Fidelity Investments

Fidelity Investments Reviews

Find a Best Online Brokers partner
2.1(730)
Author pictureAuthor picture
Author picture
Written by
Author picture
Edited by

Our promise. We provide a buying advantage with verified reviews and unbiased editorial research.

Find a vetted fiduciary to help with your finances

See what financial advisors are near you on SmartAsset

Get Started
Overall Rating2.1 out of 5
See all 730 reviews & ratings

About Fidelity Investments

This profile has not been claimed by the company. See reviews below to learn more or submit your own review.

Established in 1946, Fidelity Investments is an online broker and wealth management company that offers both robo-advisor and advisor-led wealth management accounts. With $0 trading commissions and $0 account minimums, Fidelity is a good choice for beginner and advanced investors alike. Fidelity will introduce cryptocurrency trading through its latest product, Fidelity Crypto, soon.

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Free robo-advisor account
  • $0 trading commission

Cons

  • High fees for wealth management
  • No futures or options on futures

Bottom Line

With Fidelity, you can choose how you want to manage your investments. Customers have access to a low-cost trading platform and 24/7 customer service. Fees and minimums vary by account.

Featured Reviews

Verified
Castroville, CA

I've been with Fidelity for 13 to 14 years. They are the best broker I have had. Their representatives have been intelligent and efficient and well trained. I have never had a poo...

Read full review
Verified
Boise, ID

When you leave a company, you can transfer your 401(k) to Fidelity free of charge, and for the last year or so trades are free also. Great website and you can get a daily email wi...

Read full review

Find a vetted fiduciary to help with your finances

See what financial advisors are near you on SmartAsset

Get Started

What is Fidelity Investments?

Fidelity is a global financial firm that offers a wide range of financial planning and investment services. It serves individual investors and businesses alike with 12 regional centers and over 200 investor centers across the nation.

Fidelity offers many tools to help you reach your financial goals, including:

  • Cash management solutions
  • Investing and trading
  • Retirement planning
  • Life insurance and long-term solutions
  • College savings and youth savings accounts
  • Charitable giving and philanthropic consulting

Fidelity Investments offers different investment accounts, such as:

  • DIY investing brokerage account: Account holders will have access to decision-making technology that will help them manage their own investments. Investors will also be able to invest in their favorite exchange-traded funds and companies with fractional share trading using Stocks by the Slice.
  • Roth individual retirement accounts (IRA): You can start your retirement savings with a $0 account minimum. With Fidelity’s Roth IRA, you are responsible for choosing and managing your investments.
  • Robo-advisor and advisor-monitored investment accounts: Account minimums and fees vary, but you can choose how much input you want from an advisor.

How does Fidelity Investments work?

For investing, Fidelity Investments allows investors to trade stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, options and foreign currencies with fees as low as $0. Fidelity will also allow cryptocurrency investing and trading soon, with bitcoin and ethereum in select states. At this time, Fidelity does not offer futures or options on futures.

With Fidelity, investors can choose the following services:

  • Managing investments themselves
  • Using a robo-advisor
  • Using a hybrid robo-advisor
  • Working with a team of advisors
  • Working with a dedicated advisor one on one

You can choose which advisor you want to work with, depending on their location and qualifications. While not all of Fidelity’s advisors are considered fiduciaries, when providing advisory services, advisors act in a fiduciary capacity as part of Fidelity’s terms. Along with managing accounts, advisors apply tax-smart investment techniques to help you minimize the impact of taxes on investing.

Fidelity supports its investors with vast educational resources and tools. Investors can use portfolio analysis tools and screeners to help them make the best investment decisions. Customer service is available 24/7 through a virtual assistant or through the phone. Live team chat is available during normal business hours.

Fidelity Investments fees

With Fidelity, all investors will be able to take advantage of $0 trading commissions and choose from a large index of no-transaction-fee mutual funds. Options will still have a contract fee of 65 cents, and selling orders have an assessment fee of 1 cent to 3 cents per $1,000 of principal.

Fidelity offers different accounts with varying account minimums and fees:

  • Robo-advisor Fidelity Go accounts from $0 to $24,999: These accounts require $0 advisor fees and no account minimums. You will need at least $10 in your account to start investing.
  • Robo-advisor Fidelity Go accounts of $25,000-plus: Once your account holds $25,000 or more, you'll pay a 0.35% yearly fee, but you'll also have access to a live advisor.
  • Wealth management accounts: These accounts range in minimums from $50,000 to $250,000, depending on how much advisor support you want while managing your portfolio. Fees range from 0.50% to 1.50%.

Fidelity Investments FAQ

Does Fidelity have local advisors?

Yes. You can find advisors in many states. It's headquartered in Boston and has 12 regional offices and 200 investor centers across the nation. Some states don't have a Fidelity office or center in them, but services are still available there.

Where is Fidelity Investments available?

Fidelity Investments is available across the U.S. and internationally. Not all services and products are available in all locations.

Are Fidelity Investments fees high?

Fidelity is very transparent with its fees. Most fees are lower than its competitors’, with some accounts having no account minimums or advisor fees. Its wealth management account fees and minimums are slightly higher than other competitors’.

Is Fidelity Investments worth it?

Fidelity Investments is great for both beginner and advanced investors. Investors can create a Fidelity Go robo-advisor account with no minimum or fees if they have less than $25,000 invested. Plus, with thousands of no-fee mutual funds, new investors can get their feet wet without worrying about high costs. Active day traders can profit the most by having minimum fees.

Fidelity Investments Reviews

ConsumerAffairs has collected 730 reviews and 1,155 ratings.

Recent
  • Recent
  • Oldest
  • Most helpful
Any
  • Any

A link has directed you to this review. Its location on this page may change next time you visit.

How do I know I can trust these reviews about Fidelity?
  • 4,348,017 reviews on ConsumerAffairs are verified.
  • We require contact information to ensure our reviewers are real.
  • We use intelligent software that helps us maintain the integrity of reviews.
  • Our moderators read all reviews to verify quality and helpfulness.
Page 1 Reviews 0 - 10

Reviewed Nov. 26, 2023

Fidelity started a Crypto account where you can buy/sell bitcoins and ethereum. They advertise ‘no fee’ and until Sometime in June this was the case. In June they announced a 1% spread. This was not clearly visible on their site, but an * pointed to a max spread of 1%. So if you bought assuming no fee/spread/commission you can’t sell w/o a 1% spread.

Speaking to a manager at first I heard a lot of double talk. I guess in finance there’s a lot of non meaning analogies. When I asked about the notice of change I was told I was sent a email! Why not make it clear in bold on the site? Finally making the point of Fidelity not being transparent, I was asked for suggestions. As a very long time customer I’m now concerned about investing with Fidelity Up until now I have had a 5* experience, but wonder if the company has changed.

Thanks for your vote! Report
Customer ServiceStaff

Reviewed Oct. 30, 2023

My previous employer terminated their pension plan and hired Fidelity to handle this communication to retirees and offer for lump sum payment or early annuity to eligible participants. The election period was from September 15 until October 31. I did not even receive my packet until October 7. My name was incorrect, and address was as well, even though I called and updated this information in July 2023, as soon as I receive the first notification that this was going to occur in late summer. When I called to let them know, the information in my packet was incorrect. At that time they informed me they would need to mail me a name change and address change form to correct the information and then would have to send me another packet.

Obviously, the time is ticking on the election period and I told them there was no way this would all happen through back-and-forth US mail within the election period timeframe. And that someone should have informed me when I called to change this information in July that it required forms to be filled out. They informed me that this is the policy and they would have to send me the forms and I would have to complete them and send them back before they could send me another packet. They do everything through US mail. Nothing electronic. I had to get my previous employer involved in order to allow me to fax this information in and have them send my packet overnight in order to not miss the deadline.

I have spoken with a customer service representative with Fidelity almost on a daily basis for nearly a month. Every representative tells you a different thing, they are ill-informed or don’t take the time to find out important and necessary information. On one occasion a rep actually lied to me to get me off the phone. I called right back and confirm this with the next customer service representative that I spoke to. My experience with this company has been an absolute nightmare, and created unnecessary, but enormous stress on me for something that should have been simple. There is no way I would ever use this company for financial services and entrust them to handle my money. Run like the wind!

Thanks for your vote! Report

Not sure how to choose?

Get buying tips about Online Brokers delivered to your inbox.

    By entering your email, you agree to sign up for consumer news, tips and giveaways from ConsumerAffairs. Unsubscribe at any time.

    Thanks for subscribing.

    You have successfully subscribed to our newsletter! Enjoy reading our tips and recommendations.

    Customer Service

    Reviewed Oct. 28, 2023

    Beware of any Fidelity Investment phone transactions. They can promise you the moon and then deny later. No recording. So if they screw up, they will just play stupid or try to make you feel stupid. Phones have lengthy waits, difficult prompts, lots of transfers and waits again, broken promises for call backs, and on and on. Phone supervisors and Seal Beach Branch were no help. Hours to try for help limited to EST... translated to 2 pm M-F PST. I was a customer for many years. No more.!

    Thanks for your vote! Report
    Price

    Reviewed Oct. 11, 2023

    Fidelity has great options and tools with the exceptions of the professional managed account called Portfolio Advisory Services. Stay away from this. This account performs well below peer groups and your money is not available for withdraw. They decide when you can withdraw, in fact they will not even issue a sell order until they "get around to". I have been a Fidelity customer for over 20 years and never would believe they refused to sell a mutual funds as ordered but will wait until they get around to it...sometimes a week. One cannot help but to think the delay is to give you the worst possible price, not the true close of business price. The account is called a rollover IRA but don't be fooled, it has nothing to do with a traditional IRA once you "hire" the professional managed account services. Simply expect poor performance and no access to your money.

    Thanks for your vote! Report
    PriceOnline & AppStaffEase of Use

    Reviewed Sept. 28, 2023

    Fidelity was once a great platform. No longer. They cannot keep their systems up. Last night they sent me a trading alert and when I went to action it, their site was down. Regretably this is not uncommon. The site is down A LOT. The site used to be fairly intuitive - and then they decided to "improve" it. The site has not been worth a ** since. Their IT people are truly terrible. They take the site down on Sunday mornings when a look at the data would tell them that the low ebb on their systems is 3 a.m. on Wednesdays. One would think that an analytical company would perform some analysis to ascertain when it was a good time to take a maintenance window. Avoid this firm.

    Thanks for your vote! Report
    Coverage

    Reviewed Sept. 23, 2023

    My experience with Fidelity was what I picture going to hell would be like. First off, they are just an unnecessary 3rd party. They don't trade, or put together mutual funds. They don't watch the S&P 500 or the DOW at all. They don't watch the market, so they can trade stocks appropriately. If you do make any profit on the portfolio someone else put together, Fidelity's job is to skim the profit for themselves. They work with corrupt companies to help those companies better get away with whatever selfish reason that company needs Fidelity to be their fall guy. Fidelity covers crimes, skims profits, doesn't care about your account. They told me themselves, "FIDELITY IS JUST A BOOKKEEPING SERVICE." An unnecessary 3rd party. Find a better financial institute, if you are someone looking to make your future better. Fidelity will not do that.

    Thanks for your vote! Report
    Customer Service

    Reviewed Sept. 14, 2023

    I have been a Fidelity customer for 30 years. In general, I have been satisfied with their service. However, recently the company sent me an automated email notifying me of an upcoming IPO. Interested investors were directed to the Fidelity website to indicate interest in the IPO. The day before the IPO I received another automated email directing me back to the Fidelity website to confirm my interest in investing in the IPO. On the morning of the IPO I received a third automated email informing me that no shares were available for me. This experience is a microcosm of what Fidelity has become.

    Thanks for your vote! Report
    Customer ServicePrice

    Reviewed July 21, 2023

    Upon Fidelity pitching us to stay with when planning to open a self-directed rollover IRA, we inquired whether a specific investment fund was available. We provided the specific (CUSIP) codes and they confirmed that the REIT investment we were planning to invest in was available via their Self-directed or Roll-Over IRA. A few weeks after opening the account, upon funding and completing all the documentation and paper, only then did they return stating that it's not available to invest in without $1 million minimum investment holdings at Fidelity.

    Now we will lose weeks of interest, and time as we must open up a different SD-IRA with another investment co., await account transfer and funds to clearing before we can begin the investment process again. Zero accountability from Fidelity, barring a response that this will be a coaching opportunity for them, and sorry for the misinformation. And for the customer --- no solution except to pick a different investment that they offer. Overall, misinformation, poor representation, lack of accountability, transparency, and knowledge -- a terrible mix when relying on an investment co.

    Thanks for your vote! Report
    Price

    Reviewed July 5, 2023

    I’ve had investments accounts with this company for a few years. It not only cost me money but my precious time I won’t get back. Don’t waste your time or money with this company. They make it sound good but it’s fraud.

    Thanks for your vote! Report
    Staff

    Reviewed May 25, 2023

    Stay away from Fidelity, they do not disclose documents properly and will end up taking your money without proper disclosures. Will do nothing to fix it. They don’t honor the fiduciary responsibilities. They will say they care about you but they won’t fix the problems they cause. I called twice to get this issue addressed. They took my money without providing me the proper documentation or disclosures. They don’t care if you will write a bad review. Any brokerage is better than how this place operates. Big time buyer beware. Don’t give them your business.

    Thanks for your vote! Report
    Loading more reviews...

    Fidelity Investments Company Information

    Company Name:
    Fidelity
    Website:
    www.fidelity.com