I don’t think this was ever discussed here, and I wonder if anyone has any interesting experiences to share.
My account at Fidelity is classified as “Fidelity Private Client Group” and they call me periodically to set up an introductory meeting with my “advisor.” I have never taken them up on the offer. Does anyone have any experience to share? Are there any products that they offer that would be worth me talking to this guy?
The only thing I get from it is the free TurboTax every year - anything else I am missing on?
Exactly my experience. My account got classified recently as PCG and I thought it’d be nice to have someone take a professional look at my amateurish portfolio to see if they’d suggest changes. My motto had always been keep expense ratios low, diversify among 4+ rated funds on morningstar and I should be ok.
Assigned PCG advisor was not all that useful IMO. She suggested sector-specific diversification which would have made my portfolio more balanced supposedly instead of large index funds which I think accomplished the same with much fewer funds. Average ER would have gone from 0.15 to 0.6 and would have made the portfilio a lot harder to rebalance periodically. We had some minor estate questions and she hooked me up at no charge with an attorney working for Fidelity just to go over a change we wanted to make. A 1hr appointment in person which was nice.
On top of free TT, you also get free domestic wires and in some cases, ATM reimbursements (haven’t used that). Your advisor can also throw in some free trades if you trade often. So I guess it may depend on what you’re using Fidelity for. There are some perks but for us not much to write home about.
I didn’t know about the free wires - thanks. Thanks for sharing your experience. I have been leery of wasting my time but was curious if I was missing any perks.
I’m also in Private Client Group, but a Fidelity CSR told me that TurboTax is free only if you have $1M+ in a taxable account. The PCG criteria looks at all accounts combined, so it’s possible to be a Private Client but not qualify for free TurboTax.
This season’s free TurboTax was available about 3 weeks later than the previous years’. There was a rumor that Fidelity had discontinued the offer due to the many fee reductions they had to absorb. I was almost ready to buy one from Costco.
I am pretty sure that, that Fidelity CSR is wrong. I believe, to get PCG status, you have to have $1M in retail products (ie, non-employer sponsored). So, all types of IRAs, 529, and taxable are good and no 401k, 403k, SEP, etc. Additionally, I believe it is the total for a household, not just an individual.
As for free TT, I saw this post posted somewhere on the WWW:
1 of 2 Qualifications:
Active Trader Services Trades: 120+ stock, bond, or option trades in a 12-month period Portfolio Value: $25,000 or greater across your Fidelity accounts
or
Non-retirement balance of at least $1M (excludes IRA/401k)
$100k in personal investing (excludes business-related accounts)
The Fidelity CSR was correct, since what she told me was the same as what you posted. Perhaps my comment was not clear enough?
PCG requires $1M+ across (non-employer sponsored) accounts. I’m in PCG. But since I am not an active trader, free TT requires $1M+ in a taxable account, which excludes me. I’m not sure what you mean by $100K in ‘personal investing’ – wouldn’t that be the same as a non-retirement account?
Perhaps we are saying the same thing and I am not understanding your original statement of “$1M+ in a taxable account”. I took that part to exclude plans like 529, IRA, Roth IRA. Regardless, it doesn’t really matter as long as you understand what you are saying.
I, too, do not understand the ‘$100K in personal investing’ unless they mean it must be in a brokage account, ‘bank’, CDs, or MM rather than in a mutual fund?
