Anything special at Fido?

[brewer12345]

We only use Fidelity for DW's solo 401k so I am not schooled up on their proprietary offerings. For those of you who are more familiar with their offerings, is there any fund or other vehicle offered by Fidelity that is particularly noteworthy and which I should consider?

 

[MooreBonds]

I have the Fidelity investment rewards Visa (1.5% cash back on all purchases when deposited into a Fido investment account). Since I had to keep their brokerage account, I have used it for maybe 1 or 2 MF that I couldn't find elsewhere. It currently has HLMOX and FIGRX.

At the time I bought HLMOX, I don't believe Vanguard or TD Ameritrade offered it. FIGRX is leaving me scratching my head - it might be one of those "it seemed like a good idea at the time"....

I typically stay away from bond funds, and have been trying to increase my foreign/emerging market exposure to eventually about 50%-60%, which is why I picked up the HLMOX.

 

[FIREd]

If you are looking for cheap index funds, their Spartan lineup is hard to beat.

 

[bUU]

I've moved a lot of money around over the last three months of 2012, as I started learning more about investing. Of course, you always learn more, and so once I'm past the current short-term redemption dates, I'm planning on moving things around again, this time mostly into FSTVX, FSIVX and FSITX. Either that or switching things around, putting everything in my investment accounts into FSTVX and FSIVX and switching my 401(k)s to be more heavily weighted toward bond funds to balance out the asset allocation.

 

[foxfirev5]

The Spartan Advantage class total stock market, total int'l and total bond are a good three fund line up at low cost. While my 401k is held at Fido I use Inst. shares of VG Index Funds for the bulk of my acct. But the Spartan Funds are pretty close from an ER perpective.
My only complaint is that they've got nothing in the short term bond area. The ER's kill any small return you have. I keep those funds at VG in Short term Corp bond fund.

 

[mathjak107]

make sure you check on line for special incentives for adding money or moving money to fidelity. you will not see these on their website,. manybtimes though retirement accounts are not counted.

i moved 250k in and did not realize they were offering hundreds of dollars on an amount like that as an incentive.

i found it just googling around.

they would not give it me after the faact even though i complained to my rep it was not fair this stuff is not on there site.

https://scs.fidelity.com/other/offers/registration_tieredapplegiftcard.shtml

https://scs.fidelity.com/other/offers/registration_ual.shtml

 

[bUU]

Yeah, I moved money in without checking to see if there were incentives. The services that they were offering was incentive enough. I didn't think to ask for the incentives after-the-fact; I'm not surprised that they didn't provide those incentives. The purpose of incentives is to get people to make a purchasing decision they would not otherwise have made.

 

[mathjak107]

exactly. they are not in business to give money away so while i am disapointed they did not give it to me i understand why.

i just wish i was tipped off on one of my forums over the years about it.

i gave up alot of money not knowing..

 

[braumeister]

FIDO has the bulk of my business. I like their website offerings very much, and their customer service has been second to none. My "Private Client Group" rep is a great guy, and completely understands my DIY approach. He also invites me to all their seminars, often held at a local brewpub, that have good refreshments.

That aside, many of their funds are quite good. I especially like the convenience of FFRHX, (Floating Rate High Income) as a money market fund alternative.

 

[mathjak107]

becareful ffrhx is far from a money market alternative.

that fund lost its shirt in the downturn. i was down almost 17% in 2008 .

as of now 32% of the fund is in BB and one 3rd in B. parts of the fund are in 3rd party unrated debt too.

what keeps it from being a full junk bond fund is the debt is mostly very short term. but it is also thinly traded.
but once credit risk is back on the radar this fund can take a hit again.

while i would call it a more conservative high yield investment it wouldn't even be considered close to a money market in risk.

 

[bUU]

I think I'm going to rethink a recent investment in SPHIX for the same reason, perhaps even worse of in that regard. I foolishly saw what I thought was an opportunity, and I'll be appreciative of getting out with a gain before something untoward happens.

It is kind-of sad. I've learned so much over the last two months, that I'm focused so much on counting the days until I can legitimately change things up again to do it "right" this time.

 

[Dawg52]

FIDO has the bulk of my business. I like their website offerings very much, and their customer service has been second to none. My "Private Client Group" rep is a great guy, and completely understands my DIY approach. He also invites me to all their seminars, often held at a local brewpub, that have good refreshments.

I like my rep too. Talked to him just a few days ago. Never tries to hard sell me anything. If I ask for suggestions, he throws out a few ideas but never pushes those products in follow up calls.

But to Brewer's question, I doubt there is really anything they offer he doesn't already have access to. He certainly doesn't need their investment advice. They do have the low cost Spartan funds which are good.

 

[braumeister]

becareful ffrhx is far from a money market alternative.

Thanks for the clarification; poor choice of words on my part. I'm well aware of that, and I do keep my eye on things, but for the moment I have confidence that it's a good investment.

 

[mathjak107]

i have been with them for almost 30 years. for the first time ever i met with my private access account manager last month.

very nice detailed retirement work up and they tried to sell us nothing.

 

[brewer12345]

To be clear, I am not contemplating moving assets from Schwab to Fido. I am very happy with Schwab's service and don't see the need to move. I am more interested in options I might have at Fido to deploy DW's annual solo 401k contribution (only account we have there) that I might not have else where. Sounds like there are a few, but nothing compelling at the moment.

I might find FFRHX attractive at another point in the cycle, but definitely not at the moment. Obviously opinions differ.

 

[truenorth418]

The Fidelity retirement income planner is one of my favorite retirement calculators. Also, I like to have my assets spread across a few different brokers, to address agency risk. This is not to say I don't trust fidelity, I just see it as another way of hedging my bets a little.

 

[audreyh1]

To be clear, I am not contemplating moving assets from Schwab to Fido. I am very happy with Schwab's service and don't see the need to move. I am more interested in options I might have at Fido to deploy DW's annual solo 401k contribution (only account we have there) that I might not have else where. Sounds like there are a few, but nothing compelling at the moment.

I might find FFRHX attractive at another point in the cycle, but definitely not at the moment. Obviously opinions differ.

I believe Fidelity's bond fund team is very well regarded. Since you are knowledgeable in this area, you can evaluate them yourself. They also have some very low fee funds as several have mentioned.

I love their service, think they have an excellent website, have excellent tax reports. I use them as a brokerage/fund supermarket for the bulk of our investments. But if they don't offer something I like, I don't hesitate to go elsewhere. They make it very easy to transfer to and from checking and savings accounts in your same name/registration.

We did pick up the 2% AMEX rewards card last year and it's been nice being able to transfer the rewards right to one of our Fidelity accounts. BTW - that card is administered by FIA Card Services, not by American Express.

We've never tried to take advantage of any "private" deals just because we aren't into that kind of investing, but I know they have such offerings.

 

[audreyh1]

Thanks for the clarification; poor choice of words on my part. I'm well aware of that, and I do keep my eye on things, but for the moment I have confidence that it's a good investment.

I have some of my short-term funds in FFRHX, but this is paired with other short-term funds in FGMNX - basically a barbell approach. I can draw funds from one or the other, if I ever get around to actually needing to withdraw the money. In other words, I can wait out a nasty dip.

 

[Marc]

.

I might find FFRHX attractive at another point in the cycle, but definitely not at the moment. Obviously opinions differ.

I just added $50,000 or around 2.4% of FFRHX to my portfolio to lower my duration. I have predominance of my bond funds in FTBFX and FSITX with a 3& of portfolio position in FAGIX. I know I am getting a little high on junk but have more fear of a bond bubble bursting on the treasury side than I do that rising rates will cause additional default on short term debt.

What other options do I have to build up my bond allocation (currently 61/13/22/5 for US stocks, foreign stocks, bonds, and snort term) without getting caught in the bubble bursting?

I am 55 so I am slowly readjusting my allocation to get stock portion down to 70%. In addition to putting most new money into these bond funds, I also transfer $30,000 out of stocks to bonds when I reach each $100,000 milestone in my portfolio. At 50, I had zero bonds so I have built it up a lot in last five years.

thanks,

Marc

 

[samclem]

The only things that come to mind as "Fido Special" were already mentioned: those Spartan funds (cheap!) and the AMEX rebate card. Spend money all year on the AMEX, send the rebates to a MM holding fund, then dump it all into your DW's solo 401K (plus whatever else is needed to meet her max/her goals) at the end of the year.

 

[travelover]

The only things that come to mind as "Fido Special" were already mentioned: those Spartan funds (cheap!) and the AMEX rebate card. Spend money all year on the AMEX, send the rebates to a MM holding fund, then dump it all into your DW's solo 401K (plus whatever else is needed to meet her max/her goals) at the end of the year.

+1 - Spartan funds and 2% rebate AmEx.

 

[heeyy_joe]

You may want to explore if DW's 401k has a self directed brokerage option. Be very careful when purchasing from Fido's limited menu of funds that may be offered inside her 401k. Many of them have the same top 10 holdings and that is no way to diversify. A sdb 401k can allow you to buy no tansaction fee funds from other MF companies or exchange traded funds within her 401.

 

[Corporateburnout]

+1 - Spartan funds and 2% rebate AmEx.

+2.

Spartan funds, 2% Amex rebate and excellent tools such as RIP, portfolio review and full view.

 

[brewer12345]

You may want to explore if DW's 401k has a self directed brokerage option. Be very careful when purchasing from Fido's limited menu of funds that may be offered inside her 401k. Many of them have the same top 10 holdings and that is no way to diversify. A sdb 401k can allow you to buy no tansaction fee funds from other MF companies or exchange traded funds within her 401.

This is a solo 401k, not a group plan. So when I log in it looks just like a brokerage account. It is mostly loaded with individual stocks and bonds.

In passing, the solo 401k is the only way it is worth her bothering to work. Everything she earns is at our marginal rate and includes the self employment tax, so it isn't hardto hit a 50% tax rate. We are conservative when filing our taxes, so we do not have things like the home office deduction or other fluff to hide stuff, and I refuse to be a tax cheat and not declare any of her income. But with the solo 401k all she has to pay is the self employment tax (about 15%). So long as we keep her net to 23K or so, we can shelter all of it.

 

[FUEGO]

Ditto on the spartan funds, and the spartan advantage class funds (for $10k+?? min investment). Decent index funds with very low ERs.

Fee free trades of many ishares etfs. IVV SCZ IJR IJS to name a few index fund ETFs that are fee free (large cap, intl small cap, US small blend, US Small value, respectively). Easy way to save $8/trade and get some relatively decent ETFs if you are into index funds.