Ann Jacobs and Will Fox: Not Just Financial Advisors

If you read the Caroline Review monthly magazine, then you’ve probably read a column or two from Denton’s Edward Jones Financial Advisors branch about how to responsibly manage your money. These free informational tidbits are just one of the ways that Ann Jacobs and Will Fox, both Edward Jones Financial Advisors, use their wealth of knowledge to give back to the community.

“We work with clients to help them reach their financial goals. The big one is retirement. But people have other financial goals, like short term emergency cash, education, savings, life insurance, long term care, those kinds of things,” Jacobs explained. Fox said that their main objective is to help others “plan for their financial futures.”

Jacobs said that she and Fox take on clients who are “committed long-term investors”; from new parents seeking life insurance options to hopeful retirees rolling over 401Ks. But even if you’re not a client, Jacobs said that their expertise is available to anyone in the community with a financial inquiry, “just give us a call. Conversation doesn’t cost anything,” she said.

Jacobs moved here from Annapolis in 2002 with two young kids and a desire for a new start at a slower pace. “It was a great place to raise the kids… Over the years I had done a few different things. I had a restaurant, then I was Main Street Manager, and then Director of the Chamber of Commerce. I just love the community and I love business,” she said. It was Caroline County’s open and instant embrace of her family that led her to feel so strongly about getting involved locally, “I just felt like we were loved and valued, and I loved the rural lifestyle, and I felt very committed.”

Fox on the other hand is a born and raised Caroline Countain. A North Caroline High School and Salisbury University grad, building a life and career on the Eastern Shore is important to him, “I got into real estate locally when I first got out [of college]… and realized that I wanted to kind of put my roots here. This wasn’t me stopping at home, so to speak, for a couple years before I extended my branches outward,” he said, “also at the same time, I was kind of falling in love with this world of finance as I was doing real estate. I knew this is what I wanted to do, but I wasn't necessarily sure that there was going to be an opportunity for me here on the Shore.” He says he has “a lot of gratitude” for Jacobs and the chance to do what he loves in his hometown.

They each support the local community in a variety of ways outside of their work with Edward Jones. Jacobs is on the Utility Commission for the Town of Denton. Fox is one of the newest members of the Denton Rotary Club, serves on the Board of Directors for the Caroline Center, and has previously coached youth sports — something he hopes to get back into in the future.

In addition to their printed advice in their Caroline Review column, they also provide in-person educational seminars and workshops that are open to the community. “It's not appropriate for everybody to be a client. But people will call us and have certain questions, and we have access to a wealth of financial information and planning information. So even though we don't always know all the answers, we can access our home office, different departments to get that expertise and help people,” Jacobs said.

To Jacobs and Fox, this outreach is needed to be prosperous in their roles, “This job comes with being deeply involved with your community, so I think that they're kind of one in the same…you're setting yourself up for success, but you're also trying to set your community up for success,” Fox said. The Denton Edward Jones branch also prides itself on being an inviting, down home place to go for personalized service, “That’s important to us, that commitment and connection to the community. And Lynn, our Branch Office Administrator, was born and raised in Caroline County, so a lot of times she’ll know new clients. So we really like that,” Jacobs added.

“I'm really early in my career, so it's not like I can donate these huge sums of money. One of the things I can do is I can lend my time. So I definitely try to do that as much as I can,” Fox said. While his motivation to give back stems from his roots here on the Shore, Jacobs said that she “could never thank the community enough” for what they gave to her family, “It’s in my heart to want to give back and grow the wealth of the community.”

In a general sense, Fox said he sees their work as a conduit for helping people obtain the financial freedom to blaze their own path in Caroline County, “I think it’s something me and Ann are both passionate about, because we both got the opportunity to be here on the Shore doing what we like…trying to position this as a place where people can learn and grow and then stay, even though that's not necessarily what we're doing on a day to day basis, I think broadly, that's something we really care about.”