Edward Jones vs Raymond James Financial: Comparing Financial Advisors | HelpAdvisor.com (2024)

Christian Worstell | November 15, 2023

When deciding who to trust with your investments, it’s wise to consider a well-renowned financial advisor. Edward Jones and Raymond James Financial are both trusted companies offering wealth management and investment services. Whatever your financial goals, here’s how the two stack up against one another, so you can decide which may be your best option for investing your money.

Who Are Edward Jones and Raymond James Financial?

Edward Jones and Raymond James Financial are both full-service financial service companies, offering wealth management services and investment products. While Edward Jones focuses on helping U.S. individuals manage their investments, Raymond James provides financial advice internationally for individuals and corporate clients. Both financial advisors value the impact that investing can have on people’s quality of life.

What Services Do Edward Jones and Raymond James Financial Provide?

Each company offers a slightly different business model. Here’s what you can expect from Edward Jones and Raymond James Financial.

Edward Jones Products and Services

Edward Jones focuses on making wealth management easy for its clients. With its digital platform, you can manage your money from anywhere in the world if you aren’t able to meet with your financial advisor face-to-face. You can manage trade authorization, web conferencing and fund transfers online. However, the company does have financial advisors available across the United States to meet with in person.

Investment products include what you’d expect from a brokerage— you can buy and sell stocks, fixed-income investments such as CDs and bonds, and mutual funds.

If you’re planning for retirement, you can set up several types of retirement accounts. These include standard, Roth and rollover IRAs.

If you want protection for the future, there are a range of insurance options. You could choose from permanent

Raymond James Financial Products and Services

Raymond James attributes its success to getting to know its clients and their needs individually. When you begin working with this firm, financial advisors talk through your financial goals and recommend services and products to meet your needs, crafting a plan that changes over time.

This firm offers investment services and money management services to manage your borrowing and spending, whether you want to save for a home renovation project or take out a loan.

Investment products include retirement IRAs and retirement planning, education planning for college funding, managing your charitable giving, life insurance and annuities. There are also typical investments such as stocks, ETFs, bonds and mutual funds.

Raymond James can provide alternative investment opportunities to help you create a balanced portfolio, including investments in private equity and hedge fund management.

Are Edward Jones and Raymond James Good Financial Advisors?

Edward Jones has been in the Fortune 500 for 10 years in a row with numerous awards under its belt. It was named one of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies in the World, coming in Top 5 for Asset Management and Top 3 for People Management.

Raymond James Financial has earned similar recognition in the industry too, with awards such as the

What Are the Fees Like for Edward Jones and Raymond James Financial?

Fees for both companies vary widely as they each take an individualized approach to managing your investments, so there isn’t one flat rate. However, there are specific fees for services, depending on what you use and how much money you invest.

Edward Jones Fees

Each type of account has its own fee structure. For Select accounts, which are hands-on, you’ll pay a commission on buying and selling investments. For Guided and Advisory accounts, there’s a program fee of 1.35%. There may also be federal and internal fees for investments on top of these, so it’s worth checking fee structure wording specifically to understand how much you’ll pay on your investments.

Raymond James Financial Fees

Raymond James fees are a little more transparent. Account maintenance costs $75 per year, which is waived if your assets total more than $250,000. Some accounts don’t command a fee, including IRAs and trust accounts. Additionally, there are service and processing fees for things like tax filing, foreign exchange conversion and early payouts.

Choosing the Right Financial Advisor for Your Goals

Before you choose your financial advisor, it’s vital you sit down and work out your financial goals for the future. Once you have a clearer picture, you can make an informed decision about which financial advisory company to work with to manage your money.