Fidelity Investments www.fidelity.com Review

As one who has provided hundreds of portfolio reviews for customers at Fidelity Investments, my comment is that "You get what you pay for."  Fidelity Investments portfolio reviews cost nothing and are computer generated.  Though Fidelity representatives can waiver off of the computer generated recommendations, Fidelity compliance requirements and overall management fear of doing anything that could be construed running counter to the "inferred" Fidelity performance requirements, makes Fidelity reviews basically worthless.  In recent months, Fidelity has gone on a ruthless campaign of laying off an disproportionate number of their long-tenured (read "higher paid") employees in the name of "saving jobs."  Fidelity has basically proven that their shop portfolio reviews and retirement planning can be done by 1) low-paid, low-experience kids in their 20's 2) low-performing reps with 3-6 years of experience and 3) trained chimpanzees.  If a Fidelity rep tries to veer away from the shop computer-generated recommendations, branch management will put him/her through the ringer to justify their actions.  It simply has become "not worth the trouble" for most reps to do this.  Fidelity has also recently redoubled their insistence on pushing proprietary products over non-shop products.  For those who have their Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designations, this runs counter to CFP ethics.  Hundreds (and this is NO exaggeration) of experienced branch representatives have left the firm in the last 2 years - either of their own choice or were laid off because Fidelity believes in these horrible financial times, inexperienced representatives are adequate to help its clients through the crisis.  Layoffs of its finest employees is one thing if the firm is in dire financial trouble, but Fidelity is in good financial shape and just seeks to provide mediocre service and call it outstanding customer care.  A "SMART MOVE" would be to look for experienced professional financial advisors away from Fidelity Investments who actually can provide the kind of help they have been trained to provide rather than rely on "20-something year old sales kids" who know little about the real markets and real investing and simply recite the company garbage they are required to recite.