Have any of you ever seen Fidelity post end of year dividend estimates? This is a big missing piece for me. I thought they used to.
We have discussed this before. It wasn't too long ago, maybe 2 or 3 years, when Fidelity posted year-end dividends among their year-end distributions. I was not pleased to see Fidelity stop posting them, either.
One of my bond funds, the one which generates most of my steady income, sometimes had what I call "spikes" in its dividend income. Back in 2009-2011, I had these spikes which amounted to getting 2 months worth of dividend income in December. Fidelity wasn't posting them among their annual estimates back then, so while I was happy to get the added income, it interfered with my estimated taxes because it was too late to make an added state estimated tax payment by 12/31 I could deduct on that year's federal return.
I learned in 2010 that this spike could be learned before the end of the year because it appeared as a single, one-day increase in the fund's Daily Mil Rate around the 15th of December. So, in 2011, I was able to ask Fidelity for Daily Mil Rates during December and see I would receive a larger monthly dividend a few weeks before 12/31 and adjust accordingly.
These spikes disappeared for several years until I saw in the year-end distributions for 2018 a special dividend (the last time I saw this appear IIRC). However, with the new tax law starting in 2018, it didn't matter because I was taking the Standard Deduction. The spike dividend was paid out a few days before the end of the year, unlike in 2009-2011 when it was combined with the regular monthly one. It was not part of the Daily Mil Rate, either.
I had a spike in 2019, too, also paid out a few days before the end of the year. The spike was pretty small, though.
I have told Fidelity reps including my own Account Executive that I don't really like being blindsided by special distributions which have no warning anywhere, but they have fallen on deaf ears. ("We're sorry for the inconvenience blah blah blah...…")
This is one of several ways Fidelity has been slowly eroding my goodwill toward them......