Investing: Fidelity Go Or Diy?

Investing can be a complicated process, with many options, new concepts, and stressful decisions to make. Fidelity Go is an automated investment management platform that aims to make investing quick, easy, and affordable. It is a robo-advisor that builds a strategy to meet your needs, handles the investing process, and provides access to financial advisors. However, there are also benefits to investing yourself, such as having more control over your investments and choosing from a wider range of options. So, should you invest yourself or use Fidelity Go?

Fidelity Go's fees and account minimum

Fidelity Go is a robo-advisor service that offers a low-cost, digital financial service. It has a $0 account minimum, meaning there is no minimum initial investment to open an account. However, to start investing, your account balance must be at least $10.

Fidelity Go offers a tiered pricing system based on your account balance. There is no advisory fee for balances under $25,000, but for balances of $25,000 and above, there is a 0.35% annual fee. There are no trading fees, transaction fees, or rebalancing fees.

Fidelity Go also offers access to 1-on-1 financial coaching with their trained advisors once your account reaches $25,000. This includes unlimited 30-minute coaching calls to discuss budgeting, managing debt, retirement planning, and more.

Fidelity Go's investment strategy

Fidelity Go is an automated investment management platform that is catered towards hands-off investors, beginners, and existing Fidelity clients. The platform is user-friendly and has a straightforward investment solution.

• It starts by asking you a few questions about your financial goals, timeline, and risk tolerance.
• Based on your responses, it suggests an initial investment strategy or a mix of stocks and bonds for your account.
• Once your account is open and you add money to it, Fidelity Go will start investing for you when your account balance reaches $10.
• It will buy and sell investments in your account to maintain the investment strategy you've chosen, a process known as "rebalancing".
• It will invest any contributions you make over time according to the investment strategy you've selected.
• It will keep you informed about how your investments are doing and will remind you to review and update your information annually.
• If your account reaches $25,000, you will have access to unlimited coaching sessions with Fidelity advisors.

Fidelity Go offers 14 different risk levels and pre-built portfolio allocations based on your situation, goals, and timeline. The most conservative allocation targets 20% stocks and 80% bonds, while the most aggressive portfolio is 100% stocks.

The platform also has a financial wellness section that provides tools and resources to help you achieve your financial goals. It offers in-platform challenges, such as a 52-week challenge, to help nudge users towards their goals.

Fidelity Go's portfolio selection

Fidelity Go offers 16 portfolios—8 taxable and 8 retirement—built from Fidelity Flex mutual funds, which cover four asset classes: domestic, foreign, bonds, and short-term. The mutual funds in each portfolio vary based on the customer's financial goals.

Fidelity Go's most conservative investment strategy targets 20% stocks and 80% bonds and short-term investments, while its most aggressive strategy targets 100% stocks.

While Fidelity Go's portfolios are generally well-diversified, they lack exposure to international bonds and non-market-correlated assets such as real estate investment trusts and commodities. The robo-advisor also does not offer specialty portfolios or socially responsible investment options. However, it does support Rule 3A4, which allows customers to request reasonable restrictions within a portfolio.

Fidelity Go's customer support

Fidelity also offers specialised support for your accounts or technical issues via online live chat. This service is available Monday to Friday, 8 am to 10 pm ET, and on weekends from 9 am to 4 pm ET.

Additionally, Fidelity provides customer service via phone, which is also available 24/7. The company has specific phone numbers for different departments, including 401(k), health plans, and workplace benefit plans. These phone lines are open Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 8:30 pm ET.

For those with hearing impairments, Fidelity accepts TRS and VRS relay service calls. The company also provides a list of short codes to verify if a text message claiming to be from Fidelity Investments is legitimate, to avoid potential scams.

Fidelity also offers support through various social media channels, including Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Discord, and YouTube.

Fidelity Go's safety

Fidelity Go® is a robo-advisor service that provides a user-friendly automated investment management experience. The platform is catered towards hands-off investors, beginners, and existing Fidelity clients. Fidelity Go investors are able to leverage the broad resources of Fidelity, one of the top brokerages in the world.

Fidelity Go has a straightforward guided onboarding process to help new users get started. The sign-up process prompts users to select a savings goal, such as retirement or something else. Users then answer a series of questions about their investment timeline, risk tolerance, and personal financial data. Once this is complete, a proposed portfolio is suggested, based on the information provided.

Fidelity Go allows users to set up savings goals when they create their account. While each account can only have a single goal assigned to it, multiple accounts can be set up with different goals. The initial investment goals are centered around retirement, large purchases, and general investing, but other goal-setting options are available through Fidelity’s larger platform integrations.

Fidelity Go has a limited number of account options; users can choose from taxable accounts, traditional individual retirement accounts (IRAs), Roth IRAs, rollover IRAs, and health savings accounts (HSAs). There is no minimum deposit needed to open an account, although there is a $10 minimum before funds will be invested.

Fidelity Go is built into the main Fidelity app, which is available on both iOS and Android. The app provides an intuitive experience, with functionality similar to the desktop experience.

Fidelity Go benefits from the security features available on the larger Fidelity platform. Users have the option to enable two-factor authentication and biometric entry, which adds an additional layer of security to accounts. The platform is also covered by the Securities Investors Protection Corporation (SIPC), which protects users' funds should the brokerage become financially troubled.

Fidelity Go provides a strong offering overall, standing out for existing Fidelity customers, hands-off investors, and new robo-advisor users. It is free up to a balance of $25,000 and then charges a competitive fee of 0.35% annually for balances over this amount.

Frequently asked questions