When it comes to investing, choosing the right brokerage is crucial. If you are a beginner, the two of the best choices are Ally Invest and Fidelity. All these platforms are designed for traders like you to help you achieve your financial goals. In this detailed comparison, we are going to compare Ally Invest and Fidelity to find out what makes them different so you can make a right decision for yourself.
### History of Ally Invest
Ally Invest is a product of Ally Financial, a major online bank. One of their objectives is to simplify investing and make it more accessible. They provide a wide range of investment products including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and options. Also, they provide great educational materials and tools for the beginner who wants to become an investor.
### History of Fidelity
Fidelity is one of the biggest brokerage firms in the United States, with its history can be traced back to 1946. They have become popular due to the numerous investment products and services as well as good customer relations. Fidelity’s products include stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs and many others with the help of good research and educational materials.
### Account Types and Minimum Deposits
First of all, it is necessary to compare account types and minimum deposits in Ally Invest and Fidelity.
– **Ally Invest** offers individual taxable accounts, joint accounts, traditional and Roth IRAs, and accounts for children called custodial accounts. The good news is that there is no account balance that has to be opened.
– **Fidelity** has the same types of accounts as the previous one: individual and joint accounts, IRAs, and custodial accounts, all with a $0 minimum deposit requirement.
This openness makes it easy for new investors to get into the market and start investing.
### Trading Fees and Commissions
You need to know how trading fees and commissions can affect your profits – here’s how Ally Invest and Fidelity compare:
– **Ally Invest** has no charge for stock and ETF trading but has a $0.50 per contract fee for options trading. However, there will be a $9.95 trade fee for mutual funds per trade.
– **Fidelity** has the same $0 fee for stocks and ETFs but has a higher fee of $0.65 for options. Additionally, there are no transaction fees for Fidelity mutual funds, but other mutual funds may incur fees.
Both platforms are almost equal in stock and ETF trading cost, but Ally Invest has lower options fees than Fidelity, which has more no-transaction-fee mutual funds.
### Investment Options
When it comes to investment products, both platforms are quite extensive. Here’s a look:
– **Ally Invest** offers stock, bonds, mutual funds, options, ETFs and even IPOs. They also provide a robo-advisory service called Ally Invest Managed Portfolios.
– **Fidelity** has the same, and it is equally diverse, offering stock, bonds, mutual funds, options, and ETFs and many more and Fidelity Go, its robo-advisory service.
This wide selection of products helps even novice traders to create diversified portfolios. But Fidelity is slightly better with the number of investment products available.
### Research and Educational Resources
For the new traders, having access to the learning material and research tools is a big advantage. Here’s how the two platforms compare:
– **Ally Invest** excels at providing real-time quotes, charts, and market data, as well as hundreds of articles, videos, and webinars that can help you improve your trading skills.
– **Fidelity** doesn’t lag behind and offers a number of research tools and analysis together with educational materials including articles and other content provided by other financial institutions.
Both the platforms offer good educational content, but Fidelity has the advantage of providing access to third-party research.
### Customer Service and Support
Last but not least, it is important to have a good customer support. Both Ally Invest and Fidelity try to respond as quickly as possible:
– **Ally Invest** offers telephone, email and live chat support, as well as a useful FAQ section and a community forum for users.
– **Fidelity** responds equally well, offering phone, email, and live chat support, alongside a knowledgebase and community forum for clients.
While both the platforms are good in customer support, it is the age and the experience of Fidelity that may give you more confidence.
