Free Fidelity retirement consultation?

[tmm99]

I just moved my old 401K's to rollover IRA's and the guy said he could set one up.

Does anybody know what they would do for you? (I said I wasn't interested if it's some kind of annuity selling session, and he laughed and said they will not since they get no commissions... I had to go somewhere so I just said sure, have them call me..)

 

[marko]

Depending on your deposit amount, they generally offer a set of fairly benign but solid investment options. They can set you up with an AA depending on your needs etc.

So many people are clueless and the smaller the clue the bigger the help they can be.

If you're in the HNW range, they can offer some deeper insights.

As noted, they're not trying to sell anything, just insure that you become a satisfied customer.

 

[latexman]

My Fido guy and I determined my risk tolerance, which sets my Asset Allocation. We ran their fund recommendation tool to achieve my AA. Some I used as-is and some I picked a lower expense ratio index fund. We went step by step building data in their Retirement Income Planner. This first pass said retirement was a few years away. We determined the weak link in my RIP was my estimate of expenses during retirement, so he gave me a spreadsheet to collect and categorize my data for a few years to sharpen the pencil. Next Jan. we'll go through my 2015 data and update my RIP and see how things look.


I like my Fido guy. He makes suggestions, but is not pushy. He's sharp on financial matters and very experienced with all of Fido's on-line tools. And, he's "free". I see him about twice a year. I e-mail him as needed, about 3-4 times a year. The next step in service is about a 1% fee adder, which is too much for me.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

It is not bad for free, just keep in mind you won't hear about anything they don't sell - TIPS, I-bonds, credit union CDs, and probably anything else you could use for a matching strategy kind of retirement portfolio. You'll also probably hear "you need stocks for growth" even though stocks do not come with any guaranteed inflation protection.

 

[tmm99]

Thank you for your posts. Is the consultation usually done by a CFP or someone else?

 

[DEC-1982]

I went for the free Fidelity consultation at the beginning of July. I really wanted a second opinion on whether my money would last 2 lifetimes (me and DW).

I told the consultant a bit about myself and my situation. He told me about his background.

I told the consultant I didn't want an annuity and he said he didn't plan to push one on me. He said they have them if we want them.

He talked about the larger variety of choices in funds in the IRA. He talked about diversification, balanced portfolios, small and large cap, international, sector funds. He said we could talk about estate planning, and how toset up trusts, wills etc He said if I liked index funds Fidelity had Spartan funds whose costs comparable with any in the industry. He said they even offered CDs (don't know if they were Fidelity CDs) for short term parking since I felt bonds would fall in price for 2or 3 years. He told my portfolio needed more diversification (I agree).

He said if I moved $500K in the near future, Fidelity would deposit some money into my account, I don't remember exactly but I think it was around $1200. He said that it probably would not sway my decision but the benefit was available for a short time.

Then he ran the Retirement Income Planner, made some changes for healthcare expenses for my situation and gave me the report. One change he made was age for me and DW. I had 85/95 and he said he recommended 92/94 unless I had strong objections. I said, sure use 92/94.

I thought it was a good consultation. He was not pushy. I personally felt good about him. We spent 1.5 hours together.

Obviously, every situation is different; every consultant is different. YMMV.

I haven't done anything with my 401 k and don't plan to transfer 401 k to IRA but I will probably follow up on some of his suggestions within the 401 k.

 

[MRG]

I don't think my guy has a CFP. I know he's helped me a great deal, once by suggesting not to move my 401k to Fidelity right then. That knowledge became part of plan B for my escape.

 

[tmm99]

Thank you very much for all your posts. A woman called me from Fidelity so I made an appointment. She is CFP but she sounded about 20 years old (you never know by the voice since my mom is often mistaken for a young girl when she answers her phone cals by telemarketers... "Is your mom home?" "She is out right now..")

 

[Trawler]

I have a Fidelity Brokerage Account for my play money I use for my trading Hobby. The real assets I have with a CFP wanted a second opinion. I met with FIDO CFP a young guy to review our portfolio. Went thru the income planner exercise and risk tolerance and goals exercise. My goal was to see if based on past performance and current risk levels Fido could have done better. Fido rep analyzed current investments and looking back compared to what he would recommend at current risk levels . At the conclusion the FIDO rep said the good news my planner was doing a great job for us based upon risk and return of current investments even with the apparent higher costs. He said our overall strategy was right on track as well. He also provided us with a Social Security analysis and strategy for when to take it. If something happens to current CFP I will move to them. There was absolutely no pressure to buy anything only constructive conversation. It was time well spent.

 

[523HRR]

I recently rolled-over my 401K to an IRA at Fidelity and also got the call to come in for a consultation. I spent about an hour with my local rep. He was very knowledgable and not pushy or sales-ie at all. We walked through our entire financial picture from retirement goals, household balance sheet and expenses, asset allocation, college savings, healthcare insurance, Long Term Care insurance, taxes and estate planning. Useful discussion even though it did not result in any specific actions as it mostly confirmed that we are on top of things.

 

[scrabbler1]

Already a Fidelity client when I ERed from my job in 2008 I did a direct rollover from my 401k to a Fidelity IRA. I had an Account Executive (AE) starting in 2007 so he helped me do the rollover and get my ER cash flow set up.


In the years since then, I have had a series of AEs, most good but there was one bad apple I had to get dump because he was too pushy to want to take over control of my portfolio. I speak to my AE a few times a year and meet with him once every year or two to update my RIP program.

 

[38Chevy454]

My Fidelity rep is a CFP and has been helpful for doing rollovers and a bunch of consolidation from various accounts. It was too hard to keep track of everything until I now have just a few larger accounts. Now much easier to do balancing or other functions. The rep is not a pushy sales guy, and does not typically give specific fund recommendations. Rather helps me to find ones that meet my desired allocation and portfolio choices. I meet at first several times when doing all the consolidation, now a few times per year. He obviously does push Fidelity funds and programs, but it is always my choice and action to make it happen.

We do run the RIP with various scenarios. I do not pay anything, he provides services as part of the account.

 

[dand76]

I recently had a Fido consult session. As others have said, no pressure. He ran my numbers thru their Retirement Income Planner (RIP) which was a good to compare to my spreadsheets and FireCalc. One thing I did learn from this session, Fido defaults medical expenses to about double what my estimates were and RIP increases the expenses designated as medical by 7% per year. This made my early retirement plan not look quite so rosy. Do others here feel the Fido estimated medical expenses and inflation rate are appropriate? Or on the high side to make the plan safer?

 

[DEC-1982]

One thing I did learn from this session, Fido defaults medical expenses to about double what my estimates were and RIP increases the expenses designated as medical by 7% per year. This made my early retirement plan not look quite so rosy.

Health inflation is definitely higher than overall inflation but it's hard to say what it should be for the next 30 years. America pays for most or all pharma R&D costs, and our pill costs are so high; the rest of the world negotiates with bulk pricing. Medicare is not allowed to negotiate lower prices (thank you Congress).

In the recent past medical costs went up by not as much as before but I think that may be temporary and it will start increasing rapidly again.

 

[MRG]

... Snip...
One thing I did learn from this session, Fido defaults medical expenses to about double what my estimates were and RIP increases the expenses designated as medical by 7% per year. This made my early retirement plan not look quite so rosy. Do others here feel the Fido estimated medical expenses and inflation rate are appropriate? Or on the high side to make the plan safer?

That is correct. I don't know if 7% going forward is the right number, but it's been a high inflation number.

Fidelity's RIP gave me the most conservative estimate and I went with that number. YMMV.

 

[Live And Learn]

Do others here feel the Fido estimated medical expenses and inflation rate are appropriate? Or on the high side to make the plan safer?

In all honesty, I used approximately$4k / year more per year than the FIDO defaults (for 2 people). I did this by comparing to current ACA plans and assuming no subsididy and hitting the OOP max each year for each of us. Personally, I wouldn't have retired if I couldn't have funded this level of medical expense. Please bear in mind that I tended to be pretty conservative with my estimates when planning for ER. Better safe than sorry (having been retired for a month there is no way I want to re-enter the w*rkforce!).

 

[tmm99]

Thank you very much for all your posts. I did have a consultation with Fidelity. We talked more about logistics of moving some of the funds from Vanguard to Fidelity (which I wanted to do), but the guy did run the RIP for me (which I've done in the past but not extensively) and said there wasn't much difference in the outcome by lowering my equity exposure some, so I am planning to do just that (after the market settles a bit).

 

[Animorph]

Not much difference in what? Portfolio survival, retirement spending, or final portfolio value? Typically the portfolio survival rate might change very little (with FIRECalc, not sure what RIP might look like), but the terminal portfolio value might change relatively significantly. More options at the end, or a larger estate. Or maybe just more risk.

 

[LOL!]

I've never seen Fidelity-recommended portfolio that didn't have a whole bunch of high-expense-ratio actively-managed funds in it. While one may not pay an obvious fee, those 12b-1 fees and high expense ratios will keep tamping down your returns each and every single year.

If you do get a recommendation for an asset allocation that you can live with, be sure to fulfill the asset allocation only with low-expense-ratio, passively-managed index funds. Fidelity has them and they all have "Spartan Advantage" in their name. If that ain't in the fund name, then you do not want to own it.

But Fidelity reps are good at getting one away from index funds as in, "Sure, we have index funds for folks who want them, but if you get could a better return from an actively-managed fund, wouldn't you want to own it? I can show you which funds have better returns." They will not use "risk-adjusted returns" though. Nor will they typically use tax-adjusted returns for folks with taxable account investments.

Full disclosure: I have an account at Fidelity, but I only use an index fund and Vanguard index ETF in it.

 

[braumeister]

the guy did run the RIP for me (which I've done in the past but not extensively)

This was the big benefit for me of sitting down with my Fidelity rep. I had used their RIP (very unfortunate acronym) but he showed me that I could do quite a lot more with it and customize it more than I realized. Very worthwhile.

I've never seen Fidelity-recommended portfolio that didn't have a whole bunch of high-expense-ratio actively-managed funds in it.

...

If you do get a recommendation for an asset allocation that you can live with, be sure to fulfill the asset allocation only with low-expense-ratio, passively-managed index funds. Fidelity has them and they all have "Spartan Advantage" in their name.

I have to say that my Fidelity rep is an exception to your generalization. He knows that I'm already retired, so my risk tolerance is based on that. He has never pushed any of their higher fee funds on me.

I do agree wholeheartedly that their Spartan Advantage funds are the way to go, if at all possible.

 

[nwsteve]

I've never seen Fidelity-recommended portfolio that didn't have a whole bunch of high-expense-ratio actively-managed funds in it. While one may not pay an obvious fee, those 12b-1 fees and high expense ratios will keep tamping down your returns each and every single year.

If you do get a recommendation for an asset allocation that you can live with, be sure to fulfill the asset allocation only with low-expense-ratio, passively-managed index funds. Fidelity has them and they all have "Spartan Advantage" in their name. If that ain't in the fund name, then you do not want to own it.

But Fidelity reps are good at getting one away from index funds as in, "Sure, we have index funds for folks who want them, but if you get could a better return from an actively-managed fund, wouldn't you want to own it? I can show you which funds have better returns." They will not use "risk-adjusted returns" though. Nor will they typically use tax-adjusted returns for folks with taxable account investments.

Full disclosure: I have an account at Fidelity, but I only use an index fund and Vanguard index ETF in it.

I have been with Fidelity for over 20 years and never had a conversation like this with any of my reps. Yes, they will recommend Fido funds but never any pressure to take only those options for meeting an asset allocation.
As you already indicated, you can buy any ETF including Vanguard's through the Fidelity brokerage at 7.95. Like any vendor, the buyer needs to use the options that offer the most value for their particular situation.
Nwsteve

 

[bingybear]

My rep told me they do get compensated for selling annuities. I think he told me he gets about $40 for a 100k annuity... so not much to convince them to push it. If I told them I wanted more index funds, they provided a mostly index portfolio. They offered both fidelity funds and non-fidelity funds. I've had them recommend non-NTF funds at times because they thought he fund was worth the TF. If you have a preference as the underlying structure, I think they will try to provide within you requirements.
They offer CDs... brokered CDs primarily. These are usually issued by banks and CU... not fidelity as the issuer.

 

[Senator]

This was the big benefit for me of sitting down with my Fidelity rep. I had used their RIP (very unfortunate acronym) but he showed me that I could do quite a lot more with it and customize it more than I realized. Very worthwhile.

If you use Fidelity's Fullview, it brings in data into RIP.

I have been in the office twice to discuss retirement plans. Learned a lot of tricks with RIP.

Here's one tip I learned
If I am going to retire at 56, and live solely on rental income until 61, key in retirement of 61 and $1 in salary income. RIP will not touch investments until 61.

A previous time I was shown how RIP calculates healthcare and LTC costs. While it may overstate the expense, it is based on some real formula. I include it now as I want to be so solid in retirement I can make some mistakes and not worry about it.

As you already indicated, you can buy any ETF including Vanguard's through the Fidelity brokerage at $7.95. Like any vendor, the buyer needs to use the options that offer the most value for their particular situation. Nwsteve

And many Ishares are commission free. IVV, DVY, IVW are some I use.

 

[throughthelookingglass]

I've never seen Fidelity-recommended portfolio that didn't have a whole bunch of high-expense-ratio actively-managed funds in it. While one may not pay an obvious fee, those 12b-1 fees and high expense ratios will keep tamping down your returns each and every single year.

If you do get a recommendation for an asset allocation that you can live with, be sure to fulfill the asset allocation only with low-expense-ratio, passively-managed index funds. Fidelity has them and they all have "Spartan Advantage" in their name. If that ain't in the fund name, then you do not want to own it.

But Fidelity reps are good at getting one away from index funds as in, "Sure, we have index funds for folks who want them, but if you get could a better return from an actively-managed fund, wouldn't you want to own it? I can show you which funds have better returns." They will not use "risk-adjusted returns" though. Nor will they typically use tax-adjusted returns for folks with taxable account investments

Check fcntx and flpsx. I've owned them for almost 10 years. I hate to be the one to tell you this but there are funds that beat their index CONSISTENTLY