Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

Fidelity quoted me a fee of 0.88% or $8,800 per million to perform active management (note the fee drops as assets increase). Vanguard has a flat fee regardless of the value of assets which is 0.30% or $3,000 per million. These firms may be what you need, or you may want another that also does your income taxes which will become more complex. I stayed away from Edward Jones with their fees of being around1.3%. Fees and expenses from active management firms have to be made up with growth/dividends and that is hard to do year-over-year which is why mutual funds outperform active management 75% of the time. I also stayed away from small financial advisors as I didn't trust them. Ultimately I went with Vanguard and self-manage a portfolio of 50% equities and 50% bonds. Over the last 6 years it's earned a bit over 18% on average each year and is now over 112% higher. Meet with Fidelity, Vanguard, and any other substantially sized firm and have them create a free portfolio and then compare all of them. Build you knowledge. For any financial terms you need to understand, use www.investopedia.com.

Some responses thus far are generic and seem uninformed. All of these investment companies have a wealth management / asset managers available to you for a fee. Some responses seem to suggest Fidelities choices are limited. Yes, that is true within our 401k options. There are many available if you open the brokerage account, which is available as a link from within the 401k area of the site. You have the option within the Fidelity site that we access to build a financial plan. You can schedule an appointment with a Fidelity CFP at no charge to discuss the plan or have them work with you to put the plan together. The plan will produce a score to determine the likelihood of reaching your retirement goals. From there you can choose to manage your investments on your own or work with their wealth management group. If you already work with another firm the plan I mentioned above should be available at no charge. Some have said X is best, or X did better than Y. It can be difficult to trust comments like that without the backstory. Furthermore I am sure these comments are based on performance experience. Well, depending on your time with company X the market itself could have done poorly. It can be a though decision to place your money with a wealth advisor. Performance history is one thing to consider but certainly your comfort level with the person(s) matters. I use an outside firm for my non 401k funds and from there I have multiple asset managers. Yes I pay a fee for that. But I know that I do not have the time or knowledge (tax consequences, tax strategies, etc, etc) to manage such a large amount of money. I have expertise in other areas where I choose to spend my time and not have to worry about my retirement funds. I also know my advisor is just a phone call away and always available to talk.

I kept my 401k with Fidelity, mostly in a bond fund and draw about 4% a year. After two years the sum is about the same. I gave my buy out lump sum to MEA wealth adv, mostly in stocks. In two years it is up about 50%.

Thanks for the responses good info I have met with Vanguard but have a few issues with how they like to disperse actual funds to live on. Met with Fidelity lots of really good information there and a pretty sound plan which yes does involve moving all funds to an IRA but that is normal so you open up the investment box rather than the typical 10 plans to choose from in an 401K. Also met with Morgan Stanley and have to say they try very hard to win you over but not reading good things about them after you do but definitely one of the better planning guides I have seen anybody build actual bindered book of a retirement plan personalized to you. A few others including Edward Jones and Fisher Investments do not really tell you anything kind of like "well what would you do" huh? That's why I am asking you if I am doing it why would I pay you?

I looked into Fidelity and their fees sounded pretty high - somewhere just below 1pct i believe. I took advantage of the special offer from financial engines at a reduced cost and giving them a try. Their fees are a lot less, your funds are limited to the at&t 401k options, and they do seem a little more conservative - probably because of my age and risk tolerance right now. with fidelity, the wanted everything rolled over into an ira but they used many different types of funds and did not limit themselves to the at&t 401k index funds.

Answering a question here-I moved my money from Fidelity because I wanted an impartial 3rd party managing my money. Fidelity has an inherent conflict of interest-I pay 1%-when I make money, they make money. I had accounts with Fidelity for 30 years, never heard a peep. 3 days after I took All my money some guy from Fidelity calls so to set up a call with his boss to discuss investment options! Seriously?

Talk to Vanguard as well.

My advice is to take advantage of the free lunches and dinners, but sign up with someone else's phone number.

People with more money than sense are rare and thus hard to find, for obvious reasons. Advisors' real job is to digging up such diamonds in the rough.

And that's why you hear them on the radio constantly and are receiving free dinner invitations! Don't walk RUN!

Wealth management is a beautiful business. You take no risk. Invest no capital. Build nothing. Guarantee nothing. Invent nothing. Fix nothing. Cure nothing. Discover nothing. Work minimal hours. And then, after all that, collect fat fees.

People with more money than sense are rare and thus hard to find, for obvious reasons. Advisors' real job is to digging up such diamonds in the rough.

They typically charge between 1 and 2 percent per year so if you have a portfolio of say 1.5 million, the fee is around $20,000 per year.

Wealth Management advisors take control of your entire portfolio and manage it overall including; Determining your required income needs and making sure you'll have it for life, when you'll start SS, keeping taxes at a minimum, leaving a legacy, long term care, keeping required minimum distributions to a minimum and other things.

They typically charge between 1 and 2 percent per year so if you have a portfolio of say 1.5 million, the fee is around $20,000 per year.

Vanguard and Fidelity about the same, are low cost , some funds are even zero cost, there investment advice is sound but your going to need to understand and manage all the other categories of wealth manage on your own. I chose to study and manage on my on and like Fidelity's web site tools way better than Vanguard's.

Reading rpv post - so Fidelity is not Wealth Management?

Whoever you use for advice, make sure they are a fiduciary. This means ALL decisions about your money are made with your best interests in mind, not driven by commissions or fee considerations. All holders of the CFP designation are fiduciaries.

https://www.cfp.net/ethics/code-of-ethics-and-standards-of-conduct

I already have significant assets outside of the 401(k), most are at Vanguard due to ultra low fees, while my family 401(k) and 403(b) are often set up to mirror or complement the outside assets, based on available funds inside the retirement accounts.

Sheer numbers of options are overblown, what matters more are specific funds you use. Most people don't need more than a handful of funds, witness that many large university endowments use less than 8-10 asset classes, some as few as 4.

Beware any manager or advisor who is not a true fiduciary, as you may be paying his country club dues.

The Fidelity website for employees is limited, but their main website is really good, and has access to thousands of funds. My Fidelity advisor helped me navigate it, as it is extensive. He has diversified my portfolio over 15 funds, which has done very well so far. I would recommend them, and their fee was a lot less than other firms I was considering.

Fidelity has too many limits on what you can trade and makes you call in. Things like preferred stocks with floating rates. That may be good if you have no financial acumen but petty rules like that are too limiting and Vanguard has low fees with far fewer restrictions on stocks

Been with Vanguard and Lincoln, they were okay, but Fidelity is by far the best. They offer a multitude of wealth planning strategies.

I have been with Fidelity for four years post retirement. They are the best! They offer twice a year planning meetings and more if required. You get a special telephone number for superior services when required. No waiting. They also handle any withdrawals you may want on a monthly basis and do all the tax documents.

I am sure all companies do all of this but I wanted to stick with who I know. I make all my financial decisions ( unless theirs make more since).

My suggestion go to Vanguard and use one of their S&P 500 funds and you beat Fidelity.

If that is too aggressive for you, they have funds that can distribute your money 50-50 between stocks and bonds. They can even divide 25-25-25-25 between us and international stocks and bonds.

And best of all, they won't charge you a hefty fee to manage. Vanguard all the way.

I utilized Fidelity while at T; they were very informative on basic questions. No complaints. Investment managers make money from their recommendations and transaction fees which can creep up substantially. Before settling on a company to handle your retirement money, which has to last you for the remainder of your lifetime, interview 3 or 4 and inquire how they are compensated....there are lots of good questions via Google. Many people are comfortable 'managing' their funds themselves, though I'm not one of them. Another option is a fee only planner who charges a fee, but handles multiple layers; they are not inexpensive. I do like the recommendation of leaving some funds with Fidelity and shifting others with another firm to do a comparison.

Fidelity is the best of the best, I am up about 1/3 of my portfolio, over the last 18 months. I hope the market continues to grow in the future. With pensions being eliminated by all companies, all that is left is 401K's. With the uncertainty in Social Security, I can't see how the markets won't grow. Otherwise the next generation will be penniless.

I will be retired by end of year and so far I have been happy w Fidelity. To last commenter: anything specific led you away from Fidelity and toward the Wealth Management company?

I retired on 7/6-took every dime from Fidelity and went to a Wealth Management company. If you aren’t comfortable with that-take a percentage out and watch the performance vs. Fidelity.