in the late 90’s (not to mention, companies with no earnings) only to soon witness a collapse of that particular sector and then decide to sell what they owned at a staggering loss of 40, 50, 60%, etc? I’m quite certain the 1% “cost” to a trusted advisor who kept his/her clients’ allocation and emotions in check before, during, and after that time period ends up being extraordinarily valuable over the long run, even if only to navigate just these recurring fearful times. How about 2008? Even most people who owned even a quality portfolio of investments who didn’t have a proactive reassuring partner in a good advisor began moving money into cash after the majority of the downturn was behind us. Once the S&P500 doubled and tripled from the lows, humans then felt comfortable adding money back into equities. They thought the sky was falling and that the world was ending… just like those before them had thought so many times over the history of the markets (who were wrong every single solitary time, mind you).That’s human nature… and that’s why people don’t achieve the long term returns that they SHOULD, regardless of investing in index funds or managed funds without a good advisor… even if only to keep them from making disastrous mistakes.

2. The second part that no one can ever seem to take into consideration when arguing fruitlessly is that any investment account/portfolio/mix/allocation/plan… whatever you choose to name it… should have one sole purpose: to reach the goals that those human beings have over the long term (ie retiring at age 62, living until 90, spending $5000 per month in today’s dollars and increasing that by historic cost of living increases annually… not to mention funding some of their kids’ or grandkids’ education, addressing potential medical care costs, navigating a dynamic tax environment, understanding the impacts of social security filing strategies, understanding the impact of guaranteed income VS the reliance rate on their investment portfolio to maintain their lifestyle, and so much more). Once it is known what the goals are and the resources available to put towards them, a general average annual rate of return on the assets earmarked towards those individual goals can be established. For some, a 6% average annual rate of return is sufficient over the long term… for others, 8% may be required (unless working longer or spending less is an option they are willing to budge on). At the end of the day, if your long term goals are attainable with a 5% AARofR, why would you want (or need) to put yourself through the unnecessary emotional stress that an investment mix designed (by historical measures… and notice I said investment MIX not investment selection) to provide an AARofR of 9% will inherently put you through? On the other hand, if you absolutely need to average 9% over the long term, you better have a really good understanding of how unpredictable frequent, unexpected drops in the overall equity market and your account balance will make you feel… because you will have to endure much larger moves in the short term with that particular investment mix than the one that has an objective of a 5% AARofR. It is what it is. There is no magical investment ferry who will make your investments perform at some “outperforming” level (outperforming what, by the way?). I haven’t even touched on how maintaining the proper allocation (mix of stocks vs bonds AND exposure to the different asset classes among those) is crucial to maintaining your proper investment mix to reach your goals with the least amount of volatility (some call this “risk”) in the interim.

So, once a good advisor articulates to you the timeless, simple truths of 1 and 2 above, 1% per year to get you to where you want to be in the most efficient way possible shouldn’t sound too bad. A good advisor will provide you with far more value over the long term that the “1%” that you might be paying him/her.

Absolutely correct that any firm can have scoundrels. The culture of a firm can lean toward or against misbehavior. As a 25 year EJ vet, I can tell you our culture leans against misbehavior.

I agree with the pharmacist. Referrals from those you trust, with nothing to lose or gain if you do or don’t follow their advice, is the best kind of referral.

2% in fees will slash your account by 65% over a 40 year period. John Bogle calls it the tyranny of compounding cost overcomes the miracle of compounding interest. I’d stick with low cost passively managed funds. It’s been proven active mutual funds underperform their benchmarks over and over and over. Why pay all the fees for sub part performance?

Edward Jones will tell you anything and everything to get your money and your children money. At the end you lose. Either the market is up and you make less than you should or the market is down and you lose more than you should. All Edward Jones cares is they are making money and leaving the risk to you.

ARE YOU NUTS?
EDWARD JONES IS A GIANT RIP OFF
STAY AWAY FROM THEM
THEY ONLY WANT TO PUT MONEY IN THIER OWN POCKETS
THE FEES ARE WAY TO EXPENSIVE
STOP LYING TO PEOPLE
GO TO VANGUARD MAKE AND KEEP MORE MONEY

Very few managed mutual funds outperform total stock market index funds over 10+ years (>3-5%). Vanguard’s Total Stock Market index fund has had an annual return of 9.63% since inception in 1993 diversified over 3,800+ stocks with an annual expense ratio of 0.17. When you add in the 1-2% annual fees charged by most managed funds, it’s difficult to match the performance of a broad based index fund.

People have mentioned that the 1-2% fees don’t make that much of a difference. However, if you run the numbers on an investment calculator over a 20 year horizon the variances are staggering.

$100,000 invested at 9.50% in Vanguard’s Total Stock Market Index Fund for 20 years results in $614,641

$100,000 invested at 9.50% in a similar managed fund less 1.5% in annual fees for 20 years yields $466,096

The difference is $148,545 or about $7,500 per year. Seems like a lot of money to spend for financial advice especially when very, very few managed funds beat the broad market index over 10 year period. If you earn $50,000 per year in salary, this means that you’ll have to work three additional years to pay for that financial advice.

Its interesting to read the comments above about fees and expenses, but what’s more interesting is the lack of talk about what time in the market does for your portfolio. I’ve learned a lot by watching others with their portfolios and their advisors and have watched how their value has grown because of the amount of time they spent in the market in good quality stocks, mutual funds, etc.

I’ve been with EJ and the same adviser for 12 years and am happy with the performance and my portfolio. Its done quite well, and now I’m moving into stocks from mutual funds. But keeping my mutual fund in addition to the stock for diversification.

I am moving from EJ after 10yrs. My broker recommended the managed investors acct, which I changed to. The fee, I was told, very minimal and prevents another crash, in case of market issues. So the last two months they have e lost me money. the kicker is they still take the fee. not just any fee they take the fee off the money I already have invested every single month. So back I go as they double dip. How can you charge me a fee on the initial amount I have, even when you lose me money? I called my broker to change back and it’s 2.5% to get back into the same funds I’m in, but unmanaged!! Now they’re going to take $7500!! Not me… I am out! Don’t go wth the managed account!

Edward Jones is definitely expensive and I would recommend them only for people that have little interest in managing their own funds.
Vanguard offers the lowest expense ratios of the major investment firms that I have found (0.19% vs1.08% industry averages). They have zero purchase and redemption fees on most all mutual funds. 171 of 188 Vanguard mutual funds have outperformed their Lipper peer group averages. If you invested $100,000 with Edward Jones and purchase American mutual funds at 4.5% front end load and an expense ratio of 1.0% versus a comparable Vanguard mutual fund at 0% front end load and 0.2% expense ratio and left it invested for 10 years. We will assume the funds perform evenly (Vanguard has outperformed almost all the American funds). The Edward Jones account will cost you over $20,000 more than Vanguard! For that amount of money people real should take the time to learn about investing.
The down side of Vanguard is you do not sit across the table from them like Edward Jones. However, they have their “concierge” service for account under $500K, “select” service for accounts $500K-$1MM, and “flagship” service for $1MM+.
I have dealt with both. Edward Jones was good for me until my representative retired then I found out what it was like to have a person (the replacement) who was looking out for themself and not me. Vanguard doesn’t call me with the latest “hot” deals, but they have provided a very good return on my investments at low cost.
So overall I agree with Jim Jones. However I do know people that are not very good with money and would be better off with Edward Jones than doing investing themselves…even though Vanguard makes it really simple.

Why would you pay 2% to a person that does nothing? They make money when you buy more and charge a 1.5% annual fee. Look into Vanguard, Fidelity, T Row Price, and other low cost mutual funds/ETF’s.

I was with EJ for 2 years and never got any sound financial advice from my broker. There is a good book out there called The Intelligent Investor, that talks about low cost funds, dollar cost averaging, diversification, and etc. It can get into the weeds a little, but it has good ideas for the common investor. I think you can get by with 3-5 index funds and not pay a financial adviser. What does financial adviser even mean? I think I’m qualified for posting this post, so give me your 2%. Your EJ FA probably has BMW or Benz, thanks to you.

EJ is a joke, and as long as you can count on your own hands and feet, do your own investing. Do a little reading and you can save your 2% annual fee, 5.25% front loaded funds, and not but junk funds that don’t even produce over the long haul.

Have been with EJ for 6 years they use to recommend that when you do start drawing on you 401 that you take no more than 5% now that’s down to 4% because they can’t grow your account I guess not with them getting 2% plus all the trades they do on your behalf in the advisory solutions account. I have really only recently got concerned about the fees when I started to study the statements. Am changing going to Fisher Investments lower fees less complaints and a good track record. And my money goes where Ken Fishers goes. Hate to change have been friends with advisor for years at EJ but it’s about the dollar.. I need it more than they do and it means thousands for me. Plus customer service very reluctant to answer a question always want to refer you to agent but they are not always available.

They are iShares ETFs. ETFs of ETFs.

If you are Socrates, you should be able to figure it out. LOL

Agreed. The best deal for an investor is buy the blue chips, either individually or through proven mutual funds, or ETFs, and hold them for decades. If you do that, whether you paid $7 or 5.75% to get in, it really won’t matter. You will do fine. Check out AOA and AOR. Your broker probably won’t point them out to you.

There are studies showing that investors do not get the return that various asset classes have returned, basically, because they buy high and sell low. A program that puts a discipline in place, automatically rebalances, and removes emotion from the investment decision is easily worth a percent or two to most investors.

Good advice. Get to know your advisor. If you are not communicating comfortably with your person, find someone else. I am a 20+ year Edward Jones advisor. The most important person in the relationship is you.

An element left out of this discussion is the integrity of your FA, regardless of the brokerage firm involved. If you are dealing with a crook, you will get screwed every time whether it be by EJ, ML, Schwab or Scott. The integrity factor cannot be easily discerned. Advice from TRUSTED friends or TRUSTED business associates can be of utmost importance in the selection of a financial advisor. Watch out for the smooth talkers and get to know your FA on a personal level and the trust factor will begin to show itself. If you do not trust your FA, “get the hell out of Dodge” sooner rather than later. As a 76 year old retired pharmacist, I have dealt with 5 different advisors with different firms and this advice is based on 50 years of hard-earned experience.

I am a 20 year plus veteran broker. Here is an anology I use. Say your car needs repair AND you know how to fix it. Then all you need is a parts store. But say you do NOT know how to fix it. Then you need a Mr. Goodwrench. The hitch, though, is knowing what you think you know .

The adviser I have with Edward Jones has done a stellar job over the last 13 years!!! As for the so-called conflict of interest, I disagree, a financial adviser has two ways of getting paid, via comissions and sales charges, or a percentage of your total portfolio, usually 1 to 2% per year. Depending upon the size of the portfolio under management, the first is ultimately cheaper. As for the conflict of interest, if your adviser and you don’t see eye to eye, and you continue to stay with him or her, then its your own fault. An adviser is not the final say or word, your word is final, and if you allow an adviser to have that, then you have lost control over your investments. A good investor knows when to speak up and when to allow the adviser to lead. It is through a comfortable, trust worthy, respectful, professional relationship that solves this so-called conflict of interest.

Regardless of the firm its all about the adviser and your relationship to that adviser. If you see yourself knowing and understanding better than any adviser, then its pointless to have a financial adviser.

Lastly, the fees are not higher than average, actually they are cheaper!

sorry but the cons outweigh the pros for me. No online trading it would defeat the purpose for me. I guess you really have to look at how you are as an investor some people may want someone to do everything for them. The fees I couldn’t deal with either. Mine are free with BOA.