Russ Jacobs assists local clients with financial planning at Edward Jones Investments

Financial advisor Russ Jacobs of Edward Jones Investments has a lot of experience in the world of business. His family owned a textile company in Manhattan where Jacobs first became involved in running a business. The business used offcuts of fabric from making tablecloths and sold them as coordinated accessories. This entrepreneurial spirit was soon instilled in both Jacobs and his brother, who both eventually moved to California.

After he earned a bachelor’s of science degree in business from Cal State University L.A., Jacobs and his brother began selling a specialized automobile ignition system in the auto accessories industry. Ten successful years later, the brothers sold the company and Russ’ brother relocated.

Jacobs then started an after-market auto accessory company on his own, which prospered for 12 years before he decided to make a career change and pursue a profession in finance. After researching various financial firms, he found that Edward Jones Investments had the best ratings. He explained that the company had continually won awards for training and had top merits in performance.

When asked about making the transition from owning his own business to working as a financial planner, Jacobs replied, “I think it was easy for me to find clients since I was already in an entrepreneurial mode. Being out and attaining clients was part of my background in sales and marketing.”

A local financial specialist, Jacobs said, “I find Fallbrook to be a great community for me and my client base and prospects. I especially relate well to clients who are in their sixties and above since I have a lot of similar life experiences.”

Jacobs represents approximately 230 households, which usually contain more than one type of account, whether that would be an IRA, college fund, or other investment. “I am very good at financial and long-term planning,” he said. “There is no cost to the client or prospect to come in and have me put together a plan for a potential investor.”

He explained that one of the tools Edward Jones Investments uses is a computer format which analyzes the income and expenses of the client to determine factors such as whether an increase in income will be needed in the future to support the continual expenditures.

Another system that the firm utilizes is a five-step process to help the investor by:

• Evaluating where the client is currently (financially)

• Discussing where they would eventually like to be

• Developing strategies on reaching those goals

• Implementing those methods

• Helping them stay on track.

“When you are a financial advisor, you are asking for a lot of trust from someone, so you must build a relationship with them first before the financial part takes place,” said Jacobs. “This relationship should be primarily with the advisor and secondarily with the firm.”

Founded in 1922, the private employee-owned limited partnership has many locations and represents over 7 million individual investors. With a revenue of $5.7 billion in 2013 and over $800 billion in managed assets, the firm is now number 444 on the Forbes 500.

By visiting http://www.edwardjones.com, one will notice a wide variety of resources offered such as investment topic information, a glossary, calculators, a tax center, updated market data and a professional partnerships center.

Portfolio opportunities include:

• Retirement (business and individual)

• Investments: stocks, mutual funds, annuities, fixed income plans

• Estate and trusts, as well as trust management

• Education plans

• Portfolio construction review

• Insurance: Long-term care, Long-term disability, Permanent and term life

• Banking: regular banking as well as money market, personal lines of credit, mortgages

Russ Jacobs of Edward Jones Investments has an office conveniently located in the Albertsons shopping center next to the CVS Pharmacy at 1099 South Mission Road in Fallbrook. Call (760) 731-7467 for more information.