Private banking

[des999]

Hi all,
has anyone been called/approached by a private banking institute after their networth reached a certain $ figure?  I was recently contacted by Fidelity after my stock portfolio reached a large amount.  From what I can tell, the advisor is offering all this help for free.  My work place works with Fidelity, so I think that is why.

My bank, Chase, recently called and said based on your high net worth (and high account, due to a sale of my house a few months ago).  I have about 200k in my checking account, maybe that is what prompted the call.  I don't plan to keep that much in there obviously.

Anyone have any experience with private banking?  It appears they are going to try to charge me fees, which pretty much negates any sort of benefits they offer (good loan rates, no atm charges, etc..)

Curious if anyone has any other insights that may make it worth having a further conversation with them.

Thanks in advance!

[habanero]

Curious if anyone has any other insights that may make it worth having a further conversation with them.

Thanks in advance!

I have a "private banking" thing with my main bank (its not in the US, however). It has some perks I might or might not need and it offers access to some services I don't need. I pretty much assume its a vehicle to try and sell me the banks own actively managed funds with higher fees than the index ones I own, but never really checked it out.

So as long as it gives any worthwile perks without acutally needing to pay any fee I don't see any problem with it. Your $ is most likely too low anyway to get the juices really running at the bank so it might be perfectly doable to fly under the radar and collect perks without actually giving anything in return. I've never been contacted by my bank, I just signed up for it in the online bank as I met the set criteria. I have no interest in talking to an "advisor" (i.e salesperson).

We have a very simple tax system compared to the US so I don't really need anything in terms of tax optimizations / help in filing and other services that might be complicated to figure out on your own. In general if you have built your wealth slow and steady over time you prob have the important stuff figured out yourself so the need for any external service is probably slim to nil. If you suddenly get a windfall out of nowhere and don't have a clue I think it might actually be worth considering but with the obvious caveats that they are there to make money for themselves firstly and help you as more of a collateral benefit/damage depending on your angle.

[des999]

Thanks habanero, that is basically how I'm looking at it.  I think I'll check it out and see what they say.  But, I doubt there is much worth doing with them, especially not if they are hoping to charge me any sort of fees.

[less4success]

Starting about 2 weeks ago, I've been getting frequent calls and emails from Fidelity reps offering to provide a "complimentary review of your financial plan".

I wonder if this is just some Fidelity marketing push.

[yachi]

$1.4M with Vanguard, and no one calls or sends us Christmas cards.  You Fidelity guys get all the unsolicited marketing fun.

[habanero]

$1.4M with Vanguard, and no one calls or sends us Christmas cards.  You Fidelity guys get all the unsolicited marketing fun.

Yeah, its really hard when you never get that call you don't need.

As I live in a country with public tax records (!) I get the odd call from some random person having a great investment idea (tm). Once I tell them where I work they hang up immediately. It's some sort of comfort, but not quite up there with getting an unsolicited call just because you are a bit loaded. Hard times indeed. Do we have a support group I can sign up for?

[dividendman]

I have private banking, I don't use any of their "advisory" services, but do use the perks.

e.g. with citigold private client you get a free costco membership, free hulu, free wall street journal subscription, free tsa precheck and some other stuff. You also get better rates on mortgages and stuff. It doesn't cost anything. I never answer when they say they want to talk about my financial plan or reach out.

[des999]

I have private banking, I don't use any of their "advisory" services, but do use the perks.

e.g. with citigold private client you get a free costco membership, free hulu, free wall street journal subscription, free tsa precheck and some other stuff. You also get better rates on mortgages and stuff. It doesn't cost anything. I never answer when they say they want to talk about my financial plan or reach out.

interesting, thanks for that info.  I was hoping maybe I could take advantage of some of the things, but avoiding any of the items that would require a fee.  I am about to purchase a home, so maybe the mortgage rate might be good. 

[des999]

Starting about 2 weeks ago, I've been getting frequent calls and emails from Fidelity reps offering to provide a "complimentary review of your financial plan".

I wonder if this is just some Fidelity marketing push.

I don't know, I've only had a couple of conversations, but they seem to be very good, and no mention of costs/fees.  I think it's all free.  Again, I have Fidelity with my workplace plan, so maybe I get free services through them.  But, it might be worth looking into it.  They helped me set up my backdoor Roth (also, roll my tIRA into workplace plan, etc..)