The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: Dicey on July 22, 2021, 06:58:15 PM
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I've convinced a friend to open a Roth IRA. She wants to use Fidelity, so I'm looking for low-cost options to recommend. I have an account with them, so I'm on their website and it's a pain in the ASS. The chat feature is timing out, and every time I click on anything it wants to open a Roth for me (not going to happen). Anyone know how to navigate this site? If you have better options than Fidelity, I'm all ears. I want to suggest all stocks, because her timeline is long, and her 401k is too moderate (IMO). She understands that she won't lose if she doesn't sell when the market's down. What say you, fellow mustachians?
Also batsignaling @boarder42.
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This is where we keep our taxable funds: https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/315911693
My Roth IRA is in: https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/315911750
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See the Bogleheads Wiki page on Fidelity (https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Fidelity). In Roth, for all stocks:
Total US Stock Market Indexes:
* FSKAX (https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/315911693) - Fidelity Total Stock Market Index (ER 0.015%) - Equivalent to VTSAX
* FZROX (https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/31635T708) - Fidelity ZERO Total Market Index Fund (ER 0%) - do NOT use this in taxable. (*)
Total International Index:
* FTIHX (https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/31635V638) - FidelityŽ Total International Index Fund (ER 0.06%) - Equivalent to VTIAX
* FZILX (https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/31635T609) - Fidelity ZERO International Index Fund (ER 0%) - do NOT use this in taxable. (*)
ETF:
* VTI (https://screener.fidelity.com/ftgw/etf/goto/snapshot/snapshot.jhtml?symbols=VTI) - Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (ER 0.03%)
* SCHB (https://screener.fidelity.com/ftgw/etf/snapshot/snapshot.jhtml?symbols=SCHB) - Schwab Total Stock Market ETF (ER 0.03%)
* VXUS (https://screener.fidelity.com/ftgw/etf/snapshot/snapshot.jhtml?symbols=VXUS) - Vanguard Total International ETF (ER 0.08%)
For bonds, FXNAX (https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/316146356) - Fidelity U.S. Bond Index Fund (ER 0.025%) - Equivalent to VBTLX.
(*) The Fidelity ZERO index funds are very good, although recent (2018), but they are not portable (tracking a proprietary index), so if bought in taxable, you can't ever leave Fidelity without selling them and incurring capital gains taxes. Not a good idea. Performance-wise, FZROX has been almost indistinguishable from FSKAX (https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&timePeriod=4&startYear=1985&firstMonth=1&endYear=2021&lastMonth=12&calendarAligned=true&includeYTD=false&initialAmount=10000&annualOperation=0&annualAdjustment=0&inflationAdjusted=true&annualPercentage=0.0&frequency=4&rebalanceType=1&absoluteDeviation=5.0&relativeDeviation=25.0&reinvestDividends=true&showYield=true&showFactors=false&factorModel=3&portfolioNames=false&portfolioName1=Portfolio+1&portfolioName2=Portfolio+2&portfolioName3=Portfolio+3&symbol1=FSKAX&allocation1_1=100&symbol2=FZROX&allocation2_2=100)
I use FSKAX/FTIHX/FXNAX in my 401(k), FSKAX in my Roth IRA and FZROX/FZILX/FXNAX in my HSA (that was an experiment when they came out).
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The bogleheads link is good if you want to recommend a 3 fund portfolio. Another good option if something even less hands on is needed would be the Fidelity Freedom Index funds (https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/documents/SHDOCS/FXIFX/hosts/sh_comm_pmqa.002216.RETAIL_pdf.pdf). The "index" word is important as there are also non-index Fidelity Freedom target date funds that have higher fees.
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There are several good Youtube videos, if you search Open Fidelity Roth...
Here's one:
https://youtu.be/oYjgw8B47Wk
I have FSKAX in my 403(b) and FZROX in my Roth....The screenshot shows "lazy portfolio" constructions for Schwab, Fidelity and Vanguard, depending on brokerage and risk tolerance....
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Just a note, in regards to problems with chat: Fidelity was impacted by the Akamai outage today. Not good for a broker, during the trading day. Even if chat itself wasn't fully down, I'm sure all of their helpdesk and alternate channels were maxed out.
https://downdetector.com/status/fidelity/
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Are you logged in? If you are trying to open an account and it's pulling your info, you probably need to log out. I've never used the chat feature, so not sure about that.
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My last employer used Fidelity for our 403b plan, so when I FIREd I rolled the employer contribution portion over to a regular IRA and am slowly converting it to a Roth. I also put the money I got from my mom's estate in a brokerage account there. I have stuff in a mixture of a money market cash reserve, FFTHX (one of their target date funds -- 2035, IIRC) and FZROX. I have found the site very easy to use, but maybe that is because my accounts were basically already established? The internet issues many sites were having yesterday may have contributed to your issues.
One nice thing about Fidelity is that they do have in-person sites you can go into in most cities if you need more hands on help or notarization, etc.
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Just call them. They'll pick up the phone eventually.