Pennington is moving Edward Jones from its traditional role as a stock brokerage firm into a new orientation as a financial-planning company.
Of her 20,000 financial advisors, a record for the firm, she now has 5,000 Certified Financial Planners. This ramp-up will help Edward Jones "meet a growing and urgent need for trusted, personal financial advice," in a world where 52% of affluent households want financial planning, compared to 29% who sought this type of advice in 2018, she said. This year, Edward Jones also launched its Generations private client service, its first foray into high-end wealth management.
"We're meeting this moment by expanding how we serve, moving toward a client-segmented model and aligning our compensation with the value we deliver to clients and their families," she said in an email.
The strategy shift isn't painless. Edward Jones announced a restructuring earlier this year and reportedly laid off some 250 workers this fall.
The only female head of a large brokerage firm in the U.S., Pennington has been in her role for six years and now heads a workforce of 55,000. Edward Jones administers $2.2 trillion in assets for nine million clients, with net income of $1.98 billion in 2024, up 23% from the previous year. She's been with the firm since 2000, after stints at Comerica and Wachovia, and has lived in St. Louis, where Edward Jones is based, since 2006.
As part of its shift toward financial planning, Edward Jones is also expanding its banking services this year. The firm is launching a program with Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank, which has a congruent physical footprint and a similar customer demographic. The idea is for advisors to offer clients an easy download of the U.S. Bank app, allowing them to move money into their Edward Jones brokerage accounts rapidly and quickly begin investing. This addresses the inertia that stops clients from making those transfers once they return home from the advisor's office.
For Pennington, banking is a key part of what she dubs "our goals-based approach to advice, something investors highly value." The firm's research with Morning Consult found that when investors have to set priorities for their money, they most often have to choose between saving in an emergency fund and saving for retirement. "That's why we're committed to offering a complete range of saving, spending and borrowing solutions through our cash and lending strategy," she said.
Edward Jones clients will have access to co-branded checking accounts, credit cards, and a digital customer experience through U.S. Bank.
"We believe these new solutions will allow us to meet clients where they are and provide them with the holistic service they desire," Pennington said.
Edward Jones has also started a venture-investing arm to bring in more innovative technologies. As of this year, the firm is using generative AI in branches and at headquarters, in addition to AI already in use "through live chat tools, in our Investment Advisory platform, in fraud detection, document processing, and helping generate leads for our financial advisors," she said.
"We see AI not as a replacement for human connection, but as a way to amplify it so we can serve more clients, more completely," Pennington said.
