Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Since early April I've been a client of Fidelity Managed Accounts (retirements funds) and I'm reevaluating that decision in light of the impact those fees have and that the service is not really personalized, but instead automated based on what bucket of risk you fall into. I also question whether the funds the managed team uses (which is, of course, all their own Advisor Funds) are really any better, they have higher expenses. I'm in their "growth" type portfolio.
I do have some monies outside of the Fidelity Managed Account invested; I'm using Betterment, which also charges fees, but less than Fidelity. My current company 401K is at Fidelity, but outside the managed arena.
I have liquid assets in a few CDs.
I don't want to have to watch the market every day; I only have 1 individual stock (AT&T), which is part of an IRA account and that came from a past employer who AT&T eventually purchased.
Reading is making me feel overwhelmed because everyone has an opinion but that doesn't mean they're right.
My risk tolerance is mostly moderate, though I'm willing to play with higher risk on a smaller chunk of money.
Anyway, I don't want to have thousands of $ going into Fidelity's pockets. Seeing that first quarterly advisor fee bill was a big wake-up call!
Perhaps I'd be better off subscribing to The Fidelity Investor, and just following their portfolio advice?
1. I'm getting close to retirement, 5 to 7 years.
2. My job is not stable and could end at any time because the company is always doing layoffs. Been there only 4 months.
3. I contribute the maximum, including catch-up, that I can in a 401K, each year whenever I'm working.
4. I also contribute to a Roth IRA (this year's IRA happens to be at Betterment)
5. On top of that I also take a portion of monies after tax and use those to invest in my various Betterment funds.
6. Aside from my mortgage, I have no other debt.
7. I've invested in various mutual funds over the years, not really knowing what I was doing, but kind of jumping in and dollar cost averaging. Those all got consolidated over to Fidelity over time and now put in their managed account service. Why? I thought they'd would be able to do better than me with my very limited knowledge and not watching the market often enough.
Thanks MathJak. I'd never heard of Fidelity Insight Newsletter until I read about it here on City-Data.
Would be *a lot* cheaper than paying Fidelity's managed account fees.
BTW, for when the time comes...
What's the best way to get out of managed funds and put into new funds? I don't want to dump major chunks in all at one time... or do I? I've always been told to DCA, but how do you recommend handling it when you have a significant portfolio?
i am a big believer in just do it. but that is me . it depends on tax ramifications .
you can get a sample of an old newsletter free . just do not use those old models .there are 99 dollar deals if you google it .
i like them , it always kept me from myself and my constantly thinking i can outsmart things or my always thinking about my next move or 2nd guessing the last one . .
Since early April I've been a client of Fidelity Managed Accounts (retirements funds) and I'm reevaluating that decision in light of the impact those fees have and that the service is not really personalized, but instead automated based on what bucket of risk you fall into. I also question whether the funds the managed team uses (which is, of course, all their own Advisor Funds) are really any better, they have higher expenses. I'm in their "growth" type portfolio.
I do have some monies outside of the Fidelity Managed Account invested; I'm using Betterment, which also charges fees, but less than Fidelity. My current company 401K is at Fidelity, but outside the managed arena.
I have liquid assets in a few CDs.
I don't want to have to watch the market every day; I only have 1 individual stock (AT&T), which is part of an IRA account and that came from a past employer who AT&T eventually purchased.
Reading is making me feel overwhelmed because everyone has an opinion but that doesn't mean they're right.
My risk tolerance is mostly moderate, though I'm willing to play with higher risk on a smaller chunk of money.
Anyway, I don't want to have thousands of $ going into Fidelity's pockets. Seeing that first quarterly advisor fee bill was a big wake-up call!
Perhaps I'd be better off subscribing to The Fidelity Investor, and just following their portfolio advice?
Anyway, hope to get some good discussion going.
I'd spend a week researching a little and looking at Vanguard funds and ditch managed accounts and betterment (wall streets west coast cousin, they'll still take more fees than they're worth).
actually unless you know you have the temperament to invest , make investment decisions and the discipline to stay the course most folks benefit from at least some sort of hand holding and 3rd party intervention .
for the tiny fee betterment charges i think most left to their own devices will do a lot worse .
betterment has some pretty good tax harvesting routines which are not just selling losers . that alone may be worth it . folks have a hard time rebalancing too on their own when markets are plunging .
those we see on financial forums are very untypical of most americans and how they are at investing . the typical american not only does not make investing a hobby , the fact is they understand very little about it nor have the interest to really learn .
that is quite obvious just looking at the hodge podge of stuff people have in their 401k's and how they behave in volatile times . .
Last edited by mathjak107; 08-31-2015 at 07:25 AM..
I like Betterment and I think their model is useful. The fees are lower than what one would pay with, for instance, Fidelity Managed Account. I also got several months free because I took advantage of a link from Mint, so I'm going to keep them for now. Yes, they're doing tax loss harvesting, which was certainly taken advantage of last week. They only have a portion of my monies, and none of my accounts with them are 401Ks.
For right now, I'm just looking at the Fidelity Managed Account, and thinking of going the route of a model portfolio, like Fidelity Insight. Just thinking right now...
Question: for buying/trading mutual funds outside the Fidelity funds, would it be better to open a regular trading account elsewhere or just do it all through Fidelity?
actually unless you know you have the temperament to invest , make investment decisions and the discipline to stay the course most folks benefit from at least some sort of hand holding and 3rd party intervention .
for the tiny fee betterment charges i think most left to their own devices will do a lot worse .
betterment has some pretty good tax harvesting routines which are not just selling losers . that alone may be worth it . folks have a hard time rebalancing too on their own when markets are plunging .
those we see on financial forums are very untypical of most americans and how they are at investing . the typical american not only does not make investing a hobby , the fact is they understand very little about it nor have the interest to really learn .
that is quite obvious just looking at the hodge podge of stuff people have in their 401k's and how they behave in volatile times . .
Betterment charging a management % is not a "tiny fee" over the long term. IMO, betterment would be great... with just a flat yearly fee. These % fees for advisors (human or robot) to just use a risk profile to pick the funds from a spreadsheet is ridiculous.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
