I dropped my Fidelity Advisory Service today...they weren’t happy!

[Floridatennisplayer]

You are obviously being selfish. Remember, Fido folks have feelings and kids to feed also!

You are right. I was being insensitive. I’m going to go over there right now and give them another check.....and perhaps a nice gift basket......lol.

 

[scrabbler1]

While I have had mostly good AEs since I met with my first one back in 2008, about 6 months before I ERed, I did have a bad apple in there in 2009-2010.


I did get switched from one AE to another from 2008-2009 because they kept leaving Fido. After being switched to my third one in that time, another AE tried to poach me, telling me I had been switched again. But Mr. Pushy simply wanted me to turn over control of my portfolio to him for a 1% AUM fee. We met for 2 mostly annoying hours I really wanted to have back. By the time I had returned to my car, I had already mentally written a letter to his boss, the office manager.


Not long after I wrote that actual letter, the office manager called me and switched me to another AE, the one I have been with ever since then (2010). Mr. Pushy, I later learned, left Fido not long afterward.

 

[LarryMelman]

my Fido account says "Premium Services", not Private Client

Until March, I had just under $2M at Fidelity and my statements said "Private Client Group". I pulled my IRA's out in March, leaving a taxable account worth mid-6-figures. Statements continued to say "Private Client Group" until June when they started to say "Premium Services". Both totally meaningless in my experience.

 

[trumpeting_angel]

Wow. I learned the basics of compounding and investing by typing my father's personal finance columns from age 13 ->

I was the victim of a scam years ago, and reading countless stories like these has kept me far away from financial advisors. But my trusted, long-time accountant got his CFP a year or two ago, and now that I've retired, I needed some help figuring out what money to spend, and if/how to manage Roth conversions.

We had a long talk, and he helped me straighten a bunch of things out. When I talked about my dedication to Vanguard index funds, and considering a U-shaped glide path, he said it sounded like I needed need investment advice, and that was that.

I knew I trusted this guy. I expect that my fee for tax prep this year will be higher than other years, but that time was worth it. And he didn't try to sell me a thing.

 

[jazz4cash]

Yeah, I don't know why, but my Fido account says "Premium Services", not Private Client, but I'm guessing that's the same thing. They told me it was $1M total in their accounts for that. And as I've said elsewhere, the advisors in the DC area have been mediocre to bad, unfortunately. At worst trying to sell me on their managed investments, at best just amiable but not helpful. I need a checkup and some tax advice, and the last good advisor I saw like that was at USAA, but is apparently no longer with them, as his email bounced.

I’m curious about which branches in the DC area you’ve used. I’m not in the league for AUM being cited here but I’ve used a northern VA office and Towson, Md but not Bethesda. I recently discovered Annapolis which is my favorite. They all seem to have their own “culture/ personality”.

 

[53anddone]

+2

+3

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

I’m curious about which branches in the DC area you’ve used. I’m not in the league for AUM being cited here but I’ve used a northern VA office and Towson, Md but not Bethesda. I recently discovered Annapolis which is my favorite. They all seem to have their own “culture/ personality”.

Then you're probably right, as I've only gone to the Bethesda office, as it's more convenient for us. In all fairness, they were really helpful with transferring inherited accounts over and other estate matters.

 

[EarlyBirdly]

"The primary JOB of ANY money manager is to make some of your money, their money."

EXACTLY.

WHY is this so hard for some people to grasp?

Their JOB, their livelihood, the ONLY means these "people" have to make money... is to take yours.

They attach themselves to your accounts, not so transparently in most cases, to make a living.

You know like a Lamprey, or a Leech, or a Tapeworm....

 

[target2019]

A money maker's job might be to grow your stash faster and more efficiently than you can. Gathering real data to prove that is the challenge.

 

[EarlyBirdly]

A money maker's job might be to grow your stash faster and more efficiently than you can. Gathering real data to prove that is the challenge.

Of course, it goes without saying, the Leech always want's the Host to be as fat as possible. (!)

 

[IMATERP]

I moved my (3) accounts and my parents (6) accounts earlier this year. We moved from Fidelity to TD Ameritrade. During 2018, they really dropped the ball regarding customer service. We got a new “team” and their customer service was a joke. I could not get in touch with any member of their “team” when we needed administrative assistance. They always had some excuse as to why they weren’t meeting expectations. We had been with Fidelity for 26 years and loyalty means nothing to them. Unfortunately, it’s a sign of the times. Fidelity has a call center close by and they hire and train new call center reps by the hundreds each month. They also lose more representatives than they hire on a monthly basis.

TD Ameritrade gave us $2,500 in cash to move our accounts to them AND 500 free trades per account. They also reduced our commissions (for non NTF funds) to $16.95. We like a couple of the Vanguard funds so this ended up being an additional savings.

 

[Markola]

"The primary JOB of ANY money manager is to make some of your money, their money."

EXACTLY.

WHY is this so hard for some people to grasp?

Their JOB, their livelihood, the ONLY means these "people" have to make money... is to take yours.

They attach themselves to your accounts, not so transparently in most cases, to make a living.

You know like a Lamprey, or a Leech, or a Tapeworm....

Yeah, except it’s different at Vanguard, which is a co-op owned by the mutual fund shareholders, i.e. me. About 8 years ago I yanked all of our stuff out of Schwab for much these same FIDO reasons and now have $1.3M run by Vanguard Personal Advisor Services for us. Our assigned advisor (you need $500K+) has us in a small handful of cheap, unchanging index funds, which he rebalances. Vanguard PAS costs 30 basis points/year and we’re very happy with the results and the service. Yes, I could manage our money solo but I am married to a strong, ambitious career woman and there are a lot of advantages to having a neutral and knowledgeable third party sort out what we both want to spend on and put it into an agreed upon plan we all work toward, rather than letting our money be a source of marital friction. YMMV.

 

[MRG]

Yeah, except it’s different at Vanguard, which is a co-op owned by the mutual fund shareholders, i.e. me. About 8 years ago I yanked all of our stuff out of Schwab for much these same FIDO reasons and now have $1.3M run by Vanguard Personal Advisor Services for us. Our assigned advisor (you need $500K+) has us in a small handful of cheap, unchanging index funds, which he rebalances. Vanguard PAS costs 30 basis points/year and we’re very happy with the results and the service. Yes, I could manage our money solo but I am married to a strong, ambitious career woman and there are a lot of advantages to having a neutral and knowledgeable third party sort out what we both want to spend on and put it into an agreed upon plan we all work toward, rather than letting our money be a source of marital friction. YMMV.

+1000

I moved 500k to Vanguard a couple years ago and used PAS, no problems. Its outperformed my assets at Fidelity with superior customer service. Makes DW less nervous that a professional is managing it. I'm probably going to move another million to them and leave enough at fido to keep their cc.