Fidelity wants you to know that they are in your corner. Fidelity wants you to make the right decisions for your financial future. According to the Boston Globe they will be having more than 500 free seminars across the United States for customers who need their hands held. The topics will cover things like market intelligence, actionable financial strategies, and three on-line calculators to assist in evaluating your portfolios.
I have a few quick questions Fidelity. Let’s start with, “if you are now going to tell me about market intelligence, where was yours in 2008 so I could have avoided some of this debacle?” Why didn’t some of those fabled asset managers like Peter Lynch save most Fidelity clients from losing nearly 40% from their equity funds? Why didn’t Ned come out of semi-retirement, ride the white horse of diversification, cut the fees on his funds, so that we could endure the bloodbath. (In 2008, 40 out of Fidelity’s 45 Equity mutual funds listed on page 16 of the Fidelity Mutual Fund Guide Special 2008 Year End issue failed to beat the S & P 500. In fact, the average return for these 45 funds was -42.69%, the S & P 500 according to page 24 was down only -37.00%)
The on-line calculator may be helpful because it reminds clients that because of their losses last year they shouldn’t count on retiring for another 8 years. By the way, Fidelity will thank you for putting even more into their funds in order to be able for you to retire after an additional 8 more years of working. Thanks Fidelity, you are always looking out for us. We needed to know that we made poor decisions in 2008, and use that information to be much more market intelligent. By the way, you have also given me an actionable financial strategy! It’s that I shouldn’t place my money at a firm that will not protect me on the downside (most of the prospecti have limits on equity exposure both high and low) and we’ve learned that your funds don’t really perform to well on the upside. ( Only 5 of 45 funds beat the S & P 500 with the best performing fund being down -30.27% in 2008).
So while I appreciate the opportunity to attend one of these seminars, wouldn’t a more aggressive approach have been to save me from the market last year instead of trying to save me as a client this year? Wait, that’s right, I forgot. The young intelligensia that pepper your vast phone centers across the United States are not required to have the best interests of their clients in mind. They just need to hit their goals and sell more Fidelity answers to our now burgeoning needs. (By the way, you did still collect the fees for having my money in your mutual funds last year didn’t you? I wouldn’t want you to have to cut back on anything Ned!).
One other thing, the 2012 529 plan has lost nearly 20% of its value in the last year. Since that’s just 3 years away, would you mind picking up the tab for the final year of college for our family? See, I learned about actionable financial strategies and being market intelligent at one of your seminars.
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