Raymond James Financial group in Brownwood.
 

Any comments or experience with this organization would be appreciated.
I have read the information on their local and national websites, but would like personal experience(s) if available.

we use Cindy Richards. Mostly CD's and Annunities. We like her.

We do use Raymond James, but our agent is in Michigan. We have never had issue with either.

Always ask if they are fiduciary advisers. That means they took an oath to represent the best interests of the client not the instrument that yields them the biggest commission. Please let us know how they answer the question.

If you want to use Raymond James Brian Cochran is a RJ guy who is ranked #1 in NM by Barrons, #1 in NM and #3 nationwide by Forbes. He is the investment advisor on my trust.

Brian Cochran, John Moore Team | John Moore Associates

Barrons once or twice a year publishes a list of the best in every state. There are a large number in Florida, of course.

2019 Top 1200 U. S. Financial Advisors Ranked by State

The Barron's ranking are self nominated.....filling out a questionnaire. Not much investigative work.


Advisors who wish to be ranked fill out a 102-question survey about their practice. We verify that data with the advisors’ firms and with regulatory databases and then we apply our rankings formula to the data to generate a ranking. The formula features three major categories of calculations: (1) Assets (2) Revenue (3) Quality of practice. In each of those categories we do multiple subcalculations.





Quality is the last categories.

Thanks!

Here is the Barron's heading for their listings.

2019 Top Advisor Rankings by State
Here are America's best financial advisors, organized by state. The rankings are based on data provided by over 4,000 of the nation's most productive advisors. Factors included in the rankings: assets under management, revenue produced for the firm, regulatory record, quality of practice and philanthropic work. Investment performance isn't an explicit component because not all advisors have audited results and because performance figures often are influenced more by clients' risk tolerance than by an advisor's investment-picking abilities. A ranking of "N" denotes "not ranked that year".


I looked it up for Forbes.

Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Advisors Methodology 2019

Maybe it's just me, but paying someone else to handle my money...just kinda goes against my grain.

Particularly, if they're making enough profit off of their clients...to sponsor polo teams. :ohdear:

As I said...maybe it's just me. :shrug:

"But where are the customers' yachts?"

No, it's not just you. There are at least two of us. I never paid an "advisor" and never will.

I sold mine.

Got tired of the...BOATT cycle.

Been giving thought to getting some tight white pants, a funky little hat, a couple of ponies...and one of them long croquet mallets. :ho:

I feel obligated to post the following every time I see an investment advisor post.

Take time to read Paul Merriman’s 3 FREE ebooks.
1. First-Time Investor
2. 101 Investment Decisions
3. Get Smart or Get Screwed

Found at paulmerriman.com

thanks for the comment on Merriman
 

I do a significant amount of reading regarding investments and investment strategy. I had never heard of merriman and a quick look at his web site shows a lot of interesting comments. I tried 2 well known investment firms following a corollary of " A person that represents himself in court has a fool for a client". Well, it didnt work for me, and I've developed a plan we are both comfortable with. I don;t pay for 95% of the limited trades I make, and save a boatload on advisory fees. But there's always something to learn .. I'll delve into Merriman a bit more and perhaps make some semi intelligent comments on what i find .. thanks again

Be sure to compare cost and very important, market performance over various markets for the type of investments they recommend.

I’ve had my IRA with advisors on the Barrons list. Didn’t help during the Great Recession. My thought is to ask what has been the average client portfolio performance for the past (your choice) number of years. Then you’ll have something to compare against other advisors.
Would you buy a performance car if you couldn’t see the figures on how it performs?
If you get the response “my mother has her retirement money with me”....keep looking.