Fidelity Investments: Customer Feedback

Fidelity Investments is a global financial firm that offers a wide range of financial planning and investment services. It was established in 1946 and is one of the largest asset managers in the world, with trillions of dollars in assets under management and administration.

Reviews of the company are mixed. Some customers have praised the company for its intelligent and efficient representatives, free services, and helpful customer service. However, other customers have criticised the company for its unhelpful representatives, poor investment advice, and complicated processes.

As an employer, Fidelity Investments has received mostly positive reviews. Employees have praised the company for its great benefits, supportive management, and opportunities for growth and advancement. However, some employees have criticised the company for its long hours, poor work-life balance, and uncompetitive pay.

Fidelity Investments' reputation as an employer

Fidelity Investments has a strong reputation as an employer, with a focus on employee retention and a commitment to diversity and inclusion. The company has been recognised as a Best Place to Work by Glassdoor in 2020 and 2022, and employees rate the company highly for its positive, supportive, and collaborative environment, as well as its career growth opportunities.

Fidelity Investments offers a range of benefits to its employees, including competitive salaries, healthcare, 401k matching, paternity leave, and tuition assistance. The company also provides a dynamic working environment with flexible work arrangements and a focus on employee wellbeing.

However, some reviews highlight issues with management, a rigid work environment, and a lack of clear career paths. There are also concerns about the company's ability to follow through on its diversity and inclusion initiatives and its treatment of employees facing personal challenges.

Overall, Fidelity Investments is recognised as a respected and reliable employer in the financial services industry, offering employees a range of benefits and opportunities for career development.

The company's financial services

Fidelity Investments, formerly known as Fidelity Management & Research (FMR), is a multinational financial services corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established in 1946 and is one of the largest asset managers in the world, with $4.9 trillion in assets under management and $12.6 trillion in assets under administration as of December 2023.

The company offers a wide range of financial planning and investment services to individual investors and businesses, including:

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

Fidelity Investments provides different types of investment accounts, such as:

• DIY investing brokerage account: Account holders can access decision-making technology to help them manage their own investments and can also invest in fractional shares of their favourite exchange-traded funds and companies.
• Roth individual retirement accounts (IRA): Customers can start saving for retirement with a $0 account minimum and are responsible for choosing and managing their investments.
• Robo-advisor and advisor-monitored investment accounts: These accounts offer varying levels of advisor input and have different account minimums and fees.

Fidelity supports its investors with educational resources and tools, such as portfolio analysis tools and screeners. Customer service is available 24/7 through a virtual assistant or phone, and live team chat is available during business hours.

The company also has a presence in Canada, India, Ireland, Japan, Hong Kong, and several countries in Europe and South America.

In addition to its investment services, Fidelity provides benefits outsourcing through its Personal, Workplace and Institutional Services (PWIS) division, which is the largest provider of 401(k) retirement plan services. Other services offered include pension administration, health and welfare administration, stock plan administration, and payroll and record-keeping services.

Fidelity also has a proprietary investing arm called Eight Roads, which operates globally with investment professionals in China, Japan, India, Singapore, and the UK.

Overall, Fidelity Investments offers a comprehensive range of financial services to its customers, with a focus on providing accessible and affordable investment options, educational resources, and customer support.

Customer reviews of the company

Fidelity Investments has received mixed reviews from its customers. While some praise the company for its financial planning and investment services, others have expressed concerns about their experiences. Here are some of the key themes from customer reviews:

• Positive reviews: Many customers have had positive experiences with Fidelity Investments, citing its low fees, wide range of financial tools, and educational resources as benefits. One long-term customer wrote, "I've been with Fidelity for about 30 years. While other companies have made it more difficult to actually talk to a rep, Fidelity remains available and helpful—and wait times are reasonable." Another customer praised the company's accuracy, stating, "Trades are free. Statements have been accurate."
• Negative reviews: On the other hand, some customers have had negative experiences with the company's customer service, with one reviewer stating, "It's like they don't want to help you. That's why people are transferring money out of your company into way better ones." Others have expressed concerns about their accounts being locked or experiencing issues with their investments. One reviewer mentioned, "The investment recommendations provided by you resulted in significant financial losses for me."
• Employee reviews: Former and current employees of Fidelity Investments have also shared their experiences. While some praise the company for its benefits, training, and growth opportunities, others have mentioned issues with management, low pay, and a call centre environment. One employee wrote, "The company itself sucks. What is the most stressful part about working at the company? Incoming calls are non-STOP."

The company's cryptocurrency trading

Fidelity's cryptocurrency trading services are provided by Fidelity Digital Assets, which manages crypto accounts, custody, and trading. The company has been an innovator in crypto since 2014, when it began mining bitcoin. In 2018, it launched its first crypto service: an institutional custody and trading platform for digital assets called Fidelity Digital Assets.

Fidelity Crypto is a service that allows users to trade and secure bitcoin and ethereum with as little as $1. It is built into the award-winning Fidelity mobile app, allowing users to manage both their traditional and crypto investments in one place. The company also offers the Fidelity® Wise Origin® Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), which allows investors to gain exposure to the price of bitcoin without buying it directly.

Fidelity Crypto is only available to US citizens over the age of 18 who reside in certain states. The company describes its crypto trading as "commission-free", but it does take a spread of up to 1% on crypto trades. This is still relatively good compared to other crypto services, such as Coinbase, which often charges a fee of $2.99 on simple transactions.

Fidelity Crypto is a separate company from Fidelity Brokerage, which provides services for traditional assets like stocks, bonds, CDs, mutual funds, and ETFs. This separation is intended to shield customers from any potential fallout from crypto trading. Fidelity Digital Assets maintains exclusive custody of customer digital assets, which are not held on any third-party custodian or exchange. The digital assets are owned by its clients, and Fidelity Digital Assets is not permitted to lend or encumber a customer's crypto assets without consent.

However, some users have expressed concerns about the safety of their accounts due to the unregulated nature of cryptocurrencies. In addition, Fidelity Crypto does not offer some of the advanced features available on competing exchanges, such as staking or the ability to send or receive cryptocurrency from their accounts. It also does not offer round-the-clock crypto transactions, with trading limited to 4 am to 12 am Eastern time.

Despite these limitations, Fidelity's brand name and track record may give customers a level of comfort when entering the risky and volatile crypto market. The company has expressed its commitment to unlocking new investment opportunities for its clients as crypto evolves.

The company's history

Fidelity Investments, formerly known as Fidelity Management & Research (FMR), was founded in 1946 by Edward C. Johnson II and is based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company is one of the largest asset managers in the world, with $4.9 trillion in assets under management and $12.6 trillion in assets under administration as of December 2023.

The origins of the company can be traced back to 1930 when "Fidelity Fund" was the only fund approved by John C. Hull, the Securities Director for Massachusetts, during the Great Depression due to widespread bank failures. The corporate structure changed in 1946 when Edward C. Johnson II founded Fidelity Management & Research (FMR) to act as an investment advisor to the Fund.

Over the years, Fidelity has expanded its offerings and established itself as a leading financial services provider. In 1969, the company formed Fidelity International Limited (FIL) to serve non-U.S. markets, and in 1972, Edward C. Johnson III succeeded his father as president of the company. In 1973, Johnson began to integrate the company vertically by taking over back-office account-processing functions from banks, and in 1974, he established Fidelity Daily Income Trust (FIDIT), the first money market fund to offer check-writing capabilities.

Fidelity continued to grow and innovate, offering 401(k) products in 1982 and computerized stock trading in 1984. In 1997, Robert Pozen was named CEO, and in 2001, Geode Capital Management was established to run and incubate investment strategies for FMR. The company launched its first ETF, the Fidelity Nasdaq Composite Index Tracking Stock Fund (ONEQ), in 2003.

In recent years, Fidelity has expanded its global presence, opening offices in India in 2004 and in Tokyo and Hong Kong in 2009. The company also rebranded most of its portfolio holdings and private equity investments services under 'Devonshire Investors' in 2007 to avoid confusion with its other consumer-based mutual funds and financial services.

In 2014, Abigail Johnson, the third generation of the Johnson family, became chairman and CEO of FMR, and under her leadership, the company has continued to thrive and adapt to the changing financial landscape. In 2018, Fidelity launched a separate entity dedicated to institutional crypto-asset custody and cryptocurrency trading, and in 2019, it was reported that the firm would soon offer cryptocurrency trading to institutional customers.

Today, Fidelity serves over 50 million individuals, manages employee benefit programs for over 27,500 businesses, and supports more than 16,000 wealth management firms and institutions worldwide. The company has received numerous awards and recognitions for its products and services, including being named the Best Online Broker by multiple publications.

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