Fidelity Clients--Share Your Suggestions, Tips, Tricks

[Qs Laptop]

About seven months ago I moved from Edward Jones to Fidelity. Every time I log on I'm finding more and more to love about the website. However, I feel as though I'm only scratching the surface.

I mostly buy and hold mutual funds, although I do own a couple individual stocks. I'm curious about building a CD ladder or a bond ladder in the future. I'm wondering about some of the services and website goodies that others are using.

What are some of the tips and tricks that long time users of Fidelity could pass along to a Fidelity newbie?

 

[GravitySucks]

Love the retirement planning tool. Play with it way too often. I enjoy doing What If changes. (My favorite this month was What If I get a part time seasonal job? It barely moved the needle. )
I used the bond ladder tool to build my initial bond ladder five years ago, but now it's just adding a couple a year so I do it manually.
The Analyses tab to see how close my equities track the Dow Jones Total Market Index and the fixed index analyses to a lesser extent.
Used to read the suggested news and advice articles, but not so much anymore.
I enjoy my yearly check in with the advisor too. Nice guy, never pushes, makes helpful suggestions.

 

[big-papa]

They've got a good website with lots of good tools. Main thing they need to fix is issues with FullView - there are plenty of posts on this forum as well as on Bogleheads on this particular topic.

 

[Octogirl]

Fidelity

Agree- I enjoy my yearly check in with the advisor who is never pushy, makes helpful suggestions, and tells me I am ok to retire as soon as I want.

I find the website easy to navigate and useful tools.

 

[braumeister]

Be sure to ask your rep to put you on the list for a free copy of TurboTax when it comes out. There seem to be some variables involved, depending on who your local rep might be, how much you have invested with Fidelity, etc. But it doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[Souschef]

i am happy with Fidelity. DW had an account with UBS, and some of her funds had fairly high expense ratios. Plus, they were a PITA to deal with. As an example, I sent them one of their forms directing them to do something. Next thing I know we get a call asking if we really wanted to do that.
FIDO personnel were very helpful in transferring the accounts, and they have a tool where they suggest similar funds at lower expense ratios.
I also have my 529 accounts there, and they have it set up to transfer funds to the university on my say so without any forms.

 

[scrabbler1]

I have been a Fido client since 1990 but didn't start boosting my involvement with Account Executives and their website until 2008, just before I ERed.


Meeting with an AE (no fee) was helpful in giving me a vote of confidence that I hadn't missed anything. I hadn't heard of this forum so I was mainly on my own other than a little involvement with another, seldom-used ER forum. The AE showed me how to use the retirement planning program (RIP).


In the weeks leading up to my ER, my Fido AE was helpful in setting up my Rollover IRA and handling two very large transactions in person shortly after my ER began. I was also learning more about the Fido website which was useful because Fido became the source of my investment income.


For some reason, my AEs kept leaving the local office and I got reassigned several times in 2008-2010 before finally landing a good, steady one in 2010. One of those AEs was rather pushy, trying to get me to turn over control of my portfolio to him for a fee. I balked at that, of course, and reported him immediately to his boss, the office manager, who then reassigned me to my current AE, a friendly man who isn't pushy, like the one I had before Mr. Pushy. I meet with him about once every 18 months.


The Fido website has been revamped few times in the last 10 years, so just when I got used to all of the features I frequently used, they moved everything around so I had to learn it all over again. I found that somewhat annoying.


I use the Fido website to monitor my account, obtain some data for my spreadsheets, and make routine transactions and account feature updates. But in 2016, I was notified that my username and email address had been found on the Dark Web, so they suspended my online privileges and automated phone privileges for a while, until I had my PC "professionally cleaned." (My PC's hard drive was not working well anyway, and I got it replaced, good enough to get my privileges restored.) Fido then scrubbed my account and gave me a new one. Unfortunately, they would not restore the checkwriting privileges I had with one bond fund which had been grandfathered in 10 years earlier because my account was considered a "new" account.

 

[jazz4cash]

Check out the learning center for tutorials and live or archived webinars. Sign up for auto alert when topics of interest are scheduled. There is a fixed income webinar this Thursday. The Guided Portfolio Service (GPS) will summarize all your Fido and non-Fido accounts and provide an overall asset allocation. It's on the Analysis tab when you log in. I enter outside accounts manually rather than using Full View so I haven't experienced the issues others are reporting. The Full View feature was never something that appealed to me. I just update GPS manually once per quarter.

The mobile app is pretty good too!

 

[LOL!]

The Fidelity.com web site has a lot of fluff, useless information, and advertising to get one to do stupid things. So I clicked on the "customize" button and removed everything possible that I could from my login page, so it looks like this now:

The only other tool that is useful to me is the "Analysis" tab near the top that does the equivalent of a Morningstar.com Portfolio X-ray. I use it to track my asset allocation across all my accounts at various financial institutions without having to re-enter any portfolio information. That is, the Fidelity Analysis tab has persistence. But one must click on a few things to get this Fidelity tool to have updated prices and values. It does NOT do automatic updates.

 

[jazz4cash]

Actually the Analysis tool does automatically update prices if you enter ticker symbols but can’t account for additional shares due to reinvestment. It does update share count and pricing for everything held at Fido.

 

[LOL!]

Actually the Analysis tool does automatically update prices if you enter ticker symbols but can’t account for additional shares due to reinvestment. It does update share count and pricing for everything held at Fido.

For me, if I don't click on the "Edit" button associated with each account that I have added to the Analysis tab, then the prices and values do not change.

Below are screen captures of before and after taken a moment ago. The Before picture is AFTER clicking on "Update View", but before clicking on Edit. Clearly, the text even gives the "Last Updated" date:

Before:

For the After capture, I clicked on Edit for only the Fixed income account. One can see that the Last Updated date changed, but not for the other two accounts where I did not click on Edit:

After:

So maybe I am doing something wrong? These "accounts" are fictitious and are a way for me to separately analyze Fixed income, Domestic equities, and Foreign equities or to combine them any way I wish. They do not reflect actual accounts at Fidelity, but do reflect all my accounts spread across several financial institutions including Fidelity.

So that's a tip for the OP: Use the Fidelity Analysis tab to analyze your entire portfolio including IRAs, 401(k), 403(b), taxable and wife's accounts all in one place.

 

[jazz4cash]

Yes I agree you have to click edit and save to get the update prices on non Fido accounts so I guess it’s not fully automatic.

 

[retired1]

About seven months ago I moved from Edward Jones to Fidelity. Every time I log on I'm finding more and more to love about the website. However, I feel as though I'm only scratching the surface.

I mostly buy and hold mutual funds, although I do own a couple individual stocks. I'm curious about building a CD ladder or a bond ladder in the future. I'm wondering about some of the services and website goodies that others are using.

What are some of the tips and tricks that long time users of Fidelity could pass along to a Fidelity newbie?

From all brokerages I've used, Fidelity has the best App experience. Kiplinger's latest issue compares different online brokerages: https://www.kiplinger.com/article/investing/T023-C000-S002-the-best-online-brokers-2018.html

 

[MRG]

Agree- I enjoy my yearly check in with the advisor who is never pushy, makes helpful suggestions, and tells me I am ok to retire as soon as I want.

I find the website easy to navigate and useful tools.

Actually some of us in rural areas no longer have dedicated Fidelity reps, even if you're Private Client.

Probably just as well, their last rep was a high pressure annuity salesman. I've talked with the branch manager several times; his solution is to call the 800 number.

Some of you think Vanguard doesn't give the best customer service! At least they give me a dedicated rep!

 

[marko]

We only have a bit of money with Fido; remnants of an inheritance and just left it there. Brother has all his investments there.

I had a bad experience: I was executor of my uncle's estate. All his investments were with Fido. When I went to the local office to transfer some funds/money from the estate, I stood in line like at a bank. "Next!" I stood at a counter next to another guy who was opening an account with $500. Quietly as I could I said that I had $4MM that I needed to move around. The guy next to me heard me anyway and had a comment.

I had called, identified myself, the lady looked up the account and told me "no just go up to the counter". You'd think that they'd have a special room? Bad form IMO.

THEN! It gets better.
I sent out check to various charities. The checks bounced because my signature didn't match my original sign form (I use a slightly different signature sometimes). A million dollars of bounced checks!!

I later found out that 1) Fido was supposed to notify me to before bouncing the checks--just in case-- and 2) notify me that the checks had bounced after the fact. Nada. I didn't even know about it until one charity came back to me asking what happened.

I could've sat there for years thinking that the charities had been paid.

Hard to imagine they manage such a large amount of money.

 

[GravitySucks]

Actually some of us in rural areas no longer have dedicated Fidelity reps, even if you're Private Client.
!

Yup. My guy is 2000 miles away. I can ask the same questions via phone or email as I can by going somewhere in person. Same guy very time. Same assistants. They must have great contact management software or incredible memories.
Never a hard sell. Always a reminder that I have goals and in particular my warn me not to get greedy when I let my AA drift up. This year he even chided me for not spending as much as I should.

 

[nwsteve]

Yup. My guy is 2000 miles away. I can ask the same questions via phone or email as I can by going somewhere in person. Same guy very time. Same assistants. They must have great contact management software or incredible memories.
Never a hard sell. Always a reminder that I have goals and in particular my warn me not to get greedy when I let my AA drift up.

+1
Ours is not quite 2k (more like a 1k distance) but same results. Always listens well and provides excellent value. His front line CSR person works miracle when asked and exceptionally well understands how to maneuver through the Fido processes.

 

[DrRoy]

I have had at least some $ with Fido for over 35 years. I have worked with others over time but now Fido has all of my non-401K $. The people at the bond desk are very helpful, and I also have a private rep.

 

[Dtail]

Retirement calculator is great and will eventually have a robust what if scenario.
CD and Bond Ladders easy to understand and use.
Best of all, I have a personal rep, but can get just about any answer from a multitude of generic reps with minimal wait time.

 

[audreyh1]

I like the auto roll feature for buying treasury bills.

Their fixed income trading page (once you select search inventory) has nice views for overall yields, treasuries, CDs, etc. The CDs have graphics illustrating bond ladders.

 

[Helen]

I was assigned a horrible account rep who lied, tried to pull a bait and switch, didn't listen to me and pulled a hard core sales pitch. I sent an email to the branch manager along with the email string and wasn't impressed with the response at all.

I then accompanied a friend to met with her Fido rep and ended up really liking the guy.

So, if you don't like the rep you are assigned, get a new one, they seem to really vary.

 

[foxfirev5]

I find the Fidelity Analysis Tool excellent for keeping track of CD/ Fixed Income. I use one for short term TBills and CD's. This is used for the next years IRA withdrawal. The other I use for income CD's. The tool is great with everything you need in a couple of clicks. Beyond the current avg maturity and yield , I find the monthly cash flow and other info invaluable. It takes less than 5 minutes a month to manage 75 holdings.

 

[COcheesehead]

The bond tools are excellent.
The planning tools are excellent.
The Visa card attached to cash management is 2% back on everything.
If you have high assets $1m+ or are an active trader, they give you Turbo Tax free.
Checks are free.
ATM charges are reimbursed worldwide.
The phone reps, the few times I needed them, are great.
There’s a good member forum there.

 

[jazz4cash]

The bond tools are excellent.
The planning tools are excellent.
The Visa card attached to cash management is 2% back on everything.
If you have high assets $1m+ or are an active trader, they give you Turbo Tax free.
Checks are free.
ATM charges are reimbursed worldwide.
The phone reps, the few times I needed them, are great.
There’s a good member forum there.

Hmm..what's that? Always learning something new around here!

 

[tgotch]

Love the retirement planning tool. Play with it way too often. I enjoy doing What If changes. (My favorite this month was What If I get a part time seasonal job? It barely moved the needle. )

Where is the option to add other (part-time) income?