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Financial Advisor access to my 401K?

I'm dealing with Fidelity and trying to get my financial advisor access to my 401K account.   Fidelity says it's not possible. However they solicit me for them to manage my account and the fees are outrageous.    Anyone else having the same or similar problem?  How did you solve it? 

 

Background - I use BLOOOM, a robo-advisor service and yes I'm happy with what they do.    The way they had access was using my login info.  At the last rebalance, Fidelity locked me out of my account for over a week and did a fraud investigation even though I told them and it was verified that Blooom was responsible.  I am stuck with Fidelity since that's who my company chose for the 401K.  They say Blooom can have access to the personal account but not the 401K. 
 And then to add insult to injury..   They solicit me to manage both accounts for $400+ plus a MONTH.    

  

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@MarjoryM First, I have not had the same or similar issue that you have experienced. However, I can provide some information that may be helpful. As you may know, a  401 K Plan is a pension plan. It is called a defined contribution plan under the federal law, ERISA, which is the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. ERISA has been amended many times since 1974 and requires the plan sponsor (generally, your employer) to comply with numerous regulations. IMO, the most important regulation is the fiduciary relationship between the plan sponsor and the participants. Because of this requirement, most sponsors will have an Investment Committee that reviews and selects appropriate investment options for participants to elect. Investment options can vary from as few as three (i.e., cash equivalents, income (bond funds, guaranteed insurance contracts, etc.) and equity (stock funds, separate accounts, etc.) such as a S&P 500 fund) to many investment options that confuse many participants. Regardless of the number of investment options, the sponsor should provide information about each investment option or how to obtain the most current information. This could be paper, online at the sponsor's website, or through a plan record keeper such as Fidelity, Vanguard, etc. Many sponsors have outsourced this requirement to a record keeper who is current, for the most part, on a daily basis and may provide investment education topics online (asset allocation) or schedule seminars from time to time.  As such, they are fiduciaries as well. So, most plans do not allow participants to hire independent financial advisors (who are not plan fiduciaries) essentially providing the same information. However, some plan sponsors have added an investment option called Self Directed Brokerage Account (SDBA) wherein a participant may allocate their contributions to a myriad of investments (i.e., mutual funds, exchange traded funds, individual stocks, treasury securities, brokered CDs, etc) .not offered by the 401 K Plan, but limited by the Investment Committee. The brokerage firm elected by the plan sponsor is a fiduciary; and, may offer advisory services (for a fee) as well. 

You will find rules of the 401 K Plan in a Summary Plan Description (SPD) or Plan Document. Generally, the SPD is easier and less to read. You should be able to obtain an SPD from your employer or they can advise you how to obtain an SPD. Many employers have SPDs online.

With regard to using a personal financial advisor, there is no law against you talking to anybody about investments including coworkers, friends, relatives, spouses,etc.or even a registered financial advisor who may or may not advise you on your personal accounts. Because most 401 K plan investment options are participant directed, you must follow the rules to receive the protection that a fiduciary provides. 

Lastly, never give your Plan login info to an outside financial advisor or anybody . The advisor you used may have violated their securities registration with the State that licenses them. It appears that Fidelity is tracking transactions and may have picked up a new IP address which is a red flag. I am surprised that the advisor's firm allowed this to happen. Then again, the firm may not know of the advisor's action. Hope this helps. 

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