Independence allows us to work for you

January 11th, 2018 by Anchor Bay Capital's Investment Team

There is a front page article in the Wall Street Journal today titled, Discount Brokers Push Pricier Services, written by Jason Zweig and Anne Tergesen.  Since this article references Fidelity Investments along with other brokerage services Schwab and TD Ameritrade, we thought it would be important to offer an explanation of our relationship with Fidelity so that our clients understand that this article does not apply to the services that we offer nor their accounts at Fidelity.

The WSJ article explains that employees of large discount brokerage services like Fidelity or Schwab are paid to offer the products of these companies.  The article references former employees of Fidelity investments who worked on Fidelity’s retail side as financial consultants.  In this role, the article explains, Fidelity employees were paid incentives in their compensation if they used certain products with the clients that they advised.  These products include things like certain mutual funds or investment services.  The former employees pointed out that because they had access to other products that were less expensive, their advice may not have been in the best interest of the client.

At Anchor Bay Capital, Inc. we operate independently and do not have an affiliation with any parent company.  In this capacity, we choose custodian relationships for our clients’ accounts so that the money is safe and protected.  We have the ability to choose from a number of custodians and we have chosen to place most of our client accounts with Fidelity at this time.  We operate on Fidelity’s Institutional Wealth platform which is different than their retail division which was referenced in the article.  In this relationship with Fidelity, we are not incentivized in any way to offer any products or services.  We are able to maintain our independence and work directly for our clients at all times.  We value the ease of doing business with Fidelity and the experience that they offer our clients and us as the advisor.

We always welcome any questions regarding your accounts.