Fidelity Personalized Planning and Advice is a hybrid advisor service that mixes the digital advice of Fidelity's robo advisor (Fidelity Go) with the support of human advisors. Similar to other hybrid advisor services, you get both digital investment guidance and human support for more personalized investment solutions.

The service works using two pieces - a robo advisor and access to a team of human advisors. When you first sign up, you will use the robo advisor portion of the service called Fidelity Go. Like all robo advisors, Fidelity will have you fill out a questionaire when you first sign up.

Fidelity will ask you about your age, income, investing goals, risk tolerance and more. Based upon this information, a portfolio of investments will be recommended for you. Fidelity's robo advisor builds portfolios using Fidelity Flex mutual funds that hold stocks, bonds, and short term investments.

Unlike other hybrid advisor services, Fidelity typically uses funds that don't charge fees (aka expense ratios) which means that more of your money stays invested. You can opt to invest using the strategy that Fidelity recommends or choose another strategy if it makes sense to do so.

Fidelity only requires you to have a minimum $10 investment in order to use the robo advisor portion of the service (Fidelity Go). However, if you want access to human advisors as well, you will need at least $25,000. Having this minimum allows you to have access to human advisors over the phone which is the second part to the Personalized Planning and Advice service.

In other words, you invest into low cost mutual funds using the robo advisor and have the support of human financial advisors over the phone as long as you have a minimum of $25,000. If you don't have this, you can still use the robo advisor by itself and grow your balance to $25,000 to reach the Personalized Planning and Advice level of service.

Standard brokerage accounts: A standard brokerage account simply allows you to hold the investment portfolio Fidelity recommends for you. Fidelity offers individual or joint brokerage accounts.

Retirement accounts: IRAs (individual retirement accounts) are designed specifically to help you save and invest for retirement, and often come with tax benefits. Fidelity offers a Roth, Traditional, and Rollover IRA.

HSA: Fidelity also offers the ability to open a HSA, or health savings account, through the robo advisor portion of the service - Fidelity Go. An HSA is a tax advantaged account that can be used to pay for qualified medical expenses. ‍

If you want to use the complete Personalized Planning and Advice service, you will need a minimum of $25,000. You can use just the robo advisor portion with any amount less than that, but you will not get access to the human advisors for financial coaching which is the whole point of the service.

Fidelity does not charge an advisory fee if your account balance is below $25,000. Once your account balance reaches $25,000 or more, Fidelity charges a 0.35% annual advisory fee which would include access to human financial advisors.

Also keep in mind that Fidelity builds your portfolio using Fidelity Flex mutual funds which do not have any fees. This is uncommon when looking at hybrid advisor services. Typically a hybrid advisor will charge both an advisory fee for the service they provide, as well as a fee on the investment funds they suggest for you to cover operational and adminstrative costs associated with the funds.

Fidelity allows you to access their advisors over the phone for 30 minute calls on a variety of topics. When you log into your account, you will be able to choose a topic and schedule a call with an advisor on a date and time that works best for you.

Fidelity's advisors are held to fiduciary standars which means that they are legally required to act in your best interest when providing investment or financial advice. Fidelity will also conduct a review with you on an annual basis to make sure your information is up to date and see if anything has changed so they can provide further advice (more on this later).

1. Robo advisor

As noted throughout the review thus far, the first thing you get is the digital advise of Fidelity's robo advisor - Fidelity Go. When compared to other notable robo advisors, the one missing piece is that it does not offer tax loss harvesting.

Tax loss harvesting is a strategy in which investments are sold at a loss to offset taxes when it makes since to do so. It would be nice to see Fidelity add this feature. However, Fidelity makes up for this by using no fee mutual funds to build your investment portfolio which means more of your money stays invested.

2. Human advisors

All things considered, the Personalized Planning and Advice service does provide very inexpensive access to human advisors. Now, you don't get your own dedicated personal advisors, but having access to a financial fiduciary to guide you when needed is a huge benefit.

Fidelity does a good job at structuring calls so that both you and the advisor you speak to are on the same page. When you book a call, you will select a topic that you want help with. These topics can include things such as budgeting, debt management, investments, retirement planning and more.

3. Annual check ins

Fidelity does a good job at being proactive by conducting an annual check in. Once a year, Fidelity will send you an email 30 days ahead of when they want to conduct your annual check in. Fidelity does this to make sure that all of your information they have on file is up to date and to see if there have been any major changes in your life so that Fidelity can adjust your plan accordingly.

Fidelity offers phone support Monday through Friday 8:30 am to 7:30 pm ET and live chat Monday through Friday 8 am to 6 pm ET. Keep in mind that these support options are for general inquiries and not specifically designed to help you speak with a human advisor. If you want to speak with an advisor, you have to schedule an appointment with the coaching scheduling tool through Fidelity's website once you log in.

Fidelity Wealth Management

If you have $500,000 invested in eligible Fidelity accounts, you can unlock Fidelity Wealth Management. With this service, you get a dedicated financial advisor who will work with you to build a comprehensive financial plan. Fidelity charges an annual advisory fee ranging from 0.50% to 1.50% for this service.

Fidelity Private Wealth Management

A step beyond Fidelity Wealth Management is Fidelity Private Wealth Management. Not only do you get a dedicated financial advisor, but you also get a complete team of financial experts to help you create a comprehensive plan.

In order to qualify, you need $2 million invested through Fidelity Wealth Management, as well as a total of $10 million or more of assets. Fidelity charges an annual advisory fee ranging from 0.20% to 1.04% for this service.

1. Low cost

If your account balance is below $25,000 and you are only able to use the robo advisor portion of the service, you won't incur any fees. Once your account balance is above $25,000 you will incur a 0.35% annual fee. However, considering that a traditional human advisor service often charges a 1% fee, the 0.35% fee from Fidelity is very reasonable.

Keep in mind that you are not getting a dedicated advisor. The advisor you speak with can vary. However, since the costs are so low, it is still a great option if you want access to human advisors and don't have an excessive amounts of investable assets.

2. No expense ratios on Fidelity Flex mutual funds

Unlike other hybrid advisor services from Charles Schwab and Vanguard, Fidelity builds your investment portfolio using funds that do not charge fees, aka expense ratios. Although these savings appear to be small, they can boost your returns significantly over time as more of your money has the opportunity to compound.

3. Annual check ins

Finally, Fidelity does a good job at being proactive by prompting you for an annual check in. As life gets busy, it can be easy to forget about your financial plan. Knowing that Fidelity will make sure you are on track can boost your confidence as you use the service.

1. No tax loss harvesting

The main knock against Fidelity is that their robo advisor does not offer tax loss harvesting. It has become a staple service in the robo advisor world, so it is disappointing that Fidelity does not currently offer this. Tax loss harvesting is another tool that can help boost your overall returns by saving you money on taxes as it makes since to do so.

Fidelity Personalized Planning and Advice is right for you if: