FINRA Launches Tool for Mutual Fund Investors

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Monday launched the Fund Analyzer, an online tool to help mutual fund investors with investment choices.

The Fund Analyzer combines the capabilities of and replaces FINRA’s Mutual Fund Expense Analyzer and Mutual Fund Breakpoint Search Tool. The application provides analysis from Morningstar, including Morningstar ratings and Morningstar Style Boxes that provide information about funds’ performance, holdings, and growth characteristics, according to a FINRA announcement.

Investors can use the Fund Analyzer to search and compare up to three funds at once for fund analysis and information about fees and potential breakpoints (volume discounts applied to sales charges for investors who purchase front-end load mutual fund shares). They can also save information on up to 50 funds for future reference, the announcement said.

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The Fund Analyzer features customizable search parameters, examines over 18,000 open-end mutual funds, ETFs, and ETNs, and calculates and displays, in an easy-to-understand graph and table, the value of a fund after all expenses have been deducted for any time period selected by the user, up to 20 years.

Additional information provided includes:

  • sales charges, annual operating expenses, and detailed breakpoint sales charge discount schedules;
  • average annual return over a one-, five-, and 10-year period and since the fund’s inception;
  • policies regarding Rights of Accumulation, Sales Charge Waivers, Contingent Deferred Sales Charges, and 12b-1 fees.

The Fund Analyzer is available at www.finra.org/fundanalyzer.

Fidelity Card Provides Retirement Rewards

Fidelity Investments has announced the launch of its new Retirement Rewards Card, which gives consumers the ability to save for retirement while making purchases.

With no annual fee, caps, or limits on rewards, the Fidelity Retirement Rewards American Express Card offers a 2% earn rate on retail purchases when card members redeem their cash rewards as a current year contribution into their Fidelity IRA, according to a release. Cash rewards from the Fidelity Retirement Rewards Card can be swept into several types of Fidelity IRA accounts, including Traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, and SEP IRAs.

According to the release, using the new Fidelity Retirement Rewards Card, investors earn two points for each dollar spent on purchases. Once a card member reaches a minimum of 5,000 points, or $2,500 in purchases, points can be automatically swept as a $50 current year contribution into the user’s designated Fidelity IRA.

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If card members have maxed out their IRA contribution for that year, they can continue to accrue points and restart automatic deposits to their IRA the next year. Members also have the flexibility at any time to automatically redeem their rewards as cash into other Fidelity accounts or accumulate rewards and redeem them for travel, merchandise, and other rewards, according to the release.

The card will be available starting December 10.

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