Looking to invest in Fidelity funds

[ShustS6512]

Wanting to preserve principal, what fidelity funds do you suggest being retired

 

[REWahoo]

I noticed that in your first post on the forum you said you sold out of the market in August of 2011. Are you still on the sidelines?

 

[ShustS6512]

Regretfully, yes

 

[REWahoo]

Ouch.

Sorry, I'm not familiar enough with Fidelity funds to make a recommendation.

 

[MichaelB]

Regretfully, yes

Well, being honest about it is an important step. Are you looking to preserve nominal value or protect purchasing power after inflation?

 

[Live Free]

MichaelB - I have a dumb question. What is the difference between nominal value and protecting purchasing power after inflation?

 

[ShustS6512]

To protect purchasing power after inflation.

 

[MichaelB]

MichaelB - I have a dumb question. What is the difference between nominal value and protecting purchasing power after inflation?

Well, in nominal terms five years from now $100 is still $100, but if inflation is 2% a year, you'll need $110 to buy e same thing that today costs $100. Protecting nominal value means you're not losing money but you are losing purchasing power.

 

[LOL!]

I know of no funds that are guaranteed to preserve both principal and purchasing power. One has to accept some losses in order to possibly preserve purchasing power.*

If one cannot stomach some losses, then they are better off in CDs and perhaps single premium immediate annuities. But in those cases it is very unlikely that they would preserve purchasing power.

While pondering all this, one may wish to read up about investing, particularly the psychological and behavioral economic aspects of it. May I suggest going over to Bogleheads Investing Advice and Info and start reading?

I invest in Fidelity funds: FUSVX, FSEVX, FSITX, and FSGDX, but I don't worry about preserving principal.

*It is possible that some high fee advisor will offer something, but the fees will be high enough that one will lose purchasing power anyways. And those fees will probably be hidden.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I have had some money in Fidelity Puritan (FPURX) for the last half dozen years. It's pretty similar to Vanguard Wellington -- in fact, returns look about equal over the last five years. Fees are higher than Wellington, but not painfully so -- 0.58% vs. 0.26%. Puritan is more tech heavy than Wellington and lighter on energy, but they appear to be invested pretty much in the same megacaps you would expect to see in a balanced fund.

 

[dvalley]

For what it's worth, I've had my old 401k->IRA account at Fidelity that I don't contribute to (don't quality for tax-free IRA contributions). At the time I researched and ended up investing it in these funds that were relatively low-cost or commission free and just let them go on auto-pilot:

FFNOX - 4-in-1 index fund: to keep the cost low while automatically exposing you to all four types of funds.
SPHIX - high income fund
FSRVX - Real Estate Index fund
VXUS - Vanguard Total Intl stock index ETF: yes it's vanguard but it's a commision-free fund with Fidelity

 

[JPatrick]

Fidelity has many great funds and will sell you some fine ETF's commission free.
You really have not provided enough info to get deep into recommendations, but I always feel comfortable recommending their balanced fund (FBALX.)
However, whatever you buy, recognize that we are now at all time highs and dumping the whole load at one time may come back to bite you.
YMMV.

 

[MichaelB]

Someone risk averse with a 3-5 year (or longer) horizon would probably find Vanguard Wellesley to be an attractive option. Does Fidelity have anything similar?

 

[REWahoo]

However, whatever you buy, recognize that we are now at all time highs...

There you go again...

Not according to this:

The stock market is hitting new records almost daily (it happened again on Friday), but the reality isn't as rosy as it seems.

When people talk about how the "stock market" is doing, they often look at the S&P 500 index. It's currently at 1,923, the highest level it has ever been. There's just one problem: That record level is in "nominal" terms. It doesn't account for inflation.

Will Hausman, an economics professor at the College of William and Mary, calculates that the S&P 500 hit its true high -- its inflation-adjusted high -- of 2,120 on January 14, 1999.

To put that another way, the market still needs to rise about 200 more points -- over 10% -- to be on par with where it was in the late 1990s.

These stock market 'records' aren't that great - May. 31, 2014

 

[JPatrick]

There you go again...

Not according to this:

These stock market 'records' aren't that great - May. 31, 2014

Not to mention, June is the worst month of the year (lately)



Check this out.....
With the S&P 500 up 2.1% last month, the “sell in May” adage looks stupid, right? Not so fast, says technical analyst Jonathan Krinsky.
That old Wall Street saying “doesn’t necessarily imply that May is supposed to be a bad month, only that May starts the weakest six-month period of the year,” writes Krinksy, chief market technican at MKM Partners, in a note Monday.
Looking at monthly returns for the S&P over the last 10 years, June is “the worst month by a wide margin,” he says. June has averaged a 1.33% decline for the S&P 500 .bgChannel, .bgRealtimeChannel, .bgRevision { display: none; } /quotes/zigman/3870025/realtimeSPX, while the next-worst month is August, which has averaged a 0.45% decline over the past decade.


Not only that, my dear old Grandpappy told me to never trust a professor from a school called William and Mary.

 

[steelyman]

It's only bad if you sell in July. Buy and chill.

 

[Animorph]

And it's only bad if you buy equities. If preservation of principal is the primary concern, inflation not a concern, the OP may be looking for fixed income funds. Fidelity is supposed to have some very good fixed income funds, from what I read at Morningstar. But I have never been interested in fixed income, so I have no recommendations.

 

[braumeister]

OP, you haven't given us the background we need to recommend anything.

The only criterion you have mentioned is preserving principal and purchasing power, and you asked about Fidelity mutual funds.

There is no such thing as a mutual fund without risk. Frequently, more risk is correlated with higher return, but not always.

If you would care to share some of your situation, you're likely to get some very good advice here. What are your assets, what are your spending needs, what is your actual risk tolerance, what is your timeline, and similar items.

You don't have to give detailed responses, but the more you're willing to share, the better the advice you're likely to get.

 

[jerome len]

For starters I'd suggest working on increasing your financial knowledge and I'd start by reading up on index funds. the place I work gives everyone in the 401 K program a free subscrption to Kiplinger Magazine. Personally I like and learn a lot from Money Magazine.
you're investments should be based on a number of things; age now and time you have to you will need the money.....retirement I would hope. you might want to look for an hourly financial planner; a recent Kiplinger issue had recommondations on where to find one that gives advice on finding a planner that will not receive compensation from any product he recommends that you buy. I'd also look at Vanguard.....they have more low cost index funds and I have investments with both Fidelity and Vanguard but, overall, Vanguard is cheaper. And, as other have said, all investments have risk......good luck.

 

[JakeBrake]

Disclaimer! This is no recommendation. These are the Fidelity funds in my portfolio.

FDRXX Fidelity Cash Reserves (the core account)
FFRHX Fidelity Floating Rate High Income
FSITX Spartan US Bond Index Fidelity Advantage Class
FSIVX Spartan International Index Fidelity Advantage Class
FSTVX Spartan Total Market Index Fidelity Advantage Class

At one time I was invested in Fidelity Freedom Funds, however, IMHO, the costs are high and the Freedom Funds consist of many Fidelity funds. I don't see the reason for so many funds. It's hard to tell how the individual funds are doing which is not like the Vanguard Target funds.

 

[freetodream]

Sorry for the side track:
Who knew you can buy Vanguard ETP,s at Fidelity, thanks for the info! How does a person research which ones they sell? (I tried 1/2 hour of research at Fidelity and didn't come up with much other than VIMSX, VMCIX & a couple of other ones.)

 

[LOL!]

Sorry for the side track:
Who knew you can buy Vanguard ETP,s at Fidelity, thanks for the info! How does a person research which ones they sell? (I tried 1/2 hour of research at Fidelity and didn't come up with much other than VIMSX, VMCIX & a couple of other ones.)

One can buy/sell ALL of Vanguard's ETFs at Fidelity since Fidelity is a normal brokerage that allows one to buy.sell stocks and ETFs. ETFs are NOT like open-ended mutual funds. One will have to pay a commission to buy/sell Vanguard ETFs at Fidelity. Fideiity does have a deal for no commissions on several ETFs, but those ETFs are not Vanguard ETFs; I think they are iShares ETFs.

I don't know what an ETP is.

VIMSX and VMCIX are not ETFs. They are open-ended mutual funds. One can probably buy most Investor-share class Vanguard mutual funds at Fidelity, too. But the commission would make it not worthwhile to do so.

As for research at Fidelity, why not simply go through the motions of entering an order and cancel before clicking on "submit" or "place order"?

 

[ShustS6512]

I really appreciate all of your replies. To be brief, I've been invested in mutual funds for 20 years and sold out in 2011. I have been in many of the funds you all have suggested. I got spooked by people and doomsday articles, so I bailed. Have been patient waiting for a correction that hasn't occurred. Have upper 6 figures in money market. Ughh! I am 61, retired,with a pension and would be happy with a 3-4% return. Knowing that retirement could last 30 years a conservative portfolio may not be in my best interests but I want to sleep at night. Actually some bond funds are actually lower than when I sold in 2011. When I read interest rates will be going up and QE will be lessening I feel hesitant. I've been through the crashes of 2000 and 2008, but finding when to get back in seems to be elusive.

 

[panacea]

Maybe what you are really looking for is a conservative growth investment with limited volatility?? Vanguard Wellesley is my favorite for this... you can buy it at Fidelity if that's where you want to be but you'd have to pay a $75 transaction fee (not bad if it's a large enough investment).

You could also put together a vaguely similar portfolio on your own using Fidelity No Transaction Fee (NTF) funds. I haven't reviewed Wellesley's holdings lately but I know it has historically been around a 30-70 allocation. Of course, you'd have to spend more time managing/rebalancing then. Here are some decent ones and what I see as a possible allocation you could consider / tweak:

70% bonds (60% Thompson Bond, 5% Fidelity Capital & Income, 5% Loomis Sayles Global)
23% US Stocks (Fidelity Spartan Total Stock Mkt)
7% Foreign Stocks (Harbor International or Artisan International)

Just some ideas based on some NTFs I've stumbled upon... one of many many ways to go.

 

[jerome len]

I would give Vanguard a call and have them do a financial review for you. If you put your cash in their MM fund temporarily, they will do the assessment for you without charge, I believe. Then you can look at some short term bond or if you are high income, short term muni bond funds. Vanguard has two that I'm using; muni short term and muni limited term. I get almost 1% tax free compared to most money market funds that pay .01% taxable. Then I'd set up a monthly investment plan in the funds you want, averaging in over a few months to a couple of years, whatever you feel comfortable with. I'd look at total stock, total international and either a balanced or muni balanced stock/bond fund. Decide on your split between bonds and stocks and fit all this in for the long term. I remember many, many years ago I waited for the market to drop so I could buy in .....I waited 3 years and lost tons of money. Now I'm always in but I save a little cash in short term bonds to buy in if the market has a correction. Good Luck, I've dealt with both Vanguard and Fidelity.....have money with both but find Vanguard cheaper and they don't try to sell you as many high cost funds.....Fidelity tries to get you into higher cost mututal funds and ETFs that make them more money. Good Luck!