Please explain to me like I'm 12, why I should fire Fidelity, EJ, etc.
 

Above ^

I have an accounting degree and can apply myself if I need to. (I'm at that age that I don't want to)

What are the advantages of keeping a "keeper" of investments.

So far I like my "investment person". But willing to listen to you educated folk.

Thank you in advance for not being overly condescending, like this forum tends to lean towards.

TIA

How long have you been dealing with Fidelity and how are the results?

Some of my investments are there and they have done very well over the years

30 years. Not sure how they compare.

I gave up on Fidelity many years ago and use Schwab and Vanguard.

Thank you!

Yes, I get it. Why did you switch to Schwab and Vanguard?

Thanks

Do you value what they are doing for you, or are you willing to do it yourself?
 

Most "investment guys" do the job of periodically rebalancing your portfolio based on objectives/guidelines that you define, and may offer suggestions/solutions to minimizing tax impact of capital gains and/or RMDs. You can do all that yourself and do your own research on your investments if you want (you indicated that you do not want to). I test drove an investments guy with a portion of my assets but over several years I was generating better returns (doing the work myself) than him, so paying him roughly the 1% fee wasn't worth it, so I fired him (you still will have your investments at a place like Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard, but there's no cost to that). If you don't understand the value, and costs, of what your investment guy is doing for you, then you should have him explain it to you, and then decide if you want to do the work yourself. There are cheaper "robo" advisor options (Wealthfront, Betterment, SoFi, etc.) where rebalancing, etc. is done in automated fashion. They charge less (.25% vs. 1 to 1.5%) than typical investment guys. You may want to look into that also.

This is great info, thanks!!

I could do it myself and really enjoy it but I use a flat fixed fee advisor because odds are I will die before my wife and I want her to have someone she can depend on and trust and not have to worry about it. I also like the portal tools he provides that can give all kinds of reports and different ways to analyze your portfolio.

This thread has me wondering when AI will be used to manage an investment portfolio. :)

Wow, that would interesting for sure!

I'm sure you've heard of the 4% rule. Simply stated, you can withdraw 4% of your assets every year and not run out of money. Most advisors take 1 to 1.5% of assets under management (AUM). That means you're giving up a minimum of 25% of your 4%!

I would suggest that you visit bogleheads.org and look around. Their Wiki will explain a lot of things. There is a forum where you can ask any questions. Everything is there that you need to self direct.

Hope that helps.

I maintained an account at Fidelity for over 33 years. During that time I also held assets at JP Morgan Chase later moving those to Edward Jones and eventually moving everything to Fidelity. I managed everything myself in the 90’s and early 2000’s, but as my portfolio grew I felt like I needed professional advice. What I found was disappointing overall. Like others have said, the returns I received weren’t significantly out of tolerance +/- from the S&P for any given year. When I first moved from Chase to Edward Jones I had a very seasoned adviser who had been in the field for more than 35 years. He’d seen market changes, recessions, etc. Overall, he was a very good adviser. He retired after I had been with him about 3 years. My account was given to a brand new adviser who had recently finished training with Ed Jones and shadowed my former adviser for about a year. He initially gave me good service because I was one of his larger clients at the time but as time passed he gained new more affluent clients and I found that aside from an annual review, I didn’t hear from him unless I felt I needed something.

In 2017 I moved all my assets to Fidelity. Same level of service with investment choices mirroring my risk tolerance. Returns were average and I was paying about 1% per year as a management fee. In 2020 Covid hit. The markets initially tanked and my accounts suffered greatly. I spoke to my adviser seeking words of wisdom that would magically improve my net worth. The advice was typical: “Ride it out. Over the long term market returns have always outpaced inflation.” I was now retired and had more time on my hands so I decided it was time to quit paying people for following simple mutual fund and ETF fund selections. I fired my adviser and started managing things myself. I participated in some online webinars about options trading and watched many YouTube videos on the topic. I got approved for options trading on my accounts and started using ActiveTraderPro, Fidelity’s in house trading platform. I did this until recently.

Fidelity had me classified as an Active Trader VIP. In late 2024 I asked Fidelity for some assistance with reviewing some estate documents (one of their services) and I was told it would take two months to get an appointment. Unsatisfactory in my opinion, but I waited. I called them a couple of months later to follow up and discovered that nothing had been scheduled and they asked me to once again explain to them what I needed. That was enough for me…

I moved all of my assets to Charles Schwab. They use a trading platform called “Think or Swim” that is truly phenomenal. It runs circles around the Fidelity Investments platform and allows me to develop custom scripts and studies for evaluating stock trades. No fees for stock purchases. Small fees for options trades.

In summary, I’ve had both good and bad years doing this, but at the end of the day I am the master of my own universe with respect to having control over my account management. I do not pay thousands in adviser fees and can still call Schwab anytime I need for free advice. Lots of Schwab tutorials on YouTube. I highly recommend that anyone with half a brain and a little time on their hands learn more about managing their own finances and do it themselves.

Does anyone really think that the adviser “truly” cares whether you make money or not? They get paid whether your account goes up or down. Think of this like Bacon and Eggs. The adviser is the chicken and you’re the pig. The chicken is involved, the pig is invested. Good luck.

I have enough pride to admit that I am not strong as I should be with investments and market savvy to manage our own portfolio. Thus we leave it in the hands of a trusted expert.

Sure it costs us fees, but we’re still doing well and I don’t have to deal with the nagging question of whether MY choices are killing our finances.

But that’s just me…

I agree with this statement. I have used Creative Planning for six (?) years. Their compensation model charges a percentage of assets under management (AUM). My wife likes the guy that is the face of the company to us. He has two tasks: hold my wife’s hand upon my demise; and, talk me off the ledge when I’m about to do something stupid with our investments. If he were to leave, then we’d probably move to a fee-for-service advisor. I’ve found a guy in the Florida panhandle (we just moved from there) who I like. I had him run some numbers to get a second opinion on our move to The Villages.
I have used Edward Jones and Fisher Investment. The former was a disaster (hired EJ in 2005). The latter was fantastic, but I was searching for lower fees.