Fidelity Go Review 2024: Pros, Cons and How It Compares

Fidelity Go’s fees and $0 account minimum are appealing, but investors with taxable accounts won’t get tax-loss harvesting.
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Written by Bella Avila
Content Management Specialist
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Reviewed by Arielle O'Shea
Lead Assigning Editor
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Edited by Sabrina Parys
Assistant Assigning Editor
Fact Checked
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Co-written by June Sham
Lead Writer

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Our Take

5.0

NerdWallet rating 

Reviewed in: Oct. 2024

Period considered: Aug. - Oct. 2024

The bottom line:

Fidelity Go is a strong, low-cost choice for investors who want an all-digital robo-advisor.

Fidelity Go®
Fidelity Go®
Fees
0% - 0.35%
management fee
Account minimum
$0
Promotion
None
no promotion available at this time

Unpaid non-advisory client promotion

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Free portfolio management on balances under $25,000.

  • No investment expense ratios.

  • Human oversight of portfolio allocations.

  • Integration with other Fidelity accounts.

  • No account minimum ($10 required to start investing).

Cons

  • No tax-loss harvesting.

Compare to Other Advisors

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Fees 

0%

management fee

Fees 

0.25%

management fee

Fees 

0.25%

with a balance over $20K or qualifying recurring deposit. Otherwise, $4/month.

Account minimum 

$0

Account minimum 

$500

Account minimum 

$0

$10 to start

Promotion 

1% match on rollovers and contributions

Terms and conditions apply. Roll over a minimum of $20K to receive the 1% match offer. Matches on contributions are made up to the annual limits.

Promotion 

Get a $50 customer bonus

when you fund your first taxable investment account

Promotion 

Get 1% match

of your net Roth and traditional IRA contributions until December 30, 2024. Terms apply.

Learn more

on SoFi Invest's website

Learn more

on Wealthfront's website

Learn more

on Betterment's website

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Paid non-client promotion

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Paid non-client promotion

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Paid non-client promotion

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Full Review

Over 60 investment account providers reviewed and rated by our expert Nerds.

More than 50 years of combined experience writing about finance and investing.

Hands-on testing of provider websites and investment platforms.

Dozens of objective ratings rubrics and strict guidelines to maintain editorial integrity.

How do we review robo-advisors?

NerdWallet’s comprehensive review process evaluates and ranks the largest U.S. robo-advisors. Our aim is to provide an independent assessment of providers to help arm you with information to make sound, informed judgements on which ones will best meet your needs. Our highest priority is maintaining editorial integrity.

We collect data directly from providers through detailed questionnaires, and conduct first-hand testing and observation through provider demonstrations. The questionnaire answers, combined with demonstrations, interviews of personnel at the providers and our specialists’ hands-on research, fuel our proprietary assessment process that scores each provider’s performance across 16 factors. The final output produces star ratings from poor (one star) to excellent (five stars).

For more details about the categories considered when rating robo-advisors and our process, read our full methodology.

In this review of Fidelity Go:

Where Fidelity Go shines


Low cost: Fidelity Go charges no fees for accounts below $25,000 and 0.35% annually for account balances higher than $25,000.

Fidelity integration: Customers who already have an IRA or a taxable account with Fidelity can easily take advantage of the company's robo offering.

Human portfolio oversight: The day-to-day investment and trading decisions for portfolios are handled by a team of humans from Strategic Advisors, a registered investment advisor and Fidelity company.

Where Fidelity Go falls short


Tax strategy: The company does not offer tax-loss harvesting, one of the features that makes robo-advisors stand out for taxable accounts.

No specialty portfolio or SRI option: Although Fidelity Go's portfolios are well diversified, the robo doesn't offer socially responsible investing options, which can be limiting for some investors.

Alternatives to consider:

For SRI options: See our picks for the best robo-advisors for socially conscious investors.

What type of investor should choose Fidelity Go?


  • Current Fidelity customers.

  • Hands-off investors who still want human portfolio oversight.

  • Investors interested in low-cost management.

What the Nerds think 🤓


Bella Avila, Content Management Specialist

"Fidelity Go makes it easy to start investing because of its intuitive account setup process. I liked that after filling out a questionnaire, which only took a couple of minutes out of my day, I could see a proposed strategy for how my money would be invested based on my risk tolerance and a timeline of when I'd hit my savings goal. And it all came with zero commitment."

Fidelity Go at a glance

Account minimum

$0 to open, $10 to start investing.

Account management fee

Fidelity Go offers a tiered system based on account balance:

  • Below $25,000: No advisory fee.

  • $25,000 and above: 0.35% annually.

Investment expense ratios

Fidelity Go uses Fidelity Flex funds, which do not have expense ratios.

Account fees (annual, transfer, closing)

None.

Portfolio mix

  • Portfolios are built from Fidelity Flex mutual funds covering four asset classes.

  • Generally well-diversified, but lacks exposure to non-market correlated assets like real estate investment trusts (REITs) and commodities.

  • No specialty portfolio or SRI options.

Socially responsible portfolio options

Supports Rule 3A4, which allows customers to request reasonable restrictions within a portfolio, but no specialty portfolios or socially responsible investments.

Accounts supported

  • Individual and joint non-retirement accounts.

  • Roth, traditional, rollover and SEP IRAs.

  • Fidelity Go HSAs.

Tax strategy

No tax-loss harvesting available. Municipal bonds are used in taxable brokerage accounts.

Automatic rebalancing

Free on all accounts. Accounts monitored daily and rebalanced by investment managers as needed rather than automatically.

Human advisor option

Clients with a balance over $25,000 get unlimited access to Fidelity Go's advisors.

Bank account/cash management account option

Fidelity Investments offers a cash management account. Also, Fidelity automatically directs investors' cash in brokerage and retirement accounts into the highest earning cash sweep choice, typically a government money market fund, so customers can benefit from higher rates.

Customer support options (includes how easy it is to find key details on the website)

Customer support is available 24/7 by phone. Live chat is available Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time.

Reviewed in: Oct. 2024.

Period considered: Aug. - Oct. 2024.

How to sign up for a Fidelity Go account


To set up a Fidelity Go account, you'll fill out a questionnaire designed to gauge your risk tolerance and financial goals, and computer algorithms will match you to a portfolio. We especially like that without signing up or sharing any personal information, users can take that questionnaire and view a portfolio recommendation and sample investments.

Fidelity Go’s Target Tracking lets customers set goals while Fidelity monitors their progress. Customers also have access to the robo-advisor’s other financial planning tools and apps, as well as the company’s educational resources, which are strong.

How much does Fidelity Go cost?


Fidelity requires no minimum deposit to open an account, although you must have at least $10 in your account to begin investing. The company also doesn't charge annual or inactivity fees and does not charge for transferring money, trades, account maintenance or setup. There's no management fee for accounts below $25,000, but there is an annual fee of 0.35% for account balances above $25,000.

Expense ratios are charged annually on mutual funds, index funds and ETFs to cover the cost of managing your investments. This fee is represented as a percentage of your entire investment. Fidelity Go customers have access to Fidelity Flex Funds, which are Fidelity mutual funds that have zero expense ratios.

Fidelity Go's portfolio selection


Customers can choose from 16 portfolios. There are eight taxable portfolios and eight retirement portfolios available. Portfolios are built from Fidelity Flex mutual funds.

The mutual funds cover four asset classes — domestic, foreign, bonds and short term. The mutual funds in each portfolio vary based on your financial goals. This means you know exactly what you’re paying when you sign up for this service — and in many cases, the cost is lower than you'd pay at other robo-advisors when you consider both management fees and fund expenses. Fidelity Go also has an annual review to ensure the chosen investment strategy still works for its customers.

Although Fidelity Go has a somewhat well-diversified portfolio, it lacks exposure to international bonds and non-market-correlated assets such as real estate investment trusts and commodities.

Fidelity Go doesn’t provide access to specialty portfolios or socially responsible investments. However, it does support Rule 3A4, which allows customers to request reasonable restrictions within a portfolio.

Other key Fidelity Go features


Accounts supported

You can open individual and joint nonretirement accounts, as well as Roth, traditional, rollover and SEP IRAs.

Another plus is Fidelity integration. Fidelity Go customers are integrated into the company’s existing retail managed business. Customers who have an IRA or taxable account with Fidelity can easily take advantage of the company's robo offering. Fidelity Go is not available for 401(k)s held at the company, but you can roll over your old 401(k) into a Fidelity Go account.

The robo-advisor also offers Fidelity Go health savings accounts (HSAs). There are no account fees or minimums to open an HSA with Fidelity Go and anything under $25,000 is managed for free.

Automatic rebalancing

Automatic rebalancing ensures market fluctuations don’t create an imbalance in your asset allocation. The advisors at Fidelity Go rebalance customer portfolios when they move outside of the asset allocation or risk tolerance preferences customers have specified.

Bank account/cash management options

Fidelity Investments offers a cash management account, and idle cash in Fidelity Go portfolios is automatically swept into the Fidelity Flex Government Money Market Fund (FLGXX), so customers can benefit from higher rates since many competitors sweep into bank deposits instead.

Fidelity Go investors can also fund their accounts with the 2% cash-back rewards earned from the Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature card.

Customer support options

Fidelity Go has 24/7 phone support, as well as live chat during extended business hours. It also offers 24/7 virtual assistants, email and social media support, and a Fidelity Investments subreddit where you can get answers to your questions.

Human oversight

It’s common among broker-launched online advisors to pair computer algorithms with dedicated financial advisors. Fidelity Go takes a different approach, with humans handling investment and trading decisions for portfolios.

That oversight makes Fidelity Go a good choice for those who are reluctant to hand off all of the control to a robot.

Good to know about Fidelity Go


Tax strategy

Fidelity Go does not have tax-loss harvesting, which is offered by some other robos for free. Tax-loss harvesting involves selling losing investments to offset capital gains taxes from the winners. Fidelity does use tax-advantaged municipal bond funds in taxable accounts, which can help minimize your taxes.

Human advisor options

Fidelity Go has live chat and phone support staffed by customer service representatives, but they are there to answer account questions, not offer financial planning guidance.

Customers who have a balance of $25,000 or more get access to Fidelity Go's advisors. Advisors coach customers by creating financial plans and outlining steps to reach goals.

Is Fidelity Go safe?


While investing always comes with risk, all of Fidelity's brokerage accounts are covered by Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). The SIPC protects up to $500,000 in securities and $250,000 for cash held in a brokerage account in the case that Fidelity were to ever go bankrupt.

Is Fidelity Go worth it?


If you’ve been wanting to test the robo-advisor waters but feel more comfortable with an established broker, Fidelity Go has a lot to offer. The fees are competitive, and the portfolios are well-diversified and monitored by real live humans. There’s also a low account minimum to help you get in the door, especially compared with other broker-owned online advisors.

Investors with taxable accounts, however, will miss the tax-loss harvesting offered by other robo-advisors. Although use of municipal bonds in taxable accounts can help reduce your tax burden.