Fidelity Investments vs Fisher Investments

Whether you have significant investable assets or are looking into investing for the first time, choosing the right brokerage is essential. Fidelity and Fisher Investments both have excellent reputations, but there are significant differences between their products and services.

In this article, you'll find an in-depth Fidelity Investments vs Fisher Investments comparison.

About Fidelity 

Founded in 1943 by Edward C. Johnson, Fidelity is a large brokerage firm serving roughly 40 million individual investors. The firm offers a broad range of savings and investment accounts, and its low-cost fee structure makes it a popular choice with individual traders. 

About Fisher Investments

Fisher Investments is a private investment advisor company founded by renowned investment analyst Ken Fisher in 1979. The company operates a fee-only structure and mainly serves high-net-worth clients. Its philosophy focuses on 'high-touch' support, providing access to tailored advice from a dedicated Investment Counselor.

What Products and Services Do Fidelity and Fisher Investments Offer?

Fidelity offers a significantly broader range of investment-based products and services than Fisher investments:

Fisher Investments focuses primarily on financial advice services and portfolio management. Meanwhile, Fidelity is the better option if you want to save for your child's future or open a specific savings account type, such as a health savings account or CD.

Fidelity Investments vs Fisher Investments: Fees and Minimum Deposits

Fidelity

One of the primary advantages of investing with Fidelity is its affordable fees. Fidelity charges 0% commission on most trades and zero expense ratio index funds, although you'll pay commission of $1 per bond or CD for secondary trades. 

However, Fidelity does charge for some of its advice and planning services, and some services require a minimum account balance. Fortunately, the Fidelity Go service offers automated investment advice from your mobile device or computer with zero fees for balances under $10,000.

Furthermore, you don't have to make a minimum deposit to take advantage of Fidelity Go's features. You'll pay $3 per month once your balance reaches $10,000 and 0.35% per year for balances of $50,000 or more. 

Investors with higher account balances may prefer to use one of Fidelity's personalized wealth management and planning services:

Fisher Investments

Typically, you'll need to have total investable assets of at least $500,000 to use Fisher Investments' wealth management services. However, the company may approve investors with at least $20,000 for a WealthBuilder account at its discretion.

Like Fidelity, Fisher Investments only charges fees on assets under management and does not take commission. Fees depend on the amount you invest. 

According to smartasset, you should expect to pay a management fee of around 1.25% on the first $1 million in an equity and blended account, 1.125% on the next $4 million and 1.00% on balances over $5 million. All WealthBuilder clients pay a flat annual fee of 1.50%.

Annual management fees for income-only accounts are somewhat lower:

• First $5 million: 0.75%
• Next $10 million: 0.50%
• Next $10 million: 0.43%
• Next $10 million: 0.38%
• Next $10 million: 0.33%
• Next $45 million: 0.28%

Does Fidelity or Fisher Investments Offer Better Customer Service?

Fidelity offers an impressive range of contact options to help customers access the information they need. Its 24/7 virtual assistant service can answer simple queries. You can also get help with account-related or technical questions via the live chat service between 8am and 10pm weekdays and between 9am and 4pm on weekends. Alternatively, you can get in touch by phone 24 hours a day or get 1-on-1 support via Facebook or Twitter.

Fidelity also offers a broad range of educational materials to help you improve your knowledge of trading and personal finance. The online Learning Center contains a library of articles and videos, and you can also register for educational webinars. Join the Fidelity Viewpoints mailing list to receive insights and analysis from Fidelity financial professionals straight to your inbox. 

Fisher Investments offers comparatively few ways for customers to get in touch. You can access support by phone or fill in the contact form on the company's website. 

However, the Fisher Investments website offers a wealth of educational materials covering retirement planning, personal finance and market cycles. The company publishes a regular stock market outlook guide and provides a daily commentary on the latest developments. You can access these materials, which include videos, podcasts and in-depth articles, via the Fisher Investments Knowledge Center.

Do Fidelity and Fisher Investments Have Good Customer Reviews?

Both Fidelity and Fisher Investments have relatively polarized reviews on Trustpilot. Clients generally praise Fidelity's outstanding customer care and appreciate having multiple ways to access support. In particular, clients enjoy the convenience of being able to get help and advice 24/7. However, some customers are dissatisfied with the time it takes to cash out stocks through Fidelity. 

Many customers are also satisfied with the care they receive from Fisher Investments and say that advisors are happy to answer their questions and explain their options in detail. Several clients also praise the company's balanced approach to risk and say that they enjoyed satisfactory growth over time. On the other hand, some reviewers mention receiving unwanted cold calls and believe the account fees to be excessive.

Both Fidelity and Fisher Investments have an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB), although Fidelity is unaccredited. A+ is the highest possible rating and suggests both companies receive relatively few customer complaints and resolve disputes promptly and appropriately. 

Fidelity Investments vs Fisher Investments: Is Fisher or Fidelity Better?

Both Fidelity and Fisher Investments have pros and cons. Moreover, Fidelity will likely suit a different type of customer from Fisher Investments. 

Fisher Investments could be worth considering if you have a higher amount of investable assets. The company's 'high-touch service model' could represent a significant advantage if you need extensive support managing high-value accounts.

Meanwhile, Fidelity might be a more suitable option if you have less than $20,000 in investable assets and want to minimize fees. Fidelity also offers several account types unavailable through Fisher Investments, giving it the edge if you want access to products like annuities, health savings accounts or child savings accounts.