Dropped from having a Fidelity named advisor

[MRG]

Yeah, that would upset me as well.



While Vanguard has been upfront (and in my face) about charging me for paper reports, it appears that Fidelity is being less open about "saving their money" by dropping a perk.

Well, when Vanguard saves money, I get a tiny benefit. When Fidelity does, it goes somewhere. [emoji848]

 

[jfn111]

Every now and then my rep calls me, and I ignore the call, thinking "what is this 28 year old guy gonna tell me that I don't know (and that he doesn't actually know anyway)?"

Same here. They leave messages and I don't pickup. I'm sure they are nice people but I don't need their help.

 

[Texas Proud]

No. It is more like I'm disappointed in the lack of communication on their part. I was blindsided/confused about their change in offices and by a cold-call. It is okay that they didn't want to assign an advisor. Just tell me that. And then, don't have one of their advisors call as if I was fresh bait.

Yea, I had a guy cold call me on my Merrill Lynch account I was trying out... and he was not even close to where I lived... there were many offices between me and him that I could use...


I ran it up to mgmt about how pissed I was... have now moved that account...

 

[GravitySucks]

Had my same Fido guy since I retired 10 years ago. No local office in my city and I really don’t care he’s 2 time zones away. His advice has helped me make a little money but is more procedural stuff and giving tutorials on the website tools.
Nice guy, never a hard sell, seems to know his business.

Not to hijack the thread but:

Im a single guy, live alone. A year or so ago during our yearly call the PC Advisor asked if I could give him the phone number of a trusted person like my daughters. He said they can call someone if they see me doing things in my accounts that seem out of the norm. Daughters thought it was a great idea (don’t want me blowing their inheritance in hookers and blow) and happily agreed.
But I’ve never heard of anyone else being offered that service.
Anyone here have Fido reporting on their behavior?

 

[COcheesehead]

Had my same Fido guy since I retired 10 years ago. No local office in my city and I really don’t care he’s 2 time zones away. His advice has helped me make a little money but is more procedural stuff and giving tutorials on the website tools.
Nice guy, never a hard sell, seems to know his business.

Not to hijack the thread but:

Im a single guy, live alone. A year or so ago during our yearly call the PC Advisor asked if I could give him the phone number of a trusted person like my daughters. He said they can call someone if they see me doing things in my accounts that seem out of the norm. Daughters thought it was a great idea (don’t want me blowing their inheritance in hookers and blow) and happily agreed.
But I’ve never heard of anyone else being offered that service.
Anyone here have Fido reporting on their behavior?

You can designate a trusted contact for all your accounts. Just go under account features.

 

[scrabbler1]

Had my same Fido guy since I retired 10 years ago. No local office in my city and I really don’t care he’s 2 time zones away. His advice has helped me make a little money but is more procedural stuff and giving tutorials on the website tools.
Nice guy, never a hard sell, seems to know his business.

Not to hijack the thread but:

Im a single guy, live alone. A year or so ago during our yearly call the PC Advisor asked if I could give him the phone number of a trusted person like my daughters. He said they can call someone if they see me doing things in my accounts that seem out of the norm. Daughters thought it was a great idea (don’t want me blowing their inheritance in hookers and blow) and happily agreed.
But I’ve never heard of anyone else being offered that service.
Anyone here have Fido reporting on their behavior?

I recently added my ladyfriend as an emergency contact for my account. This is only in case Fidelity thinks I am losing my marbles, or if I am at a Fidelity office, for example, and fall ill and they need to contact someone. This contact would not have the power to manage my account. She was fine with this.

My most recent Fido advisor for the last year advised my (snake-bit) friend and I (he uses the same advisor) to make official the authority he has given me to manage his account as an authorized user (no POA). It was not very difficult and done on line.

 

[MarieIG]

Had my same Fido guy since I retired 10 years ago. No local office in my city and I really don’t care he’s 2 time zones away. His advice has helped me make a little money but is more procedural stuff and giving tutorials on the website tools.
Nice guy, never a hard sell, seems to know his business.

Not to hijack the thread but:

Im a single guy, live alone. A year or so ago during our yearly call the PC Advisor asked if I could give him the phone number of a trusted person like my daughters. He said they can call someone if they see me doing things in my accounts that seem out of the norm. Daughters thought it was a great idea (don’t want me blowing their inheritance in hookers and blow) and happily agreed.
But I’ve never heard of anyone else being offered that service.
Anyone here have Fido reporting on their behavior?

Not yet, although Fido prompts me about that every time I log on. I should probably update my accounts to add DH.

 

[GravitySucks]

Good to hear he wasn’t asking cause he thought I’m losing it.

(Unless maybe your advisors think you’re losing it too!)
Thanks

 

[MdaPetralia]

I recently contacted FIDO (through the main 1-800 #) to inquire about a bonus for moving over a big chuck of money from another instruction to an existing account. The CSR stated that to get the best bonus, he would pass my info to a local office. A Planning Consultant from a local office soon contacted me and I'm now working with them to nail down the bonus. They also offered free Planning & Guidance services to me, which I may take advantage of, even though I indicated I want to stay self-directed. I will always listen to free advice.

 

[Global Wizzo]

Every now and then my rep calls me, and I ignore the call, thinking "what is this 28 year old guy gonna tell me that I don't know (and that he doesn't actually know anyway)?"

I had a friend with significant assets. His first question was to ask the “advisor” for his net wealth and what his personal rate of return was. During the silence that followed, he said that if they could document an equivalent of his NW and yield, they could talk.

He is still self directed.

 

[mrfeh]

I had a friend with significant assets. His first question was to ask the “advisor” for his net wealth and what his personal rate of return was. During the silence that followed, he said that if they could document an equivalent of his NW and yield, they could talk.

The notion that one can only get useful financial advice from somebody with higher net worth is pretty ridiculous.

IMO, of course.

 

[COcheesehead]

The notion that one can only get useful financial advice from somebody with higher net worth is pretty ridiculous.

IMO, of course.

+1

 

[mickeyd]

I have not spoken with a VG rep in years. I think I had a specific person assigned to me at one time. I really have never needed much financial advise from those folks, though they seem nice. I care more about my finances than anyone @ VG. So there is that.

 

[pdxgal]

Every now and then my rep calls me, and I ignore the call, thinking "what is this 28 year old guy gonna tell me that I don't know (and that he doesn't actually know anyway)?"

I feel the same though am also aware that we don't know what we don't know. After urging from Fido I did a conference call with 'my' advisor recently and did learn a little tidbit about lawsuit protection of funds in 401k vs rollover IRA. Didn't change my strategy but I was glad to learn, as the law keeps changing and it can be hard to keep up of how one is affected.

 

[CincyDave]

I feel the same though am also aware that we don't know what we don't know. After urging from Fido I did a conference call with 'my' advisor recently and did learn a little tidbit about lawsuit protection of funds in 401k vs rollover IRA. Didn't change my strategy but I was glad to learn, as the law keeps changing and it can be hard to keep up of how one is affected.

This varies by state, There are charts on the web that give you the state by state info, but again, you don't know if it is current and accurate.