While standing in her sister’s driveway a few days ago, my wife Catherine was approached by a middle-aged man.
He had gray hair and glasses; wore a dress shirt, tie and slacks. His name was Russell J. Pinto.
Russ is a financial advisor with Edward Jones, a full-service brokerage firm. According to his business card (which was stapled to a nice brochure), he is based out of Eastchester, N.Y., and can be reached at russell.pinto@edwardjones.com. He seemed like a genuinely decent and capable man who decided to go door to door in search of new clients.
Which leads to the ineviatble question: Would you invest your money with someone who goes door to door in search of new clients? On the one hand, he’s driven and passionate and—in these financially crushing times—willing to go the extra mile to succeed. On the other hand, what does going door to door say about his business? About his own personal finances?
I’m not sure what the answer is—only that I don’t need a financial advisor right now, but I felt very bad for him. Times are soooo incredibly hard right now, and being a financial planner must be just nightmarish in a time when nobody trusts anyone, and more and more people seem to be stashing their dough under the pillow. If Russell J. Pinto has to go door to door in search of clients, the well is pretty dry.
Oy.
PS: The above photo is not of Russell.
