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

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

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 🤓

Fidelity Go at a glance

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.