Fidelity brokers: How do they get paid...really?

[TooFrugal]

Quote:

If the company moves their 401K while you are unaware or out of the country or whatever, many SPDs are written so you are "cashed out" of your asset allocation, and put into the least volatile account, usually a money market.

So far we have had former companies change custodians. In the accounts that moved we have only had mutual funds and they were cashed out and put in comparable funds. Since there are no tax implications with the 401K it has gone pretty seamless in the past.

I would like to buy more TIPS eventually but those can be a bit risky if they needed to be cashed out before maturity, so I agree that is the one downside we have with the former employer plans. For now I have been putting the TIPS only in our own plan where we can control the choice of custodian. I only invest in stuff for the old 401Ks where we wouldn't take a beating if we had to cash things out if the custodian was changed.

[Wormrider]

I was talking to a Fidelity rep today and I wanted to talk about consolidating my mutual funds to get rid of some of the higher management fees. All he wanted to talk about was rolling over money from a previous employer's 401k. He then referred me to a another rep. I have an appointment with her next week. I'm very interested in seeing what she wants to discuss first. Getting more of my money or helping me with my current dilemma.

[Kiechelle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orchidflower Are Brokers at Fidelity paid commissions on sales or bonuses on how many accounts they bring in or what? I do know they get a salary, but there is some type of carrot and stick for salespeople in the forum of bonuses or commission on sales. Anyone know how the sales staff's pay is structured here? I guess the same question would apply to Vanguard Brokers, also. What gains them extra pay?

I've been doing some similar research myself and came across some good info on broker salaries that may be of interest to you. It think as rescueme was saying, the bonuses are variable and often relate to performance that's unrelated to the service they're providing you - or not providing you