Disclaimer: We are supported by our readers. We may receive compensation from links on this page if you use products or services because of our expert recommendations. Please read our Advertising Disclosure.
Fidelity, a renowned and respected financial institution, presents a comprehensive suite of investment options tailored for individuals aiming to diversify their portfolios with precious metals.
Leveraging their extensive expertise and unwavering commitment to quality service, Fidelity offers a platform specifically designed to meet the unique needs of precious metals investors.
Understanding the timeless appeal and enduring value of assets like gold, silver, and platinum, Fidelity provides multiple avenues for investors to incorporate these metals into their investment strategies.
But does Fidelity offer IRAs that permit the holding of physical gold and silver?
Read on to discover the answer.
Before we get started:
Inflation and rising interest rates has destroyed many people's savings. Many investors feel defeated and helpless, but you can fight back.
Gold and other precious metals have been used to protect against inflation for thousands of years. And when you hold physical in a tax-protected savings account, it gets even better.
Opening a gold IRA can sound complicated, but it's really not.
That is why we created a list of our most trustworthy investment companies, to make comparing and choosing the company best suited to your needs as easy as possible.
Look to see if Fidelity was selected to our "highest recommendation" list this year!
Or...
Get a FREE Gold Investing Packet from our #1 recommendation, by clicking the button below:
Protect Your Retirement Savings from Inflation & Taxes!
About Fidelity
Fidelity is a financial company founded in 1946 that has helped over 40 million people feel more confident about their financial goals. They also manage employee benefit programs for nearly 23,000 businesses and support over 3,600 advisory firms.
Fidelity has diverse businesses which have enabled them to give insight into the market as a whole and the stability needed to make financial decisions in the long term. Additionally, they are one of the largest financial companies with 68,000-plus associates.
The company has a global presence that spans nine other countries across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. They are headquartered in Boston and continue to serve customers through 13 regional sites across the globe and more than 200 investor centers.
Fidelity Highlights
Fidelity has 40.9 million individual investors, making the company one of the largest networks of investors taking advantage of its services.
The company has $10.3 trillion in assets under administration and $3.9 trillion in total discretionary assets.
Additionally, Fidelity is committed to helping a broad range of clients with innovative investment and technology solutions to continue to grow.
Here's a quick look at who Fidelity is committed to serving:
Individual Investors: Fidelity provides financial planning, advice, and educational resources needed for all investors. This includes retirement planning, wealth management, brokerage services, college saving, and more.
Employers: Fidelity works closely with employers to create dynamic benefit programs for their employees. This includes employee retirement savings, health, and welfare, and stock plan services.
Advisors and Institutions: Wealth management firms and institutions benefit from the guidance of companies like Fidelity. Fidelity provides insights, expertise, and an optimal client experience. They also provide investment and technology products and solutions, clearing and custody services, and more.
Charitable Donors: Fidelity Charitable is an independent public charity with a donor-advised fund program. This supports a charitable cause you care about and help you reach your philanthropic goals.
Innovators: Innovation is the key to success. Fidelity believes that the possibility for its customers is endless. This is why they believe in exploring new technologies to harness innovation, cultivate new ideas, and embrace an agile approach. The company does this through a variety of resources like Fidelity Labs, Fidelity Center for Applied Technology, Fidelity Corporate Development, and Digital Assets.
Fidelity offers a wide range of services, including the option to trade precious metals. Precious metals tend to do well during times of economic uncertainty or inflation, making them one of the most desired investment choices.
Trading Precious Metals with Fidelity
Fidelity makes it easy to start trading in bullion, bars, and coins in gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Here is some information provided on the company's website about trading:
Precious metals are an excellent way to diversify your portfolio and safeguard your wealth. To start trading with Fidelity, you'll need to make a minimum initial investment of $2,500 for a non-retirement account. In an IRA, the minimum initial investment is $1,000.
Compared to its competitors, this investment threshold is relatively low. If you're a new investor or just curious about giving Fidelity a try, this modest investment requirement makes it much easier to do so.
According to Fidelity, you can only trade in whole ounces or whole numbers of coins. In other words, you cannot trade in dollar amounts or fractional ounces or coins.
According to Fidelity's website, customers can place orders between 8:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. The company states that ordering hours are limited due to volatility in the precious metals market.
These limited hours may be a plus overall. While some companies enable customers to order anytime, that can also lead to problems. For instance, some companies have been known to cancel orders due to sudden price changes.
Having a time limit on placing orders for metals reduces the risk of needing to cancel or change the price of a product.
Products
It's important to highlight that Fidelity acts as an agent only to trade gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. This means that the company does not hold inventory in precious metals nor do they buy or sell by taking positions in the market.
When you place an order with Fidelity, they'll send your orders directly to the precious metals investment companies they use: FideliTrade or ScotiaMocatta. These two companies buy and sell for Fidelity in the marketplace.
FideliTrade: A full-service precious metals firm and authorized mint distributor with a nationwide network.
ScotiaMocatta: A global leader in precious metals trading and finance with a wide range of risk management products for investors.
Fidelity offers additional opportunities for its clients to get involved with precious metals. You can purchase mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that invest in the securities of companies involved in the products of gold. Mutual funds offer indirect exposure to metals but are also a great way to diversify.
How to Open a Brokerage Account
If you're ready to start trading paper precious metals with Fidelity, you'll need to open a brokerage account by clicking on the link that can be accessed on its website.
The first thing they'll ask is whether you are a Fidelity customer. You should select yes if you have a brokerage, IRA, 401(k), or another Fidelity account. If you don't have an account with them, select no.
According to Fidelity, opening an account takes just a few minutes. First, you'll need to confirm your identity and employment information. Next, you'll create a username and password. The last step is to begin the process of transferring money into your account.
If you would like a representative to walk you through the process and answer questions you may have, you can contact a Fidelity representative at 800-343-3548.
Reviews
Fidelity received a rating of 3.8/5 through Consumer Affairs. There is a mix of reviews with customers detailing their experience. Let's take a look at what others have had to say about investing with Fidelity:
Positive Reviews
One customer from 2021 particularly liked the fact that they could transfer their 401(k) to Fidelity free of charge since they left their company. Though, it is unclear whether this is something still offered with Fidelity.
Another customer said that they had been with Fidelity for 13-14 years. Fidelity has been the best broker they worked with and the representatives have been intelligent, efficient, and well-trained for their roles. According to the customer, they never had a poor experience. They particularly like how Fidelity allows an unlimited number of price alerts.
Being able to feel heard and seen is important when choosing any company. According to another customer, Fidelity has always been available to answer questions or deal with technology issues when it came to trading online. The customer further asserted that your questions are answered by real live humans in a considerable amount of time.
Another customer noted that the company was great in keeping the clients abreast of what to expect in their portfolio. The customer highlighted the monthly reports they received and explanations of how and why.
Overall, the positive reviews have highlighted Fidelity's good customer service and transparency. Many longtime customers have left reviews to appreciate the consistent experience that Fidelity provides. One thing to keep in mind is that the latest five-star review was from 2021.
Negative Reviews
When looking at Fidelity's most recent reviews, many of them are negative. In fact, many customers gave either a one or two-star rating. Here's a look at what some customers have said:
One customer from March of 2023 urged customers to beware of Fidelity's sudden account restrictions with no reason or warning. This particular customer had their account restricted with over $100k invested in traditional, IRA, and Roth accounts. This is something to keep in mind.
Another customer from this year was vague about their experience. However, they alluded to Fidelity causing them to lose thousands and thousands of dollars. They also insinuated that Fidelity does not care about its customers unless they are in the top 10%. Due to the customer's few details, it is unclear what may have transpired.
Moving forward, another customer said that they moved their IRA from Vanguard due to poor customer service and web interaction. They highlighted that Fidelity's website was great but that the company's customer service was poor.
One customer said that in April of last year, someone opened a brokerage account and did a full account transfer from their Fidelity account. The customer claims to have not authorized this transaction. The customer also noted that they did not receive an email confirming this transaction.
When the customer logged into their account, it was empty and closed. They contacted Fidelity right away and Fidelity reversed the transaction. However, out of the $9,000, the customer had, about $600 was returned.
The customer said they contacted Fidelity several times over this situation. The representative stated they were waiting on the firm. According to the customer, there should have been protection for situations like this due to Fidelity's guarantee. Unfortunately, the customer's account was still left vulnerable.
After examining the reviews, it appears Fidelity has had a few recent issues. Before committing to working with this company, it's crucial to receive more details from a Fidelity representative and continue to research.
Pros and Cons of Fidelity
Here are some pros and cons of working with Fidelity:
PROS
One of the greatest aspects of working with Fidelity is that the company has a low minimum investment requirement of $2,500. If you're just entering the precious metals industry or just want to give Fidelity a try, you'll be able to make a relatively smaller investment to start compared to what some other competitors offer.
This makes Fidelity one of the best entry investment thresholds and a great choice for many investors.
Although Fidelity does not hold physical precious metals, the company offers many paper metal products, including ETFs and mutual funds.
This enables investors to easily diversify their portfolios without the need to store physical precious metals. Additionally, investors will have more opportunities to liquidate their assets with ease.
After reviewing Fidelity's website, opening a brokerage account with them appears to be simple.
Fidelity streamlines the process by providing as few steps as possible. You can also speak with a representative if you get stuck along the way or if you have any questions.
Several customers highlighted the fact that Fidelity has an intuitive website. While many investors might not think about website functionality, this is important when attempting to open a brokerage account, seamlessly buying and trading metals, and finding any additional information you may need.
Additionally, the fact that many brokerage accounts have poor site navigation gives Fidelity a clear advantage.
CONS
Fidelity is a longstanding financial company offering a variety of services to a diverse group of customers. Over the years, Fidelity has provided a consistently positive experience.
However, the company has been getting several negative reviews as of 2023, with many of the customers complaining about poor customer service. It is unclear what has led to these reviews, but it is certainly something to keep in mind when deciding whether to work with Fidelity for your trades.
Fidelity appears to have an overall good reputation and offers a variety of products to a diverse group of clients. However, one downside that stands out is the fact that Fidelity does not hold physical precious metals.
Physical precious metals have several benefits, such as the fact that they are tangible assets that you can touch and hold. Additionally, physical precious metals are one of the best hedges against inflation.
Since Fidelity doesn't hold physical gold, you'll only be able to invest in "paper" metal products and will lose out on some of the benefits that are offered exclusively with physical metals.
FAQs
What precious metals can be purchased with Fidelity?
Stocks, funds, and ETFs are just some of the precious metals that you can invest in with Fidelity, but these are all "paper assets".
You can not buy physical precious metals to hold in an IRA with Fidelity.
Does Fidelity offer precious metal products for my IRA?
Fidelity enables you to invest in gold, silver, platinum, and palladium with a gold IRA. Just keep in mind that you will be buying these metals as "paper" assets instead of physical gold.
Can I open a self-directed Gold IRA with Fidelity?
Unfortunately, you cannot open a self-directed gold IRA with Fidelity. Luckily, the company offers plenty of products and services to secure your retirement.
Fidelity: Final Thoughts
Fidelity is a trusted company with decades of experience. Fidelity provides a variety of products and services designed to help meet investors' financial goals.
Fidelity seems like a good financial institution to invest in "paper" precious metal products. But if you're looking to open a gold IRA, you'll need to look for other companies like Goldco, Augusta Precious Metals, and Red Rock Secured.
Fidelity provides brokerage services to its clients. This means investors can buy and sell a variety of investments.
While self-directed accounts can't be opened with Fidelity, the company offers several other investment opportunities for your retirement plans.
Because Fidelity does not allow you to buy physical precious metals and hold them in a tax advantaged IRA, we do not recommend Fidelity.
There are much better companies to work with, that is why we created our list of the Top Gold IRA Companies, that you can read by clicking the link below.
Remember to read our list of the Best Gold Investment Companies to work with, before investing your hard-earned savings!
>> CLICK HERE to read our list of the Top Gold IRA Companies. <<
Or, if you like what you read about Fidelity Gold IRA, continue to their website below.
Charles Turner
Hi, I'm Charles Turner, founder of Turner Investments. I created Turner Investments to provide education and guidance to individuals interested in personal finance.
My goal is to make Turner Investments a valuable resource for anyone looking to learn more about personal finance and make smarter investment decisions.