Financial advisor William Morales, AAMS (Accredited Asset Management Specialist), and branch office administrator Beth Ramirez make up the Edward Jones Financial Services team in the Windfair Professional Center, located across Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC).
Morales has been serving clients in this location since 2012, when he closed his Tampa Palms office and moved it to Wesley Chapel. He joined Edward Jones in 2008.
“I always wanted a Wesley Chapel branch,” says Morales, who has lived in Meadow Pointe with his wife for 20 years, where they raised two daughters, and where he now serves his neighbors.
“We are a full-service agency, and I wear many different hats,” he explains. “When I work with clients, I may serve as their stock broker, their insurance agent and their bond dealer. At its core, my work is as a financial planner.”
He explains that he helps his clients in any of five different core areas, depending upon each client’s stage of life and their individual needs:
• Planning for a comfortable retirement (for those who are currently working)
• Enjoying retirement (for those who have already retired)
• Paying for education
• Preparing for the unexpected
• Saving money on taxes
A Little History
Founded in 1922, Edward Jones has grown to be the largest financial services firm in the industry, with 16,000 financial advisors and 14,000 branches, serving more than 7 million households.
Morales explains that Edward Jones, which is headquartered in St. Louis, MO, is different than other financial firms, as it is not a publicly traded company itself, and has no Board of Directors and no shareholders. Therefore, Morales says, his singular focus can be on serving his clients. All 14,000 Edward Jones branches throughout the U.S. and Canada are small offices located in the communities where the financial advisors live and serve.
Morales works with his clients through a five-step process, starting with “Where am I today?” and “Where would I like to be?” Then, he says, the next steps — “Can I get there?” and “How do I get there?” — are his job. Once he’s worked with you through those steps, Morales says he continues to advise each client to determine, “How can I stay on track?”
“I take care of financial affairs for a select group of families in our area,” he says, “with about half of my clients working families, and the other half being already retired.”
He says this “select” group of both working families and retirees is limited not by any particular criteria, but because he limits himself to maintaining a small group of clients so that he can manage all of their needs well.
“If we try to be everything to everyone, we lose that personal touch,” Morales says. “It makes it tough to deliver the same level of service.”
He says the most important thing to do when you’re looking for a financial advisor is to find someone you feel confident in that you hopefully will want to work with for the rest of your life.
“(Your financial advisor) has to be someone you like, someone who makes you feel comfortable and someone you can trust,” he says.
Satisfied Customers
John and Debbie Engel are Wesley Chapel residents who have been working with Morales for about four years.
“Our experience has been fabulous,” says Debbie. “He’s always available. He’s extremely smart, very passionate, very caring, and he’s always there (for us).”
She adds that Morales never makes her feel rushed, and always spends time answering all of her questions. “Every question my husband and I have ever had has been answered,” Debbie says. “There were issues we didn’t understand, so we asked questions, and he gave us a very explicit explanation. I feel very safe and at-home there, like I could ask him anything.”
Debbie also explains that, “Our entire portfolio for retirement is with Edward Jones, including our investments, assets, bonds, annuities, 401ks, IRAs…our whole life, and I feel very comfortable with that.”
Morales says the way he approaches his clients is known as the Edward Jones “value proposition.”
He says, “There’s nothing more important to us than understanding what’s important to you, using an established process to help you build personalized strategies to achieve your goals, and partnering together with you throughout your life to keep you on track.”
Morales explains that a first-time appointment with him is similar to visiting a new doctor. “I’m going to ask you a lot of personal questions, so I can really understand what’s going on with you financially,” he says, adding that he also uses financial questionnaires and conversation to help determine his clients’ needs.
Payment Options
Once someone becomes Morales’ customer, they can choose to pay a flat annual fee for Edward Jones to manage all of their assets. The more traditional method is where Morales receives his payment from the mutual funds, insurance policies and other investments he sells.
“Another thing that makes us unique from our competition is that there are no Edward Jones investments to sell,” says Morales. “We sell the products of all the other companies, such as Fidelity, for the same cost to you as if you bought directly from them.”
Morales recommends working with a large firm, such as Edward Jones, “because the big firms have oversight. Unlike independent financial planners who don’t work for a larger company, Edward Jones has measures in place to watch what I do.”
He adds, “My job is relationship-driven. I have to do the ‘nerd work’ and crunch the numbers, but most of what I do is serve my clients, and there’s no cost for my advice.”
Before joining Edward Jones, Morales was president of a mortgage company in New Tampa and served six years in the U.S. Army Ordinance Corps, spending four years stationed in and around Kuwait. Originally from New York City, he and his family moved to Tampa, where he graduated from Chamberlain High.
For more info, call Wesley Chapel Edward Jones branch office administrator Beth Ramirez at (813) 991-7034, and she’ll schedule your appointment with Morales at the office located at 2748 Windguard Cir., Suite 101 (in the office plaza behind The Hungry Greek) in Wesley Chapel. Or, see the ad on page 26, or visit EdwardJones.com/William-Morales.
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