Knowledgeable Reps Help
Written: Dec 29 '03 (Updated Dec 29 '03)
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Pros: Excellent Customer Service, Excellent Mutual Fund Performance, Useful website
Cons: Expensive if you're into trading stocks.
The Bottom Line: With the excellent customer service, selection of top notch mutual funds with low fees and great track records, if you're a long term fund investor, you've got a winner here.
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| rootk's Full Review: Fidelity Investments |
Background
I recently underwent a major change in careers and had a decent sized 401K accumulated at my old workplace. I currently have a Roth IRA with Vanguard, but not wanting to consolidate all my retirement into a single company, after much research, I decided on Fidelity.
The Customer Service Story
The first thing I did was, get online and attempt to fill out all the necessary info at Fidelity. Unfortunately, my computer locked up at some point in the process , and I had to re boot. It was getting late, and so I decided to just go on to bed and do it another day. Well a week went by, and one day my phone rang. The caller ID was a mysterious number, but I answered anyway. Turns out it was a customer service representative from Fidelity who was wanting to see if I needed any assistance with the application process. He was very nice and helpful and gave me his number if I needed to reach him directly.
I received a big package of papers from my former plan administrators, CitiStreet, that didn't make any sense to me so I called them up. The guy on the phone said he could just mail me a check for the balance and I could send it to Fidelity. I said that would be fine. (Don't worry I had the check done as a direct rollover, made out to Fidelity and not me, thus avoiding all taxes and penalties)
A couple days later the check arrived in the mail. At that point I went back online and actually got through the account opening process.
I noticed on the main Fidelity page that one of the funds I wanted to put some money in was closing on December 31 at 4:00 PM. This concerned me greatly, so I called the Fidelity Retirement Customer Service line on Sunday afternoon and stated the situation. I mentioned I wanted to overnight the check to them, and the fella gave me a special address and mailstop to send it to so it would be deposited immediately. That was cool.
As I was getting the envelope and such ready, a question arose, "Should I sign this check? Or does Fidelity endorse it? or what?" So I had to call back again. The first guy I talked to didn't know, but his manager got online, and said all I had to do was write the account number on the back. So that's what I did.
He also offered to help if I needed to pick out investments, and I informed him, I had already picked out the funds I wanted to invest in. He suggested I enclose a brief letter explaining the percentages/dollar amounts that I wanted placed in each fund, and they could do that for me the same day the check was received. So I did that was well.
I mailed everything off this morning, $13.65 to overnight it... so we'll see how this fiasco actually turns out once they get the check.
Point being so far, I'm HIGHLY impressed with their customer service.
The Fidelity Website
I read in previous reviews here from a couple years ago, that the Fidelity online system was lacking. Well it may have been back then, but in 2003 it's pretty slick and functional.
There are the main headings you'd expect to see such as "My fidelity", "Accounts and Trade", "Quotes and Research", "Planning and Retirement", "Products", and "Customer Service".
Inside the "My Fidelity" page, you can obviously access a lot of your information. It is completely customizable as well. It is very similar to "My Yahoo" where you select what content you want on your page. VERY Cool.
The "Accounts and Trade" tab has your portfolio summary, and the following functionalities: trades, transfers, bill pay, account feature updates, and statements.
I can not comment directly on the stock trading functions since I'm only investing in mutual funds, and tend to stay away from individual stockes because they tend to be a little too risky and volitile for me. I'm a Dave Ramsey fan.
Under the "Quotes and research" tab, you can find the usual assortment of stock and fund screeners. I personally use Yahoo Finance and MSN Money for my research.
The "Planning and retirement" tab has a plethora of tools to help determine your risk level and whether or not you're going to be able to maintain a particular lifestyle during retirement, based upon your current and project savings plans. This could be useful... somehow... all I know is I'm 29 and I've got some time on my side so I'm going for pretty much growth all the way around. (ie no bonds or money market type funds etc)
When you get to the "Products" tab you will see that Fidelity is more than just a typical mutual fund broker. They offer services such as credit cards and checking accounts, annuities, and insurance.
The last tab is the "customer service" tab. Here you will find all pertinent contact information, phone numbers, and mailing addresses.
As you can see, there is A LOT to the Fidelity Investments website. It is extremely well laid out, so getting around is easy. Kudos to them for fixing their problems of years past.
Fees and prices
Several other reviewers noted the high costs associated with buying stocks through Fidelity. I'm looking at this brochure I got in the mail today from them and there are three levels in their brokerage:
(1) Bronze - all customer - $29.95 up to 1000 shares
(2) Silver - $100,000+ assets - $14.95 up to 1000 shares
(3) Gold - $1,000,000+ assets - $8.00 up to 1000 shares
Heaven help you if you need representative assistance, the prices are $55, $45, and $35 respectively.
As you can see they are a little more pricey than Etrade or Ameritrade. So if trading stocks is your thing, you may want to look elsewhere.
Conclusion
To this point, my experience with Fidelity has been excellent. As I stated before, we shall see how things go in the coming days, and I will update accordingly.
I currently highly recommend Fidelity for those looking to purchase mutual funds with excellent 10+ year track records and good rates of return (12% - 16%). However day traders will probably want to look elsewhere.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
rootk
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Member: Java Boo Boo
Location: Decatur, Alabama
Reviews written: 83
Trusted by: 23 members
About Me:
These opinions have been supplied by me!
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