So, possibly dumb question, but I was going to open a brokerage account on Fidelity and I'm a bit paranoid about it. I was looking at a Fidelity Government Money Market Fund (SPAXX), but trying to Google information about any possible fees or minimum investments has been confusing. I think there used to be some fees and a minimum of $2500 to start investing, but it looks like maybe neither of those are the case anymore.
So, possibly dumb question, but I was going to open a brokerage account on Fidelity and I'm a bit paranoid about it. I was looking at a Fidelity Government Money Market Fund (SPAXX), but trying to Google information about any possible fees or minimum investments has been confusing. I think there used to be some fees and a minimum of $2500 to start investing, but it looks like maybe neither of those are the case anymore.
So, possibly dumb question, but I was going to open a brokerage account on Fidelity and I'm a bit paranoid about it. I was looking at a Fidelity Government Money Market Fund (SPAXX), but trying to Google information about any possible fees or minimum investments has been confusing. I think there used to be some fees and a minimum of $2500 to start investing, but it looks like maybe neither of those are the case anymore.
Can anyone with experience clarify?
For reasons I cannot recall, it appears that I've had money in a SPAXX for almost a year, and its performance has been indistinguishable from a matress.
Were you looking to invest in a SPAXX, or is that just where Fidelity wants to hold your money for your brokerage account?
I can't recommend the former, the latter is probably fine.
So, possibly dumb question, but I was going to open a brokerage account on Fidelity and I'm a bit paranoid about it. I was looking at a Fidelity Government Money Market Fund (SPAXX), but trying to Google information about any possible fees or minimum investments has been confusing. I think there used to be some fees and a minimum of $2500 to start investing, but it looks like maybe neither of those are the case anymore.
Can anyone with experience clarify?
I dont know your age or income situation that fund seems way too conservative to be a core investment for someone who isn't in their 80s. The returns don't really cover inflation.
If you are under 50, imo, you should be atleast 90% stocks.
I have quibbles with them, but I'd just suggest looking at target date funds. They will be more aggressive early on and then rebalanced as you get older to lower risk options.
So, possibly dumb question, but I was going to open a brokerage account on Fidelity and I'm a bit paranoid about it. I was looking at a Fidelity Government Money Market Fund (SPAXX), but trying to Google information about any possible fees or minimum investments has been confusing. I think there used to be some fees and a minimum of $2500 to start investing, but it looks like maybe neither of those are the case anymore.
Can anyone with experience clarify?
For reasons I cannot recall, it appears that I've had money in a SPAXX for almost a year, and its performance has been indistinguishable from a matress.
Were you looking to invest in a SPAXX, or is that just where Fidelity wants to hold your money for your brokerage account?
I can't recommend the former, the latter is probably fine.
Oh, the latter. I should have been clearer about that, sorry.
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ChaosHatHop, hop, hop, HA!Trick of the lightRegistered Userregular
edited January 2021
As a person that uses Fidelity for my Roth and personal brokerage account, I can confirm that there are no fees for trading. One huge perk of Fidelity is that they have literally zero expense ETFs that I guess they're using as a loss leader (google Fidelity Zero). I've only heard one thing negative about them in my research, which was basically "how can you trust an index fund that Fidelity makes on their own?" which seemed...overly skeptical to me. You may have to keep slightly more of an eye on these though over time in case fidelity tries to do something silly with them I suppose. Some good tickers:
FNILX (basically a S&P 500 index but without the name so they don't have to pay licensing, very close to VOO but no fees).
FZILX (international index)
FZROX (total market fund)
Invest the large swath of your money in index funds. Don't do anything silly.
Another nice thing about Fidelity is that they put free floating cash into SPAXX, which is a money market account. You shouldn't leave money here, but the nice perk about it is that you don't have to remember or consciously do this. At other brokerages your cash would just sit there doing nothing, at least in SPAXX it's generating some extremely minor return compared to zero.
A good part of my pay is restricted company stock that vests into an individual fidelity account that was set up for me- the dividends and flotsam generated by transfers ended up in SPAXX automatically. I finally got around to putting it into FNILX and that’s when I realized I had an actual grown-up trading account, it wasn’t like my 401k (also with fidelity) and started putting my non-emergency excess savings in to build up that FNILX position
Anyway, I’m a satisfied Fidelity customer but also a very boring and basic investor so...
A good part of my pay is restricted company stock that vests into an individual fidelity account that was set up for me- the dividends and flotsam generated by transfers ended up in SPAXX automatically. I finally got around to putting it into FNILX and that’s when I realized I had an actual grown-up trading account, it wasn’t like my 401k (also with fidelity) and started putting my non-emergency excess savings in to build up that FNILX position
Anyway, I’m a satisfied Fidelity customer but also a very boring and basic investor so...
Fidelity is great, there's nothing to not like about it. I used to use Ally bank (because it's where my regular banking accounts are) which is probably fine since I'm 90%+ index funds and basically just buy and hold the other 10% for companies I like/think have a good long term trajectory. I just wanted to be able to see more numbers and get more info and the Ally dashboard is a little behind the curve. When I was looking to transfer out the zero fee indexes were a strong tie breaker. Well, that and my 401k is through them so it minimizes the number of logins/apps I need.
nova if you sell these knives for me at a markup i can guarantee you will make some kind of a profit on the ones you sell specifically
buy $8k of my knives
I don’t know if this chanus feller is trustworthy, but I would absolutely not buy knives from the sales dude with 8 fingers
I sure as hell would. It's obvious that those knives are legit sharp af.
Edit: Seconded, Fidelity is great. For one thing, it didn't shut down GME trading like Robinhood or some others did, so there's less chances of it doing something untoward like blatant market manipulation. Personally I'm 70/30 with FZROX/FZILX and it's worked fine (no bonds because they're going nowhere but down for the next few years). I believe Fidelity's Zero funds basically cut out the smallest caps from the indexes to save indexing costs, but it's realistically a 1% divergence from the standard index. In fact, I'm pretty sure FZROX outperformed its equivalent "real" index in 2020.
My current Roth-IRA is on track to break 500,000 with a conservative estimate in about 15 years. That said, the SIPC only covers up to half a million. Is it worth it at this point to start pilling into my much smaller traditional IRA for the extra insurance? Or are the benefits greater to keep going with the Roth to keep it tax free?
I'm also not interesting in instantly selling out of my positions once I no longer have a day job. Is there a better way to set up withdrawing from stocks and dividends so I'm not undercutting the principal too much?
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ChaosHatHop, hop, hop, HA!Trick of the lightRegistered Userregular
Do people think that instantly selling out of your positions is what you're supposed to do when you retire? "The amount I need to retire" math is based on your savings continue to grow and accrue interest while you slowly draw down your positions over time.
In most cases you're able to enable a setting to reinvest dividends or just leave them aside, I assume that's what you'd do for those, and then just manually sell off stock as you need it.
My current Roth-IRA is on track to break 500,000 with a conservative estimate in about 15 years. That said, the SIPC only covers up to half a million. Is it worth it at this point to start pilling into my much smaller traditional IRA for the extra insurance? Or are the benefits greater to keep going with the Roth to keep it tax free?
I'm also not interesting in instantly selling out of my positions once I no longer have a day job. Is there a better way to set up withdrawing from stocks and dividends so I'm not undercutting the principal too much?
There are number of factors for choosing traditional IRA, Roth IRA, or a mix but I would not prioritize SIPC protection while deciding which. If you don't mind the extra bookkeeping one option is to open a Roth IRA at another company. Just make sure the sum of your IRA contributions to all your accounts combined does not exceed the annual limit for that year.
Well, got the contact info for the financial advisor who did well by my parents. Guess I'll reach out and see whether it's a good fit/whether I have enough funds to be worth doing/how their fees work.
I was relieved when I went to their website that it basically amounted to "fiduciary responsibilities are sacrosanct" (actual quote).
Well, got the contact info for the financial advisor who did well by my parents. Guess I'll reach out and see whether it's a good fit/whether I have enough funds to be worth doing/how their fees work.
I was relieved when I went to their website that it basically amounted to "fiduciary responsibilities are sacrosanct" (actual quote).
I'm looking forward to Biden making that an obligation for everybody. Again.
My current Roth-IRA is on track to break 500,000 with a conservative estimate in about 15 years. That said, the SIPC only covers up to half a million. Is it worth it at this point to start pilling into my much smaller traditional IRA for the extra insurance? Or are the benefits greater to keep going with the Roth to keep it tax free?
I'm also not interesting in instantly selling out of my positions once I no longer have a day job. Is there a better way to set up withdrawing from stocks and dividends so I'm not undercutting the principal too much?
If SIPC insurance actually matters to you then just open another Roth IRA at a different broker. The insurance is kind of lack luster to begin with as long as you aren't holding cash.
You don't sell instantly when you retire. You take a distribution for some amount and just sell the assets you need to access that amount of cash and leave the rest invested.
sponoMining for Nose DiamondsBooger CoveRegistered Userregular
Am I being a moron or just overly cautious?
Between my wife and I, we have 50% of our money in the bank as cash in a savings account, earning fuck-all. 40% in 401k's and college savings accounts. The remaining 10% in stocks we picked ourselves (basically gambling, but we could afford to lose this if it all evaporates).
Should more of that 50% be in an index fund? It's really just sitting there until we have enough to buy a house, which is realistically 3-5 years out.
Between my wife and I, we have 50% of our money in the bank as cash in a savings account, earning fuck-all. 40% in 401k's and college savings accounts. The remaining 10% in stocks we picked ourselves (basically gambling, but we could afford to lose this if it all evaporates).
Should more of that 50% be in an index fund? It's really just sitting there until we have enough to buy a house, which is realistically 3-5 years out.
If it's not an emergency fund I would put it into an index fund of some sort. I'll say that 3-5yrs is short enough that if the market shits the bed it may not recovery before you want to use it, so there may be some risk there. On the other hand, 3-5 yrs is also a decent amount of time to go without any sort of return.
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thatassemblyguyJanitor of Technical Debt.Registered Userregular
Between my wife and I, we have 50% of our money in the bank as cash in a savings account, earning fuck-all. 40% in 401k's and college savings accounts. The remaining 10% in stocks we picked ourselves (basically gambling, but we could afford to lose this if it all evaporates).
Should more of that 50% be in an index fund? It's really just sitting there until we have enough to buy a house, which is realistically 3-5 years out.
Definitely check with a flat-fee-based fiduciary. Index Funds would be safe-ish, but as Cauld mentions, if the overall market where you live tanks because of *gestures wildly* it might take a few years to get back the principle amount.
Depending on the rates these days, CODs/COD-ladder could provide some better returns than a money market with minimized risk
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sponoMining for Nose DiamondsBooger CoveRegistered Userregular
Hmm, yes, emergency fund. I should carve out what we'd need to survive for 6 months if we both lost our jobs, then figure out something useful to do with whatever's left.
Between my wife and I, we have 50% of our money in the bank as cash in a savings account, earning fuck-all. 40% in 401k's and college savings accounts. The remaining 10% in stocks we picked ourselves (basically gambling, but we could afford to lose this if it all evaporates).
Should more of that 50% be in an index fund? It's really just sitting there until we have enough to buy a house, which is realistically 3-5 years out.
It also depends on how much money that 50% is - is it a year or two of expenses, or less than that? If a year or two, at least look into diversifying from a currency perspective or picking up some i bonds for inflation protection. We're at a similar point, where we have about 2 years of expenses in the bank, but need to have it grow a bit faster.
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sponoMining for Nose DiamondsBooger CoveRegistered Userregular
Between my wife and I, we have 50% of our money in the bank as cash in a savings account, earning fuck-all. 40% in 401k's and college savings accounts. The remaining 10% in stocks we picked ourselves (basically gambling, but we could afford to lose this if it all evaporates).
Should more of that 50% be in an index fund? It's really just sitting there until we have enough to buy a house, which is realistically 3-5 years out.
It also depends on how much money that 50% is - is it a year or two of expenses, or less than that? If a year or two, at least look into diversifying from a currency perspective or picking up some i bonds for inflation protection. We're at a similar point, where we have about 2 years of expenses in the bank, but need to have it grow a bit faster.
Two years, eh? I was thinking 6 months for an emergency fund. If we're talking two years, then it'll all need to continue sitting where it is.
The rule of thumb, from riskiest to most conservative (making certain assumptions) is:
$1,000
$5,000
3 months mandatory expenses
3 months normal expenses
6 months mandatory expenses
3 months take home pay
6 months normal expenses
1 year mandatory expenses
6 months take home pay
1 year normal expenses
1 year take home pay
This is hoping you do the more or less 50/30/20 budget rule and can break out of contracts for some things (gym membership, cut your internet and phone plan down, &c. ) to make a difference between mandatory expenses and usual expenses beyond just cutting out fun things.
I believe the standard was 3 months if you believe your employment to be stable, 6-12 months if you don't believe that.
2 years is a lot of emergency savings to not be invested...
Yes - note that we are not to be used as an "example", as we've also been hunting for a vacation place and the market is tight here. Also *waves hands* things are variable.
I believe the standard was 3 months if you believe your employment to be stable, 6-12 months if you don't believe that.
2 years is a lot of emergency savings to not be invested...
Is there such a thing as stable employment anymore?
Sure. An RN may lose a job at a particular employer, but the universal demand for nurses means they are extremely likely to be able to find work elsewhere within a couple of months. In that scenario, keeping 1-2 years expenses in cash is probably not ideal.
While not 1:1, the funds you keep in cash rather than more efficient mechanisms should take into account how hard it is likely to be for you to find comparable employment.
When you are calculating your normal expenses for purposes of your emergency fund, be sure to include the cost of health insurance if you are used to getting your insurance through work. That shit ain't cheap.
I would also point out that there is a lot in between literal cash in a checking/savings account and long-term retirement investments. From money market accounts through indexed brokerage accounts, there are plenty of places you can "hold" that money that remains relatively liquid if you do manage to burn through your emergency cash. You do run a small risk that the markets collapse at the exact time you need the funds (in which case you may eat a small % loss), but over time is still likely to work out better than leaving years worth of funds as cash.
The US Fed is the single largest employer (maybe in the world by numbers) but no one ever discusses it when you talk about "a normal job" and it's very difficult to lose the job.
Nrrgghhh. I was looking at my car loan info on my bank website and imagining paying it off after I refinanced my mortgage. On a lark I clicked on the payoff button to see what kind of paperwork would be required to pay off the loan, but no, that button actually instantly transferred money from my savings and paid off the loan.
Luckily I had more than enough in my savings but now it's probably going to screw up my credit rating just when I was trying to refinance my mortgage. Hopefully the refinance agency doesn't notice or care about a large transfer just before closing. :bigfrown:
"Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
Nrrgghhh. I was looking at my car loan info on my bank website and imagining paying it off after I refinanced my mortgage. On a lark I clicked on the payoff button to see what kind of paperwork would be required to pay off the loan, but no, that button actually instantly transferred money from my savings and paid off the loan.
Luckily I had more than enough in my savings but now it's probably going to screw up my credit rating just when I was trying to refinance my mortgage. Hopefully the refinance agency doesn't notice or care about a large transfer just before closing. :bigfrown:
Sadly it was already a week ago. I waited too long to do anything about it. My first reaction was surprise but, "meh, it's probably no big deal" but my sense of dread about my hubris has only increased over the past week... And now I'm just complaining into the void.
DisruptedCapitalist on
"Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
Posts
Can anyone with experience clarify?
https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/31617H102
Fee is .42% and no minimum.
That is a very conservative fund to invest in.
thats how you know they're good sharp knives
For reasons I cannot recall, it appears that I've had money in a SPAXX for almost a year, and its performance has been indistinguishable from a matress.
Were you looking to invest in a SPAXX, or is that just where Fidelity wants to hold your money for your brokerage account?
I can't recommend the former, the latter is probably fine.
I dont know your age or income situation that fund seems way too conservative to be a core investment for someone who isn't in their 80s. The returns don't really cover inflation.
If you are under 50, imo, you should be atleast 90% stocks.
I have quibbles with them, but I'd just suggest looking at target date funds. They will be more aggressive early on and then rebalanced as you get older to lower risk options.
Oh, the latter. I should have been clearer about that, sorry.
FNILX (basically a S&P 500 index but without the name so they don't have to pay licensing, very close to VOO but no fees).
FZILX (international index)
FZROX (total market fund)
Invest the large swath of your money in index funds. Don't do anything silly.
Another nice thing about Fidelity is that they put free floating cash into SPAXX, which is a money market account. You shouldn't leave money here, but the nice perk about it is that you don't have to remember or consciously do this. At other brokerages your cash would just sit there doing nothing, at least in SPAXX it's generating some extremely minor return compared to zero.
A good part of my pay is restricted company stock that vests into an individual fidelity account that was set up for me- the dividends and flotsam generated by transfers ended up in SPAXX automatically. I finally got around to putting it into FNILX and that’s when I realized I had an actual grown-up trading account, it wasn’t like my 401k (also with fidelity) and started putting my non-emergency excess savings in to build up that FNILX position
Anyway, I’m a satisfied Fidelity customer but also a very boring and basic investor so...
QEDMF xbl: PantsB G+
My personal suggestion for the FP.
Fidelity is great, there's nothing to not like about it. I used to use Ally bank (because it's where my regular banking accounts are) which is probably fine since I'm 90%+ index funds and basically just buy and hold the other 10% for companies I like/think have a good long term trajectory. I just wanted to be able to see more numbers and get more info and the Ally dashboard is a little behind the curve. When I was looking to transfer out the zero fee indexes were a strong tie breaker. Well, that and my 401k is through them so it minimizes the number of logins/apps I need.
I sure as hell would. It's obvious that those knives are legit sharp af.
Edit: Seconded, Fidelity is great. For one thing, it didn't shut down GME trading like Robinhood or some others did, so there's less chances of it doing something untoward like blatant market manipulation. Personally I'm 70/30 with FZROX/FZILX and it's worked fine (no bonds because they're going nowhere but down for the next few years). I believe Fidelity's Zero funds basically cut out the smallest caps from the indexes to save indexing costs, but it's realistically a 1% divergence from the standard index. In fact, I'm pretty sure FZROX outperformed its equivalent "real" index in 2020.
My current Roth-IRA is on track to break 500,000 with a conservative estimate in about 15 years. That said, the SIPC only covers up to half a million. Is it worth it at this point to start pilling into my much smaller traditional IRA for the extra insurance? Or are the benefits greater to keep going with the Roth to keep it tax free?
I'm also not interesting in instantly selling out of my positions once I no longer have a day job. Is there a better way to set up withdrawing from stocks and dividends so I'm not undercutting the principal too much?
In most cases you're able to enable a setting to reinvest dividends or just leave them aside, I assume that's what you'd do for those, and then just manually sell off stock as you need it.
There are number of factors for choosing traditional IRA, Roth IRA, or a mix but I would not prioritize SIPC protection while deciding which. If you don't mind the extra bookkeeping one option is to open a Roth IRA at another company. Just make sure the sum of your IRA contributions to all your accounts combined does not exceed the annual limit for that year.
I was relieved when I went to their website that it basically amounted to "fiduciary responsibilities are sacrosanct" (actual quote).
I'm looking forward to Biden making that an obligation for everybody. Again.
If SIPC insurance actually matters to you then just open another Roth IRA at a different broker. The insurance is kind of lack luster to begin with as long as you aren't holding cash.
You don't sell instantly when you retire. You take a distribution for some amount and just sell the assets you need to access that amount of cash and leave the rest invested.
Between my wife and I, we have 50% of our money in the bank as cash in a savings account, earning fuck-all. 40% in 401k's and college savings accounts. The remaining 10% in stocks we picked ourselves (basically gambling, but we could afford to lose this if it all evaporates).
Should more of that 50% be in an index fund? It's really just sitting there until we have enough to buy a house, which is realistically 3-5 years out.
If it's not an emergency fund I would put it into an index fund of some sort. I'll say that 3-5yrs is short enough that if the market shits the bed it may not recovery before you want to use it, so there may be some risk there. On the other hand, 3-5 yrs is also a decent amount of time to go without any sort of return.
Definitely check with a flat-fee-based fiduciary. Index Funds would be safe-ish, but as Cauld mentions, if the overall market where you live tanks because of *gestures wildly* it might take a few years to get back the principle amount.
Depending on the rates these days, CODs/COD-ladder could provide some better returns than a money market with minimized risk
Time to google flat fee fiduciaries.
It also depends on how much money that 50% is - is it a year or two of expenses, or less than that? If a year or two, at least look into diversifying from a currency perspective or picking up some i bonds for inflation protection. We're at a similar point, where we have about 2 years of expenses in the bank, but need to have it grow a bit faster.
Two years, eh? I was thinking 6 months for an emergency fund. If we're talking two years, then it'll all need to continue sitting where it is.
After? Who the fuck knows.
$1,000
$5,000
3 months mandatory expenses
3 months normal expenses
6 months mandatory expenses
3 months take home pay
6 months normal expenses
1 year mandatory expenses
6 months take home pay
1 year normal expenses
1 year take home pay
This is hoping you do the more or less 50/30/20 budget rule and can break out of contracts for some things (gym membership, cut your internet and phone plan down, &c. ) to make a difference between mandatory expenses and usual expenses beyond just cutting out fun things.
2 years is a lot of emergency savings to not be invested...
Is there such a thing as stable employment anymore?
Yes - note that we are not to be used as an "example", as we've also been hunting for a vacation place and the market is tight here. Also *waves hands* things are variable.
There is, but... I don't know many people with it?
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Sure. An RN may lose a job at a particular employer, but the universal demand for nurses means they are extremely likely to be able to find work elsewhere within a couple of months. In that scenario, keeping 1-2 years expenses in cash is probably not ideal.
While not 1:1, the funds you keep in cash rather than more efficient mechanisms should take into account how hard it is likely to be for you to find comparable employment.
Luckily I had more than enough in my savings but now it's probably going to screw up my credit rating just when I was trying to refinance my mortgage. Hopefully the refinance agency doesn't notice or care about a large transfer just before closing. :bigfrown:
Call the bank and cancel it.