That's generally how financial institutions operate. Get your money (sale), get it on an ongoing basis (EFT), hang on to it as long as they can (surrender charges, maturity dates), pay it out in pieces (annuities).Ed Jones agents are useless for everyone except themselves. A week before the thing crashed if someone called one of those Edward Jones guys they were told to stay calm and don't sell anything this will all pass. When it all did crash the Edward Jones guys were told to tell their clients to not sell and stay in and if the client was still insisting on selling then the Ed Jones agents were instructed to get the client to go ahead and sell and put the money in a low interest bearing Edward Jones holding account. The brokers only concern or goal was to keep the money in house.