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Fidelity Annuity Review

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This review was produced by SmartAsset based on publicly available information. The named firm and its financial professionals have not reviewed, approved, or endorsed this review and are not responsible for its accuracy. Review content is produced by SmartAsset independently of any business relationships that might exist between SmartAsset and the named firm and its financial professionals, and firms and financial professionals having business relationships with SmartAsset receive no special treatment or consideration in SmartAsset’s reviews. This page contains links to SmartAsset’s financial advisor matching tool, which may or may not match you with the firm mentioned in this review or its financial professionals.

Founded in 1965, Fidelity has grown to become a major player in the financial services industry. Today, the company has its hands in brokerage and investing services, financial planning, wealth management and even annuities. Fidelity has one proprietary low-cost variable annuity called the Fidelity Personal Retirement Annuity® (FPRA), while the rest of its products are offered through its third-party service called The Fidelity Insurance Network®. Through Fidelity’s network, you’ll have access to variable, fixed, immediate income and deferred income annuities from providers like New York Life and more.

If you don’t know whether to go with Fidelity’s variable annuity or a product available through its network, consider consulting with a financial advisor in your area.

Annuity Fees Annuity Type Minimum Initial Premium More Information
Fidelity Personal Retirement Annuity® Find an Advisor

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  • 0.10% - 0.25% annual fee depending on your initial premium size
  • Various fund fees
Variable annuity $10,000

Annuity Type

Variable annuity

Minimum Initial Premium

$10,000
The Fidelity Insurance Network® Find an Advisor

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  • Fees depend on annuity type
Variable, fixed, immediate income & deferred income annuities $0

Annuity Type

Variable, fixed, immediate income & deferred income annuities

Minimum Initial Premium

$0

Fidelity Personal Retirement Annuity®

Fidelity Personal Retirement Annuity® (FPRA) is a variable contract that requires a $10,000 minimum initial premium. Like any variable annuity, investing is the central feature. For this contract, Fidelity offers three types of investment styles:

  • “Hands-off” approach: If you’re new to investing or don’t want to be responsible for each individual investment choice, you can invest in one of Fidelity’s various risk-adjusted portfolio models. These are based on various percentages of equities versus other securities.
  • “Hands-on” approach: Those that feel comfortable formulating their own investment portfolio should go with this option. Fidelity offers multiple portfolio funds that you can combine, including ones focused on domestic equities, international equities, fixed-income securities, balanced allocations and money market securities.
  • Sector investing approach: Should neither of the other options fit your needs, Fidelity will let you pick from portfolio funds that focus on specific market sectors, like real estate, technology, energy and more.

Fees

If you own a Fidelity Personal Retirement Annuity, your fee schedule will be based on the amount of assets that you invest. So if your initial investment is less than $1 million, you’ll be charged a 0.25% annual fee. Those who make an investment above that amount will see their annual fee dropped to 0.10%.

What makes this fee schedule so unique is that most other variable annuities charge some combination of an annual contract fee and mortality and expense risk charges. Instead, the fees are based solely on the amount of invested assets in your annuity.

When it comes to investment-related fees, the funds that Fidelity offers include expense ratios that range from 0.10% to 2.07%.

Fidelity does not have any early withdrawal charges for the FPRA, which is likewise different than most other variable annuities. However, if you make a withdrawal before age 59.5, the IRS will hit you with a 10% income tax penalty on top of your normal tax rate.

Realistic Return Expectations

Like any variable annuity, your long-term performance is dependent on what you choose to invest in. As of Feb. 2021, the various funds Fidelity offers for this annuity report five-year earnings ranging from -6.45% to 30.67%.

The Fidelity Insurance Network®

Fidelity only provides one annuity, so to expand its horizons, the company started what it calls The Fidelity Insurance Network. Through this, it partners with other major players in the retirement industry to bring a wide selection of annuities to prospective customers. Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll find:

  • Variable annuities
    • New York Life Premier Variable Annuity–P Series with Investment Preservation Rider–P Series
  • Fixed annuities
    • Guardian Fixed Target Annuity
    • MassMutual Stable Voyage
    • New York Life Secure Term MVA Fixed Annuity IV
    • Principal Select Series
    • USAA Protected Deferred Annuity
    • Western & Southern SmartSelect
  • Deferred income annuities
    • Guardian SecureFuture 
    • MassMutual RetireEase Choice
    • New York Life Guaranteed Future Income Annuity II
    • Principal Deferred Income Annuity
    • Western & Southern IncomeSource® Select 
  • Immediate income annuities
    • Guardian Guaranteed Income Annuity III
    • MassMutual RetireEase
    • New York Life Guaranteed Lifetime Income Annuity II/Guaranteed Period Income Annuity II
    • Principal Income Annuity
    • USAA Protected Retirement Income Annuity
    • Western & Southern IncomeSource® Annuity

Fees

The various annuities on offer have different fee structures. For example, variable annuities feature notoriously high rates, while immediate annuities have very few fees. On top of this, different companies that work with Fidelity provide different benefit riders, which often come with fees of their own. However, these riders are usually optional, so you don’t have to add them on if you don’t want to.

With any annuity, if you’re under 59.5 years old and make a withdrawal from your contract, the IRS will levy a 10% income tax penalty on you. This is in addition to the standard income taxes that apply to annuity income.

Realistic Return Expectations

Just as fees vary from annuity to annuity, so to will annuitants see a wide range of returns from the different annuities in the network.

For variable annuities investing in the stock market, there's the potential for both gains and losses, depending on the investments chosen and the performance thereof. On the other hand, income annuities are better served for those looking for financial protection in retirement; while there are no returns in the traditional sense, annuitants who outlive their life expectancy can expect to see more in payments than they paid in premiums.

Tips for Building an Investment Portfolio

  • If you want some help managing your investments and building a retirement income plan, a financial advisor might be for you. Finding the right financial advisor that fits your needs doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with financial advisors in your area in 5 minutes. If you’re ready to be matched with local advisors that will help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
  • Formulating a precise asset allocation is a great first step to setting yourself up for success in investing. This all-important strategy will help you determine what kinds of investments should occupy specific percentages within your portfolio on a risk-adjusted basis. If you don’t know where to begin, stop by SmartAsset’s asset allocation calculator.

All information is accurate as of the writing of this article.

Best Places for Small Business Owners

SmartAsset analyzed data to find the best places for small business owners in the country. This interactive map shows the best counties for small business owners in the U.S. and in each state. Zoom between states and the national map to see the top spots in each region. Also, scroll over any county to learn about that region's small business statistics.

Least
Most
Rank County Small Business Returns Small Business Income Income Taxes

Methodology Which places are best for small businesses owners? To answer this question, we considered three factors: the proportion of people in a county with small business income, how much business income those people reported and the amount of tax a potential resident must pay on their income.

To determine how attractive a region is for small business owners, we compared the number of tax returns that report small business income compared to the total tax-filing population of the region. Next, we compared the total amount of small business income to the overall amount of income reported in each region.

Small businesses are typically incorporated as pass-through entities, meaning that the business owners pay income taxes on the company profits rather than the company itself paying income tax. Because of this, income taxes can play a major role in determining the financial success of a given small business. To determine income tax burdens across counties, we used the national median household income. We then applied relevant deductions and exemptions before calculating federal, state and local income taxes for each location.

These three factors were then indexed and equally weighted to yield our small business index. Places with the highest small business index are the places which ranked the highest in the study.

Sources: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), US Census Bureau 2018 American Community Survey, Government Sources, SmartAsset