Fidelity brokerage account adding as checking

simplira

Hi,

I am trying to add a Fidelity brokerage account and it is adding as checking. Even if I select brokerage manually, it is not showing the portfolio. How do I fix it. BTW, I have two different accounts with Fidelity (for my wife and I). For one of the account, it is linking correctly and for other it is not.

Thanks.

Coach Natalie

@simplira, thanks for reaching out to the Community!

Since the banks send in the account type when you connect your accounts in Quicken Simplifi, the most likely culprit here is that Fidelity actually has the account classified as a checking account — have you checked with Fidelity to see if this is the case? Does the account contain actual investment holdings or just cash flow transactions?

Please let us know so we can best assist!

-Coach Natalie

WinstonTeracina

@simplira

I am a Fidelity customer as well; are you sure the account in question is brokerage account and not a Fidelity CMA (Cash Management Account)? I'm not an expert, but I know these are essentially hybrid accounts that have Checking account features (like FDIC coverage, check-writing, ATM reimbursement, etc.) as well as the ability to purchase securities like a normal brokerage account. I've connected both types of accounts to other agregators in the past and my experience has been the CMA account always shows as a checking, regardless of whether or not securies are held in that account. For this reason, I only hold securies Fidelity Brokerage accounts

simplira

interesting. Never realized that. My fidelity account is investment account and it shows correctly but my wife’s account is cash and hence it shows as checking even though I have shares in that account. I wonder if I can change the account type at fidelity.

That said never had this issue in Quicken. Is there a way to fix this is Simplifi?

Thanks.

WinstonTeracina

@simplira

I think Simplifi will continue to show this a checking account, regardless. If you lookup the routing number on your Fidelity CMA, you'll likely find the "bank" holding your cash is actually UMB bank, not Fidelity which is technically not a bank and thus cannot offer true checking accounts. I don't believe that you can change this account type at Fidelity, but it wouldn't hurt to ask. You could consider opening a separate brokerage account for yourself (or wife) and transfering the investments "in-kind" from the CMA to the brokerage so you wouldn't have to incur any realized gains/losses or trading fees.

You might want to check out the link I'm providing from Bogleheads on the best setup of Fidelity accounts if that is your preferred institution. This is what my wife and I do. We have a CMA account that we keep $0.00. All bills, ACH payments are made from this $0.00 checking account. We turn off overdraft protection which will automatically pull funds from our Brokerage money markey accounts to fund the debit transaction from the CMA. The Brokerage account is actually our "core" account where our paychecks and other income get deposited. The automatic sweep to a Money Market fund means all our cash is getting the best possible interest rate as opposed to the CMA account which currently is offering 2%. Still good compared to other checkings………..

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Fidelity%3A_one_stop_shop#:~:text=The%20Fidelity%20Cash%20Management%20Account,in%20non%2DUS%20dollar%20transactions.

SRC54

@WinstonTeracina

Impressive help and information there! I considered a CMA but didn't think the interest rate was really good, so have stuck with Capital One. Of course, there are other advantages to CMA over a bank account. Thanks for sharing.

pkp

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/18144#Comment_18144

For CMA interest to be really worth it, you need to manually sweep into a Fidelity MMF such as SPAXX or FDLXX. It won't auto-buy so you need to purchase each time you deposit money, but it will auto-liquidate, meaning that you don't have to manually sell to debit/pay bills. I've been buying FDLXX in my CMA and have been getting ~5% for the last few months and won't have to pay state taxes on it either, so that pretty much blows any other HYSA or bank out of the water.