Fidelity – finding a virtual financial advisor

If you want logical, sensible advice that matches your particular situation, don’t expect it from the retail offices of one of the big investment companies.  They are worried about their liability, so you will get the same generic advice with a bias towards their investment products from all of them.

If you can get there in person, I recommend attending some of the free basic investing seminars that Schwab and Fidelity offer.  They offer some good information for the novice, and you get to see how these offices operate.  Then do some reading.

With regard to Fidelity, they have a very good website with a lot of information.  They offer a number of their own funds, several of which are quite good.  They also offer a couple of thousand other mutual funds managed by other companies.  Look for no-load, no transaction fee funds.  Schwab offers similar products, but I wouldn’t bother with their proprietary mutual funds.

Investing is one of those “DIY” skills you need.  Advice from employees of companies that must balance their company’s interest with their fiduciary responsibility to you is not always the best advice for you.

Savings??

I’ve read your other thread, and my advice is to take that savings, and pay off credit cards 3 and 5. I’m choosing those only because they equal your current savings, and you will wipe out two small debts. The reason you don’t need savings (besides eyePod’s excellent point) is that you don’t save while in high interest revolving debt, unless you have an inflation adjusted ROI greater than what you are paying on those cards. In which case, put that savings towards your highest interest rate card. You needn’t worry about a safety net, because if the unforseen happens, and you need 1k in a hurry, you can just use your (now paid off) cards, and you will be no worse off than before, and probably saved some interest payments along the way. Well you will actually be better off than before, because now you have one billing cycle in which to come up with the money you need to wipe out that new debt. If you are worried about the rare thing that can’t be paid by card, get a line of credit on your checking account. My bank gave me a free (meaning no fee) $1,500 line. This is sometimes known as overdraft protection, and that’s exactly why I have it. So I can keep my bank account lean, and if I goof up, and have a payment go through that I can’t back, I avoid a $35.00 fee. I’m disorganized like that.