One of the world’s largest mutual fund companies is Fidelity Investments whose venture capital arm is Fidelity Ventures. FIL or Fidelity International, Ltd. is the international affiliate that was originally establish over 40 years ago and serves most countries globally. The company currently manages one of the largest mutual fund families in the world today but also provides a variety of other services such as:
- discount brokerage services
- fund distribution services
- investment advice services
- life insurance
- retirement services
- securities clearance and execution
- wealth management services
The parent company where the NYSE is concerned is FMR LLC which stands for Fidelity Management and Research LLC. Their primary format of operations involves financial planning, investing and trading, retirement planning, and of course, mutual funds and the distributors of them. The company is widely recognized for their flat rate of $7.95 for online trades with clients here in the US, although this fee does not apply to transactions involving foreign stocks or restricted securities.
Those transactions that involve special handling may cost more as well. A $2,500 minimum deposit is required to open any type of a brokerage account with Fidelity Investments. However, there may be some waivers that do apply. Additionally, there may be a variance in the commission schedules for certain stock plans geared to company employees. Based on specific asset levels or the combination of asset levels and trading activity, other fees may come into play.
History of Fidelity Investments
Edward C. Johnson II founded Fidelity Investments in 1949 and the company is still under the control of the Johnson family today. The company’s division of investment management in the US and Fidelity Management and Research Company is the investment advising firm to the Fidelity mutual fund family. There are now three fund divisions under the parent company (FMR LLC), namely Equity (Boston, MA), Fixed Income (Merrimack, NH), and High Income (also located in Boston, MA).
Fidelity Investments Mutual Fund Offerings
Fidelity Investments offers a broad array of different funds in order to facilitate the needs of all types of investors. These include the following 4 groups of funds and the different ones offered in each group:
Asset Allocation Funds – Fidelity Asset Manager Funds, Fidelity Freedom Funds (a.k.a. Lifecycle), and a couple of “Hybrid” funds
Bond Funds – High Yield, International/Global, National Municipal, State Municipal, and Taxable bond funds
Index Funds – Bond and Stock index funds
Stock Funds – Domestic, International/Global, Real Estate, and Specialty/Sector stock funds
All of these funds target a different form of investing so it is best to study them before choosing the ones to invest in. You would probably be wise to contact a company representative to get the information you are looking for, but you do need to know what investment direction you want to take. Just remember that mutual funds are a great way to balance out and diversify your portfolio.