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It
was in 1922 in Missouri that Edward D. Jones Sr. founded the
financial services firm that bears his name. The firm merged with
the bond house of Whitaker and Company in 1943. In its early years,
the firm’s representatives traveled the Missouri highways looking
for business. They were commonly called "TNT Brokers,"
since they were on the road Tuesday through Thursday. In 1948,
Edward D. "Ted" Jones Jr., son of the founder, returned
home to the family business after a stint on Wall Street. While
working his rural territory he began experimenting with the idea of
branch offices and opened the first in Mexico, Mo., in 1955.
As
the business grew, Ted recruited new brokers from the surrounding
Fulton County area. In the summer of ’74, Ted found Bob Neal
working for the local newspaper. Bob had a number of friends who
already worked for Edward Jones, and he met the "25 years of
age or older" requirement. His last day at the newspaper was
spent pitching papers from the back of his Chevy Vega wagon,
spreading the news of President Nixon’s resignation.
Neal
trained with the investment firm and was then told he could choose
his territory in any state that bordered Missouri. Bob and his best
friend chose theirs based on the two best corn crops for the year;
his friend went to Kewanee and Bob came to Lincoln. His area spread
from Springfield to Bloomington, but he spent a lot of time in Alvey’s
Drug Store, meeting people and learning from Doc Alvey who to call
upon. Neal’s first office opened in April of 1976 at 106 S.
Chicago. He later moved to the 200 block of South Kickapoo and has
been at the Broadway location since 1981.
Jim
Sparrow joined Neal almost three years ago, coming from the real
estate loan department of Magna Bank. Sparrow says he had always
been interested in the investment field, and Bob’s offer came at
the right time in the right way. Part of Jim’s decision was based
on the amount of training Edward Jones gives their representatives.
At the time Jim took his test, 93 percent of the Edward Jones
representatives passed the test compared to the national average of
68 percent. Sparrow has spent a lot of time learning the business
and getting to know Neal’s customers. Neal states that it takes
five to six years to get established in the investment business.
They
both stress that, in essence, they are two separate offices/brokers,
and the new office will reflect that. In fact, when you walk in the
door you’ll have to turn left or right into either Jim or Bob’s
office. Each will have his own reception area. They’ll share a
conference room, and, as in the past, cover for each other when one
is out of town.
This
is typical of Edward Jones Investment’s one-on-one philosophy. A
visitor to one of the more than 6,000 offices in the United States,
Canada or the United Kingdom will probably find just one investment
representative and one support person. Edward Jones is the largest
financial services firm in this country in terms of offices but
caters to the individual investor who wants to be able to
"sleep at night." They don’t trade options, commodities
or high-risk stocks. The average customer is 68 years old with a
401k that he wants to learn how to best utilize. Both Neal and
Sparrow say their goal is to find the way to meet the customer’s
goals and to develop long-term relationships. Some of Neal’s
customers have been with him since the beginning. New investors can
start with as little as $1,000 or $25 per month on an automatic
debit.
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top of second column in this article)
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Though
the everyday pace may be more "Mayberry R.F.D." than
"Boiler Room," the transactions are state-of-the-art.
Thanks to the magical world of computers, purchases and sales can be
made and confirmed in six to eight seconds. Technology is one of the
many things that have changed since Bob Neal first entered the
investment business. When he opened his office, transactions were
made by a Teletype machine leased from AT&T. It left the
building in 1979, and they’ve gone through three computer systems
since. There’s also more competition now, as many banks now have
brokers. However, there are more potential investors as the
"baby boomer" generation begins to make long-term
financial choices.
Some
things haven’t changed. Bob and Jim still go door-to-door, working
with individual investors and offering high-quality products. As
with all Edward Jones representatives, they are very active within
the community. Jim is on the Lincoln Park District Board of
Directors and Bob is in the Rotary, Kiwanis, past president of Main
Street Lincoln, on the Lincoln Parks and Trails Foundation Board,
and works with fund-raising for Lincoln College.
Although
they’ll they move to the new location, which Sparrow owns, from
the Broadway office, which Neal owns, they’ll be leaving a
"new" building behind as well. The Broadway office is part
of the downtown facade renovation grant, and work is beginning on
Sept. 11. Many would say the new location at Kickapoo and Clinton
does not look "workable" at this point, but the pressure
has been on to finish the interior so they can move and work can
begin on Broadway. The new building was designed by Bob Shattuck,
and local contractors were used as much as possible. There is room
on the lot for another complementary professional building, but
there are no plans for one at the present time.
Sparrow
and Neal said they decided to build in downtown Lincoln rather than
move to the west side because "the traffic is still
downtown." "Even though the mix of retail to service
businesses has changed, the downtown is more attractive now than it
was five or six years ago," they said. Bob Neal and Jim Sparrow
are investing in the future as they make the "move of the
millennium," but they’re still "helping investors from
downtown Lincoln since 1976."
[Wendy
Bell, program manager,
Main Street Lincoln]
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