Interview Report

Rania Aboellhasan

RMIS 3370.001

Debra Richardson

February 25, 2016

Interview with Jack Webb

I had the opportunity to interview Jack Webb, a Financial Advisor with Edward Jones. He is located in Arlington, TX and has been with the firm for about two years. I interned for the firm this past summer, so I was grateful to be able to make these type of contacts and network with advisors in the area.

The training of Financial Advisors within the firm to understand risk management is a normal process, quite similar to others in the industry. They acquire their licenses to sell securities, series 66 and 7. Some go through a 9-month training course and others only require a few weeks of training. They are trained to use specific tools and questionnaires with prospective clients. There are charts utilized to measure the types of investments that are riskier than others and some that are not as risky. “...92 acres of people supporting each advisor”, he joked. The support is endless and the tools are exclusive to Edward Jones. Jack explained his approach in contributing to risk management within his business. “It’s all about the client”, he says. He believes its important to understand each client’s goals and objectives, and their feelings towards risk before attempting to come up with a portfolio. Each client should be measured on an individual basis. To be successful, you must be very individualistic in your investment strategy and you can’t make an assumption based on age or gender. It would be inappropriate otherwise.

Interest Rate Risk was very important to him as well. For example, the fact that someone could have their life savings in a savings account growing slower than inflation is foolish. The risk is that your money will be outperformed by the inflation rate by continuing to leave it in a low interest CD/Savings Account/Bond. This surprisingly is happening to a lot of individuals who choose not to invest in the most appropriate way. Although this...