BEST WEALTH MANAGEMENT FIRM
E DWARD JONES
“All of us feel deeply grateful to your readers who have found such great value in the work that we’re doing with them as individuals and within our community.” —Kim Murphy, financial advisor
By Jessie De La O
W hether you’re saving money for a child’s college fund or for your retirement, investing is one option to consider for building wealth. Some people may fear investing because they don’t know what steps it involves and don’t want to risk losing their savings. This is where Edward Jones comes in. Edward Jones is a privately-owned investment company and has numerous offices all over the U.S. and Canada, including in Sonoma, Marin, Napa and Mendocino counties. In one of its Santa Rosa offices you will find financial advisor Kim Murphy, who has worked with the firm since 2002. Murphy says she works with retirement plans and businesspeople. She adds that each branch specializes in different things. One financial advisor might specialize in college plans whereas another may specialize in retirement plans. Advisors will then build experience around their specialty. According to the Edward Jones website, the company’s mission states that “the work we do is an extension of our purpose, which is to partner for positive
Edward Jones has several locations in the North Bay with offices in Sonoma, Marin, Napa and Mendocino counties.
designed to tease out what is really important to that client.” She says it’s also important she and a client get to know each other. “You and I may feel really comfortable and enjoy working together in our first meeting, but it takes time to work through those things, and so we often encourage people to have several conversations and several meetings to make sure it’s a good fit.” What sets Edward Jones apart from other like-minded investment firms is the amount of time and attention it takes to train the staff and build relationships with each other as peers and colleagues, says Murphy. There’s also a lot of time spent on coaching, which is a major part of her work, as well as improving employees’ performances. Although there’s some healthy competition because they all want to do well, she says there’s also collegiality, which she admits has kept her working for the company and which she loves the most. It’s the firm’s teamwork that helped it win Best Wealth Management Company in NorthBay biz magazine’s 2024 readers’ poll. Murphy points out the great value in the work the firm does hasn’t gone unnoticed with its clients and community. “Well of course it’s super, super exciting for us and we’re honored and all of us feel deeply grateful to [ NorthBay biz readers] who have found such great value in the work that we’re doing with them as individuals and within our community,” she says. “It’s a great honor.” v v
impact, to improve the lives of our clients and colleagues and together, better our communities and society.” This aligns exactly with what Murphy says, which is that the company’s primary mission is to support its communities and clients. She adds that everything they do—including how they train their financial advisors, and all of their colleagues—is to support the needs, wants and desires of their clients. For anyone who’s never invested their money and wish to find out
more information before proceeding, they can seek the assistance of one of Edward Jones’ knowledgeable financial advisors. Murphy says the first thing advisors do for potential clients is give them a number of questionnaires to answer. “We ask them to examine their risk tolerance because some people have never had anything more than a bank account,” says Murphy. “It may be really daunting for them to have a retirement account, as an example, and things with stocks and bonds. So, we provide people with questionnaires that are
edwardjones.com
Kim Murphy
Best of the North Bay 2024
Northbaybiz 71
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