(Jun 7) Standard and Poors reports that Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Co. and Empire Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Co. (collectively, Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Group, or FILIG) debt outlook has been lowered (click on "Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Co. And Affiliate Outlook Revised To Neg From Stable"). This has an impact on FMR, the parent company that ...    Read

(Jun 6) I made a comment in an earlier post about USAA, "A corporate partnership that's useless for consumers," that has turned out to be wrong. Here's the comment:    Read

(Jun 1) A few weeks back, Fidelity Observer criticized USAA for its expensive marketing campaign touting the supposed convenience of using the UPS Store QuickPost to mail in deposits to the USAA Federal Savings Bank. I didn't see any added convenience -- in fact, driving to a UPS Store to mail a deposit envelope is very inconvenient ...    Read

(May 25) Fidelity Observer spotted this guarantee, linked on the front page of Fidelity.com. Fidelity has apparently retooled its anti-fraud policies, and will "reimburse your Fidelity account for any losses due to unauthorized activity." The page details what is and is not covered by the guarantee:    Read

(May 19) Whenever I sign up for a website, or register for some service, or even subscribe to a magazine, I always make sure to check off the little box that ensures my email address won't get on some sort of mailing list for company or "partner" promotions. If the form doesn't make it clear what the ...    Read

(May 14) Fuel is selling for around $3/gallon, with no relief in sight. A lot of people are ditching their SUVs and other gas hogs for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, or taking public transportation, if it's available. But there's another way to get to work, that is not only cheaper than driving or taking the subway, but ...    Read     (1 Comment)

(May 12) The Fidelity Report blogger has posted about Fidelity Magellan's massive distribution last week.    Read

(May 12) Ross Kerber of the Boston Globe has an interesting story this morning about Vanguard founder John Bogle (of indexing fame) and his quest to force fund companies to reveal top executives' pay. One of his critics, Daniel Wiener, editor of the Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors, points out that Bogle took steps to shield his ...    Read