ING Insurance Company Review
Fidelity Investments is one of the oldest and biggest players in the world of mutual funds. The Boston based company currently operates 502 funds that maintain around $3.3 trillion worth of assets for about 20 million customers. Its offerings include the legendary Magellan Fund, which was one of the first stock funds to attract widespread attention. Fidelity was also home to the first celebrity fund manager, Peter Lynch, who retired from the company in 1990.
The company started business in 1930 as the Fidelity Fund, a private investment vehicle. In 1946 company founder Edward C. Johnson II organized the Fidelity Management and Research Company to manage the Fidelity Fund. Over the next decade, Johnson launched several different funds including the Puritan Fund, its first stock based fund. It launched the first aggressively managed mutual funds, the Trend and Capital funds in 1958. The Magellan Fund was started in 1965 with Edward C. Johnson III (Ned's son and heir) as its first manager. In 1965 it started FMR Investment Management Service Inc. to manage pension funds.
The firm has been a pioneer in marketing and selling mutual funds to the public. It started selling shares in its products directly to investors over the phone in 1974 with one of the first 1-800 numbers. It also launched one of the first dial numbers that provided prices and other information about its funds in 1979. Fidelity was the first to offer such features as a credit card for investors, walk in centers to buy funds, asset management accounts, and to sell its funds through a wide variety of channels. It was also the first mutual funds outfit to have a web page and offer investors a chance to buy into IPOs.
Starting in 1999, Fidelty moved aggressively into the retirement investment industry. Since then it has launched the first online 401K, and several other retirement products. This effort has included several products and suites of products aimed directly at the retirement investor. These offerings include funds designed specifically for retirement and a low cost withdrawal benefit annuity.
Fidelty's Resources for Financial Planning and Retirement
Fidelty has long been one of the best respected market research companies. It now makes a wide variety of resources available for financial planning and retirement purposes. These resources are designed more as guides for investment rather than as general financial planning tools.
The resources the company makes available online are quite impressive. They include portfolio review, advisory services, an income strategy evaluator, fund picks, and stock, fund and bond research. Not surprisingly, these tools are geared towards investing through mutual funds.
One of Fidelity's biggest strengths is as a research company. Part of the reason why its funds have been so successful is that the company has researched investments extensively and effectively. Some of this research is available to investors through its website.
Research available includes free research reports on stocks from 10 different analysis firms. Also available is information on mutual funds and ratings from both Lipper and Morningstar. For option investors, covered calls and calendar spreads from Standard & Poor's (S&P) are offered. Moody's and S&P bond ratings are available for bond investors to examine.
There are also stock, bond and ETF (exchange traded fund) research centers that provide more detailed research and analysis. Special features to research and analyze mutual funds, markets and sectors, international investments and fixed income vehicles are also available.
Fidelity Investor Resources
Fidelity's biggest strength has always been the many services it makes available for individual investors. There are services available for everybody from beginners to serious investors. Its Portfolio Advisory Services feature is designed to help you manage your entire portfolio. Services available here include professional investment management, retirement planning, trustee services, and trust administration.
The income strategy evaluator offers income, planning, and investment simulations designed to help individuals design, evaluate, and test investment and retirement planning strategies. Fund Picks from Fidelity is designed to help people locate the best performing mutual funds. It provides all of the basic information on funds and does evaluate many non-Fidelity products. Full details of the funds including annual performance can be accessed through an easy to use chart. Anybody can use this feature, and those who do get a chance to buy into those funds through Fidelity. Morningstar ratings and such basic data as fees and the minimum transaction amount are listed here.
Fidelity as an Investment Resource
Fidelity would be a very good investment and retirement planning resource for somebody with at least some disposable income who is interested in mutual funds. It also provides quite a few resources for other kinds of investments including stocks and ETFs.
Persons with quite a bit of income who haven't seriously considered retirement or planning for it could also benefit from Fidelity. Its resources are an excellent guide to modern investment for persons who want to manage their own portfolios. They are also a good place to turn for those with questions about mutual funds and other products. Those looking for more guidance in their financial planning would be well advised to look elsewhere.