Fidelity Premium Services

[Dimsumkid]

BTW, you are into dim sum?

Sorry, missed this part of your post. Yes, when it's good, that's how I ended up using this as a name. Whenever we go on vacation, we always make it a point to try the dim sum in that location. Sad to say, the local dim sum here pales in comparison to NY, LA, SF, Toronto, etc.

 

[bondi688]

Sad to say, the local dim sum here pales in comparison to NY, LA, SF, Toronto, etc.

Vancouver has great dim sum and great Chinese restaurants in general.

I was also taken to a joint that specialized in dim sum by friends when I was in HK last year. The decor and furniture were spartan, the price was cheap, and the people who went there were ordinary HK folks ( not the in crowd). There was a huge line waiting and you have to share tables. However the place has a Michelin 2 or 3 stars rating, and the dim sums were all freshly made and unbelievably great. The memory !!

 

[nwsteve]

I have found Fidelity gives much better and personal service to its customers when you have enough holdings to get you into the premium service or private client classification.

Just by asking about it, my Private Client Rep told me they would reimburse me for any version of Turbo Tax I needed. Picked up a copy of the Premier versioin at Costco and send receipt. She was surprised I had not asked for it before. Standard discount on TT is 25% throught the Fido site.
Nwsteve

PS Vanguard will let you download a discounted version but I think there is still a charge for Premier ($19.99 ?) if you are Flagship, more if you are at lower levels.

 

[Dimsumkid]

Just by asking about it, my Private Client Rep told me they would reimburse me for any version of Turbo Tax I needed. Picked up a copy of the Premier versioin at Costco and send receipt. She was surprised I had not asked for it before. Standard discount on TT is 25% throught the Fido site.
Nwsteve

PS Vanguard will let you download a discounted version but I think there is still a charge for Premier ($19.99 ?) if you are Flagship, more if you are at lower levels.

I'm definitely going to have to ask about the tax software at Fidelity. I know I've asked before, but all they've ever offered has been the 25% discount. I opened up a State Farm bank acct w/$100 to get online TurboTax Deluxe w/State last yr for free (I think it's $20 for the cd). As long as you're a State Farm account member, you qualify for free TurboTax as a benefit.

 

[dessert]

I also have a Fidelity Rep. that I can contact anytime. He occasionally calls me to check in and see how I am doing. He has always answered my questions and helps me any way that he can. He has suggested funds that I decided to buy into and am very satisfied with them. When I told him I wanted to purchase pssssst Wellesley, he surprised me by saying that he would get the on-line fee waived for me. That saved me $75 right there. There is no pressure and he understands that I do my own thing and just could use a little advice now and then. I have never been offered tickets, meals, outings or anything beyond the fee waiver that I mentioned. That is very surprising to hear about all of the perks some receive.

 

[Dawg52]

That is very surprising to hear about all of the perks some receive.

Yeah, I plan to ask my private client rep about all these perks. I've never been offered a darn thing. Of course I don't live in an area with a branch, but they could at least send me a coupon for a Big Mac or something.

 

[ejw93]

Agree with most who are Fido Premium members. No hard selling, just a one-on-one relationship with an advisor if you want it. If you're already reading this forum, you are smart enough to sniff out a sales pitch if one comes your way.

They're offering you a direct line to a dedicated advisor, a 'belly button' you can push if you need help.

Mine has been very helpful when I've asked to move money around or perform some year-end tax management.

You also get weekly emails with market insights from their fund managers, economists, etc. These can sometimes be informative and interesting.

Nothing to lose in taking them up on the offer... I'd recommend it.

 

[BellBarbara]

My husband worked for them, on the technology side though. During the huge market correction they lost a lot of customers to Schwab who had created relationships with people with lower amount of assets. So they made a huge push to do this (my husband managed the system for the reps that did this).

I agree that they are just touching base - but if you have a large amount of assets they do seem to try to sell annuities. Even to us! We have never met with them because my hub is easily talked into things and I won't risk it. LOL

 

[ERD50]

Sorry, missed this part of your post. Yes, when it's good, that's how I ended up using this as a name. Whenever we go on vacation, we always make it a point to try the dim sum in that location. Sad to say, the local dim sum here pales in comparison to NY, LA, SF, Toronto, etc.

OFF TOPIC: IIRC you are on the North Shore area of Chicago-land. By 'local', are you including China-town? I'm assuming you can get good dimsum there, but I don't really know. Would appreciate any reccs.

-ERD50

 

[Dimsumkid]

OFF TOPIC: IIRC you are on the North Shore area of Chicago-land. By 'local', are you including China-town? I'm assuming you can get good dimsum there, but I don't really know. Would appreciate any reccs.

-ERD50

As I had mentioned in my earlier post, the pickings in Chicago aren't great compared to other cities. Many places that we used to go (Mountain View and Shui Wah) have closed. It seems only the bigger touristy places are still open, Phoenix (grand opening food was great, they borrowed chefs from Toronto for 3-4 months), Three Happiness and Furama (decent food, slow service closer to US Cellular field and north side Chinatown). My in laws still live in Chinatown, they like to pick cheap/low priced places. The pickings are so slim here, that we stopped going out locally for any dim sum. Sad for us.

I got spoiled by working in LA for two years and eating dim sum 1-2 times/week. As a comparison, LA uses whole big shrimp w/no fillers in the ha gow for ($1-2 small plate), Chicago seems to use all chopped shrimp or tiny shrimp w/fillers thrown in ($2-3 small plate).

For soups like won ton mein (noodles & dumplings) or congee (rice porridge we ask for the 1000 yr old egg added in, it's an aged duck egg), we really like Seven Treasures. For lunch/dinner, we go to Lee Wing Wah a lot, Triple Crown is good too.

 

[Nords]

I agree that they are just touching base - but if you have a large amount of assets they do seem to try to sell annuities. Even to us! We have never met with them because my hub is easily talked into things and I won't risk it. LOL

I think my file with them has an entry in big bold font: "Don't let this guy get started on annuities, it's not worth your time!"

 

[dessert]

Yeah, I plan to ask my private client rep about all these perks. I've never been offered a darn thing. Of course I don't live in an area with a branch, but they could at least send me a coupon for a Big Mac or something.

Yeah Dawg, I don't live in an area with a branch either. The closest branch to both of us is in Houston I believe. That is where my Rep. is.
I did receive an impressive looking Christmas card from a Fido Vice Pres. and my Rep. also had a slide-in portion in there too.
I was impressed!
Hey if you get a Big Mac or something, tell them not to forget about me.

 

[mathjak107]

i made my first appointment with fidelity in 25 years for friday. ill report back.

 

[haha]

I got better help from my FIDO rep during my divorce than I did from my attorney. He was also a very nice guy that I got to know fairly well, and he had a knack for hiring good looking young women as his assistants.

Perks? Couple of deluxe box NFL games, and a couple baseball games. Very nice. Late season football games in Seattle can be a real trial weather wise, and that enclosed box with wine and snacks and no drunk is nice. Plenty of drunks elsewhere in the stands. I marvel at how someone would spend $hundreds, then get too drunk to really notice the game, or spend half his time going to the bathroom. Most of our local drunks however do not seem argumentative. Just hi-5s all around.

I have never paid for a Seahawks game, but I have been lucky at getting tickets from time to time.

Ha

 

[rescueme]

I/DW had sessions at the local (50 miles away) office, in preperation for retirement.

Once I retired, I attended two information/training seminars that they offered (I don't beleive they still do this, but I could be wrong).

During our time there, we were always offered a light lunch (pizza, sandwiches, soda) before/during our meetings.

Not a night at the Met, but good enough for us ...

Of course, we are Private Access clients (rather than Preimum). Maybe that makes a difference.

https://www.fidelity.com/private-client-services/overview

I get calls every so often, but they know that I'm a "do it yourself" invidual, and they don't try to "push" anything. They just want to know that they are there if I (or DW) need anything...

 

[dessert]

Of course, we are Private Access clients (rather than Preimum). Maybe that makes a difference.

https://www.fidelity.com/private-client-services/overview

Maybe the Houston office would offer such perks if we lived there. I've never been to the Fidelity Office or met my Representative either. I'm in Louisiana so I'm sure the tickets, dinners etc. would go to folks in the area that they know better and could actually attend etc. That makes sense to me. Maybe I'll invite him to a Saints game here and tell him to bring the tickets and his company credit card.

 

[mathjak107]

we went today for a meeting. very pleasent , no products were pushed on us. i found our rep to be knowledable and very nice.

no tea and krumpets though.

we will get our work up in the mail once it passes through compliance.