Fidelity's lower fees mantra
You've probably noticed that Fidelity fees have been inching down for certain products. Last month Fidelity offered two new annuity products, Personal Retirement Annuity and Freedom Lifetime Income, which feature competitive annual management fees, compared with other annuity products.
Also, this week on the front page of Fidelity.com, there's a big banner proclaiming the elimination of the $50 brokerage account management fee.
Why the unexpected largesse?
Three words: New opportunities and competition. (Well, that's actually four but "and" is just an article and .... oh never mind)
The new opportunities are in annuities. Low-fee annuities have been the domain of Vanguard and TIAA-CREF, which savvy investors know. Fidelity is apparently trying to muscle in on their turf.
Competition consists of the discount brokerages (Schwab, Ameritrade, etc.) which have been slashing trading fees in a bid to get business. Fidelity has also cut fees, but by eliminating the annual brokerage fee they can appeal to an even wider swathe of the population. Even if they are low-margin stock trading accounts now, Fidelity reasons they may be rolling over IRAs or buying mutual funds later.
One feature of Fidelity.com that I have found particularly useful is the "cost" view of my accounts. Basically, this allows you to see how much a stock or fund has appreciated -- or declined -- since you bought it, in both dollar terms and percent ... Read
Recently I logged onto Fidelity.com, and was forced to submit to one of these ridiculous end-user agreements that only a lawyer can fully understand. Mind you, I was getting online to check a quote and execute a stock trade, which normally might take 10 minutes ... Read
I couldn't resist. The link on the front of Fidelity.com says "analyze your portfolio in 60 seconds", so I clicked it. Read
I really trust Fidelity, and my IRA administrators (ING Retirement), too much. I assume that they are handling my investments according to my directions. However, in recent months I am not so sure. Read
