Good Investment Company

[pn3069]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRG Only three investment firms offer a no-hack guarantee. I'd use one, or more, of them. ETA: Fidelity, Schwab, and Vanguard.

MRG - Can you tell me more about what no-hack guarantee means please?

[Dash man]

We have both Schwab and Fidelity and are pleased with both. If you plan on using them for managing a trust on your passing, check their fees.

[cnocmmz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chassis Satisfied Fidelity customer here.

chassis: Do you know off hand what the Fidelity fees are, is it based on % of what's invested, or flat fee based? I guess average is about .85 to 1 % of investments?
Thanks

[38Chevy454]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cnocmmz chassis: Do you know off hand what the Fidelity fees are, is it based on % of what's invested, or flat fee based? I guess average is about .85 to 1 % of investments? Thanks

Not sure if I understand your question, but here is an answer:
1) There are no standing account fees that are charged by Fidelity for just having an account.
2) You pay whatever the investment fund fees are when you hold that investment. Fidelity has some "zero fee" index funds, that have no cost to you.
3) If you utilize Fidelity Financial Advisor paid services, it will be whatever that advisory service fee is. That is typically an AUM (Assets Under Mgmt) type fee where you pay some percentage of the total account, as in the 0.85-1.0% fee you listed above.

[Lawrencewendall]

Been with Fido 15+ years. Pleased as punch.

[mn54]

i've been with fido for about 40 years. smartest thing i ever did. started accounts for my kids when they started working. have had very few complaints with them.

[OldShooter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cnocmmz chassis: Do you know off hand what the Fidelity fees are, is it based on % of what's invested, or flat fee based? I guess average is about .85 to 1 % of investments? Thanks

Well, there are fees and there are fees. Fido and Schwab will be very similar.

#1 Fees are the "expense ratios" of mutual funds. These range from zero in a few cases to very high (2%) in funds that are only sold to suckers. IIRC the average expense ratio for economical international funds runs around 0.5% (aka fifty basis points). I would consider that to be a nearly a ceiling.

#2 Fees are charged by Investment Advisors who actually run your money. These vary all over the map. Most, I think, would like to have assets under management (AUM) of a million $ or more. AUM fees at that level might be as high as 1.5% but that is rape and pillage territory. 1% should be very do-able, with discounts for larger AUM numbers.

#3 Fees are charged by Financial Advisors who provide advice on the whole scope of your financial life including running the money. True FAs don't seem to be much more expensive than mere Investment Advisors. Three years ago I ran a competition for FAs to consult and run $4M for a nonprofit. Bids came in everywhere from 1% from an insurance company that we wouldn't have selected anyway, down to 40bps from Vanguard. We wanted more personal service than VG is set up to offer, and ended up with a small independent FA at IIRC 59bps.

I think both Fido and Schwab offer Investment advice for AUM fees, but more importantly, both act as custodians for literally thousands of Investment and Financial advisors and are more than willing to make referrals.