Why I Am a Major Fidelity Fan

In the investing world, there are a lot of people who are die-hard Vanguard fans thanks to the low fees the investment company offers on their index mutual funds. I've considered switching to Vanguard several times, but I've never done it. Here's why.

First, the two index funds that I have with Fidelity appear to offer better returns than any Vanguard fund I would be interested in. Past performance does not indicate future returns, of course, but it's still worth looking at. It's not a meaningless indicator.

Second, Fidelity does have some extremely low-cost funds with an expense ratio even lower than some of Vanguard's funds, so expense is not an issue for me in considering a switch.

Third, I have been nothing but impressed with the customer service I have received from Fidelity, and I am not particularly easy to please. Through the Fidelity website, I can log into my account and instant message a rep instead of having to call them whenever I have a question. The rep always knows the answer or knows who to transfer me to, and I never have to wait for someone to become available. My questions are resolved with absolutely no hassle, and then I have a written record of the conversation I can refer to later in case I forget anything that was discussed. And when I have to call them, the first person I talk to always has the answer. It's so refreshing these days to talk to a customer service rep who is well informed.

Also, when I went to open a self-employed retirement account late last year, they overnighted the signup documents to me at no charge and included another prepaid overnight envelope to send them back to make sure I would be signed up before the cutoff date.

What more could I ask for?

Photo by Paul Keleher

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