The Jones Financial Companies is the parent of Edward Jones, an investment brokerage network catering to individual investors. Serving some 7 million clients, the "Wal-Mart of Wall Street" has thousands of offices (mainly in small cities, rural communities, and suburbs) in all 50 states and Canada. Brokers preach a conservative buy-and-hold approach, offering relatively low-risk investment vehicles such as government bonds, blue-chip stocks, high-quality mutual funds, IRAs, and annuities, as well as insurance. The company also engages in investment banking, underwriting, and making markets for corporate securities and municipal bonds.