Fidelity review

How we rated Fidelity’s investment features

Fidelity is a popular investment platform that offers a large range of assets and investment options. It has a fairly simple and easy-to-use platform, targeting beginners and more experienced investors with a heavy focus on funds. Find out what we thought of Fidelity, what products it’s got on offer and some benefits and drawbacks of the platform.

What is Fidelity?

Fidelity is a well-established investment platform that made its mark in the US. It’s been around for over 50 years and now has over 1.5 million UK customers. It’s one of the most respected names in the world of investing and it has high goals, looking to take on the legacy investing providers in the UK with an equally robust platform.

Hands-on test: I tried out Fidelity's UK investing platform

"Although it feels quite clunky and somewhat old-fashioned, I think some investors will like Fidelity’s approach, which feels more like using a bank interface than a slick start-up broker. This will give some investors a sense of security if they think brokerages should involve fewer confetti canons and instead just focus on being a robust place to make and manage investments.

Fidelity can be a useful platform for UK investors, especially if you set up a regular savings plan. Because this makes investing cheaper (reducing online commissions to £1.50 per trade instead of £7.50), and you can start from just £25 a month instead of the alternative – a whopping £1,000 lump sum."

George Sweeney, DipFA

Deputy editor

Fidelity fees

Fidelity is a bit of a weird one for fees because it can be cheap or expensive, depending on how you use it. No platform fees for any amount in your portfolio over £1 million is great if you’re a high roller, but I doubt this helps most retail investors in the UK.

If you’re going to use Fidelity, it almost makes no sense if you don’t set up a regular investing plan. If you do this, the commission drops from (a steep) £7.50 to £1.50, and you get the 0.35% platform fee (instead of £7.50 a month) if your portfolio is under £25,000.

If you don’t have a massive portfolio or you don’t want to invest regularly, then Fidelity is pretty darn expensive and you might want to invest elsewhere. If you’re making regular online trades, it’s £7.50 each time and for international investments, there’s also an FX fee that starts at 0.75% and gets cheaper with bigger trades. If you want to make an investment over the phone, there’s a £30 fee.

If you opt to invest in funds or managed investments, there will also be ongoing fees to look into – these will vary based on your chosen investment but always take this into account.

Fidelity investment choice and stocks

Fidelity has a large selection and variety of investments available, covering a decent range of assets. The fund selection is probably one of Fidelity’s greatest strengths, with around 2,500 to choose from.

The lack of fractional shares is a pain, but if you don’t mind that, Fidelity offers a lot for investment choice. Along with mutual funds, there’s also exchange-traded funds (ETFs), individual UK shares, investment trusts and overseas shares.

Again, it’s in most investors’ interest to set up a regular investment plan with at least £25 a month because otherwise you’d need a hefty lump sum of at least £1,000 to get started with Fidelity.

Is Fidelity safe?

Fidelity is a sturdy and safe place for investors, scoring near full marks in our safety and security assessment. As you’d expect, it’s regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Your deposits are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which means that you’ll be able to claim up to £85,000 if Fidelity were to go bust.

Like any other type of investment, your capital is at risk when you invest using Fidelity and you may end up with less than what you originally invested. The performance of investments will vary, and there is no guarantee of return.

Fidelity account types and products

Fidelity has a decent range of account on offer, including:

• General investment account (GIA)
• Stocks and shares ISA
• Junior ISA (JISA)
• Self-invested personal pension (SIPP)
• Business accounts
• Other cash savings accounts

Fidelity ISAs

The Fidelity stocks and shares ISA lets you invest up to your annual allowance in a tax-efficient way. The ISA allowance for the 2024/2025 tax year is £20,000. This means that you can invest up to this amount without incurring any UK capital gains or dividends tax on potential profits.

General investment account

Fidelity’s general investment account allows you to invest outside of your annual ISA allowance. People usually go for this option if they have used their ISA allowance already. You may need to pay capital gains tax or dividend tax on any profit you make from your investments, and money withdrawn may count towards your income tax for that year.

Self-invested personal pension (SIPP)

The self-invested personal pension (SIPP) gives you the chance to save up for your retirement with tax benefits (like tax relief depending on your bracket). You can choose what you want your pension invested in and can contribute in lump sums or with regular savings.

Junior ISA (JISA)

With the junior ISA, you can kick-start your savings for your child’s future, and shield from UK tax. The JISA works the same as the stocks and shares ISA, except the allowance for the 2024/2025 tax year is £9,000 and it doesn’t count towards your own yearly allowance.

Junior SIPP

If you’re super organised, you can start investing now for your child’s retirement with the junior self-invested personal pension (SIPP). You can contribute up to the £3,600 allowance for the 2024/2025 tax year.

Fidelity ease of use

Fidelity scored fairly well in our ease of use assessment with a few ways to contact the customer service team and generally positive reviews for its app. However, it’s a shame it reserves top-tier service only for high net worth clients.

Most reviewers seem to enjoy the Fidelity app on Apple and Android devices. On the App Store it has an impressive 4.8 out of 5 from over 2 million reviews and on Google Play, it has a lower 4.2 out of 5 (as of February 2024).

The user experience for investing with Fidelity on the app or on the desktop platform isn’t the smoothest and it’s a bit old and clunky, which is a shame considering it’s not the cheapest provider to use.

Fidelity customer reviews

Fidelity did well in our 2024 customer satisfaction survey, with 93% of its customers saying they’d recommend the platform to a friend.

Feedback included praise for its easy-to-use website, and many customers described Fidelity as “efficient”.

One customer commented: “I have always found Fidelity share dealing to be easy, quick and efficient. The platform is user-friendly and customer service if required is excellent.”

Not all comments were totally positive. Another customer said “withdrawal procedures are slow”.

On Trustpilot, Fidelity scores 4.1 out of 5 – classed as “great” – from over 4,000 reviews (last updated: January 2024).

Fidelity tools, resources and features

Fidelity has lots of tools and resources packed into its comprehensive platform. The only area where it’s lacking is the social investing aspect, with no community forum or way for investors to connect and share ideas.

If you’re looking for funds, there are plenty of resources like:

• Navigator. Diversified fund ideas.
• Select 50. Funds selected by pros.
• Easy Invest. A low-cost ISA fund
• Sustainable investment finder. For, you guessed it, finding sustainable funds.

For learning, Fidelity also offers guides and learning seminars.

Who might Fidelity suit?

This platform is going to be best-suited for those who have larger portfolios and are looking for some bespoke service. Fidelity has a lot to offer but the platform feels like it’s tailored to higher-net-worth investors and those who don’t mind paying more in fees in return for a decent level of customer service.

If that’s not you, why not compare share trading platforms to find the right fit to match your style.

Frequently asked questions

• Is Fidelity Investments a public company?

  No, Fidelity Investments is privately owned.

• Where is the Fidelity Investments headquarters?

  Fidelity’s UK flagship office is located at 4 Cannon Street in London.

• Is Fidelity good for beginners?

  If you’re just starting out with investments, there are options available for you at Fidelity. You can choose funds based on your risk appetite, which means you don’t need to have a great wealth of knowledge of the funds. It’s worth taking a look at the guides and videos that Fidelity offers to learn more, too.