Compare ​Fidelity ISAs

Who are Fidelity?

Fidelity International are an investment management company that provide a range of financial services to retail investors.

They provide a variety of investment accounts to customers, ranging from individual investment accounts like ISAs, Junior ISAs, and Pensions, to more holistic financial services including personal finance advice and wealth management.

Among the investment accounts they provide is the Fidelity Stocks and Shares ISA.

What is an ISA account?

An ISA account is a tax-efficient investment or savings account.

Unlike a normal investment account, an ISA shelters your investments from the following taxes:

1. Income tax on investment interest
2. Income tax on dividends
3. Capital Gains Tax

There are two main types of ISA accounts:

• Stocks and Shares ISAs (invest in the stock market via funds and shares within your ISA)
• Cash ISAs (earn an interest rate on the cash balance of your ISA)

What type of ISA account is a Fidelity ISA?

Fidelity currently only provide a Stocks and Shares ISA, and not a Cash ISA.

Cash ISAs provide a fixed or variable interest rate on your savings, and your investment is guaranteed to not fall in value.

However, interest rates have been low for a prolonged period of time in the UK, and many people choose to invest in Stocks and Shares ISAs instead.

Stocks and Shares ISAs allow you to invest directly in the stock market while still getting the tax benefits of an ISA wrapper.

What does a Fidelity Stocks and Shares ISA invest in?

A Fidelity Stocks and Shares ISA is a self-select ISA or DIY ISA.

This means that you need to decide what investments you hold within your account.

Fidelity’s ISA is a platform ISA, meaning that there are thousands of possible funds and shares to invest in and you’ll need to do your research to pick your own.

However, if you are unsure about what funds and shares to invest in, Fidelity provide plenty of research, tips and information to help you decide.

They even have a range of tools that suggest some possible investments for you based on your attitude to investment risk and your investment goals.

Their suggestions cannot be taken as financial advice, but they help point you in the right direction as to what types of funds might suit you.

All funds and shares can go down in value as well as up, no matter how many experts are involved in their management, so it’s important to be aware of the risks before you invest.

What are the charges for a Fidelity Stocks and Shares ISA?

Fidelity Platform Charge:

Fidelity charges an annual platform fee for all investment accounts you hold on their platform including ISAs, SIPPs, and general investment accounts.

The charging structure is as follows:

• 0.35% per annum on portfolios worth less than £250,000
• 0.20% on portfolios worth more than £250,000, but less than £1m
• For portfolios over £1m, you pay 0.20% on the first £1m and then nothing more, so the maximum you could pay is £2,000 per year

Ongoing Fund Charge (OCF) of your underlying funds:

If you invest in managed or passive funds, the fund managers will also take an annual management charge from your investment. This isn’t Fidelity’s charge, but the funds’ charge that you invest with.

This is usually taken directly out of your fund’s performance, so you won’t typically see this fee being subtracted from your account.

Passive funds are managed less actively than managed funds, and mainly just track an index or sector. For this reason, they are the cheapest funds in terms of the Ongoing Fund Charges.

On the other hand, managed funds typically have higher charges due to the expertise and management from the fund managers, but they do aim to outperform the benchmark of the sector they invest in.

The details of a fund’s ongoing charges are laid out in the Key Investor Information Documents which you can download through Fidelity’s website before investing.

Can I withdraw from a Fidelity ISA?

Fidelity's Stocks and Shares ISA allows you to withdraw at any time once you’ve sold your investments.

You’ll likely need to wait about a week for your investments to sell before your withdrawal is processed, and you can instruct withdrawals easily via the online platform.

The only time you won’t be able to withdraw from a Fidelity ISA is if you’ve purchased a company’s shares and they are going through liquidation, or another form of corporate action, that results in their shares being suspended from trading.

How do I open a Fidelity ISA?

The easiest way to open a Fidelity Stocks and Shares ISA account is online, via their website.

You can set up an account with a password by providing some basic information including your National Insurance Number.

Once you have set up your account, you can start investing with a regular payment from as little as £25 per month, and you can invest up to £20,000 in the current tax year.