Fidelity Bloom Review [Save + Spend to Better Money Habits]

Fidelity Investments might be best known for its brokerage and retirement savings accounts, but the company offers a much wider range of products and services to help you reach your money goals—no matter what stage of life you’re in.

One of those products is Fidelity Bloom^®: a unique free¹ mobile app and debit card that comes with two brokerage accounts—one for saving, one for spending—and pays you to save. Fidelity Bloom^® aims to simplify your finances by separating your savings from your day-to-day spending money. The app also helps you build better financial habits by educating you about your spending and motivating you to save more.

Today, I’m going to take a look at Fidelity Bloom^®. I’ll cover who it’s best for, its features, benefits, drawbacks, and anything else you’d want to know if you’re considering this app for yourself.

What Is Fidelity Bloom?

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Fidelity Bloom^® is a free app that helps users simplify their money and improve their saving and spending behaviors. It separates your spending money from savings to make it easier to track and manage your finances. The app also provides useful features and educational tools designed to make money management less overwhelming and help you build your savings.

Besides helpful features and tools, you’ll also get a rewards debit card and the ability to earn a yield on your uninvested cash with Fidelity Bloom^®. (The yield is an accumulation of interest earnings that Fidelity adds to your balance monthly.)

Fidelity Bloom^® charges no monthly fees, nor does it require a minimum deposit to open.

Who Does Fidelity Bloom Serve?

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Because it offers an array of savings tools, the Fidelity Bloom^® app is a good option for many savers, including those new to saving money and people who want to improve their financial situation. For instance, if you’ve been living paycheck to paycheck, Fidelity Bloom^® could help you build better money habits and grow your savings.

In general, the app aims to make money management less overwhelming and a more positive experience with its helpful tools and features.

Fidelity Bloom Features

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Fidelity Bloom^® Save + Fidelity Bloom^® Spend Accounts

When you download the app, you’re given two accounts:

• Fidelity Bloom^® Spend
• Fidelity Bloom^® Save

As their names suggest, Fidelity Bloom^® Spend is an account for your day-to-day spending, while Fidelity Bloom^® Save is to help you grow your savings.

It’s important to note that, technically speaking, Fidelity Bloom^® Spend and Save aren’t bank accounts; instead, they’re brokerage accounts. That doesn’t have many major consequences. But one notable difference is that you won’t enjoy Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insurance on your balances; however, your accounts still are protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). Fidelity Bloom^® Spend and Save accounts are covered for up to $500,000 of securities, including up to $250,000 in cash.

In short: If Fidelity, as a company, were to fail, your account balances would be safe.

Fidelity Bloom Debit Card

You’ll receive a Visa debit card with Fidelity Bloom^®. The Fidelity Bloom^® debit card can be used wherever Visa cards are accepted, which makes it simple to purchase essential goods and services. You can also track your debit card spending through your Fidelity Bloom^® Spend account, which provides a detailed look at your transactions.

Rewards for Every Fidelity Bloom Debit Card Purchase

While a few traditional banks offer rewards on their debit cards, it’s not terribly common. But the Fidelity Bloom^® debit card indeed earns you a little something extra on the side. Every time you use your Fidelity Bloom^® debit card, you’ll receive a 10-cent reward.

I know, I know: That dime doesn’t sound like much. But it can add up over time if you make frequent small purchases. The quick math? A 10-cent reward on a $10 purchase amounts to 1% cash back, which is quite generous for a debit card. So if you use your debit card for most of your spending, these rewards can add up over time.

I’ll note that Fidelity Bloom^® does have a transaction cap on its Fidelity Bloom^® debit card, but it’s an exceedingly generous 15 purchases per day. You’ll be hard-pressed to hit that limit.

Cash-Back Shopping

In addition to earning debit card rewards, you can also pad your earnings by making qualifying purchases through the Fidelity Bloom^® app’s shopping feature. Fidelity Bloom^® works with a third-party service to offer cash-back shopping with more than 1,000 popular retailers.

Fidelity Bloom Cash-Back Rewards Browser Extension

I spend a lot of time at my desk, and thus a lot of time on my laptop, so I’ve become particularly fond of Chrome extensions. And Fidelity Bloom^® has one. Fidelity Bloom^® users can download the Fidelity Bloom^® Shopping: Cash-Back Rewards Button, which helps you earn cash back while you shop online with qualifying retailers. Its two best functions: It displays reward rates while you’re searching within Google, and it will alert you to potential rewards when you’re visiting a participating site.

Round-Ups

The Fidelity Bloom^® debit card also has a round-up feature that, when you use your Fidelity Bloom^® debit card, allows you to top up purchases and send the excess funds from your Spend account to your Save account. You can even customize your round-ups: Select whether you want a fixed dollar amount (between $1 and $10) or a percentage of your purchase (between 1% and 10%) rounded up each time you make a purchase with your Fidelity Bloom^® debit card.

10% Yearly Save Account Match

If you’d like to pad your savings (and who wouldn’t?), Fidelity Bloom^® offers a 10% annual Save account match for Fidelity Bloom^® users. This savings match is available on up to $300 in Fidelity Bloom^® Save account deposits, meaning you could earn an extra $30 per year.

Uninvested Cash Automatically Placed in a Money Market Fund

Money you add to Fidelity Bloom^® is invested in a money market mutual fund, which is a fairly low-risk investment that allows you to potentially generate some income.² (But even though the risk is low, you should still read each money market fund’s prospectus before investing.)

Direct Deposit

Fidelity Bloom^® also supports direct deposit. If you want your employer to directly deposit your wages into your Fidelity Bloom^® account, you’ll need to provide them with Fidelity’s routing number (101205681) and your 17-digit account number. To find your account numbers, log into the app and click “view your account information.”

Recurring Transfers

Fidelity Bloom^® lets you level up your automated spending plan by setting up automatic recurring transfers from your Spend account to your Save account. You can easily pause or change your automatic transfers through the Fidelity Bloom^® app.

Money Lessons + Activities

Fidelity Bloom^® offers valuable lessons and activities through its platform. For instance, users can get insight into common money roadblocks and tips for overcoming them, as well as useful lessons about issues that impact everyone’s finances, such as inflation and market changes. The guidance in the app is meant to be actionable—advice you can easily put into practice to help improve your finances.

Gift Card Exchange

Similar to Fidelity’s Plynk brokerage account, Fidelity Bloom^® allows you to convert unused gift cards into cash that’s deposited into your Fidelity Bloom^® Save account. Fidelity works with gift card exchange platform CardCash to provide this useful feature.

Fidelity Bloom Pros

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• Separate accounts: Spend and Save accounts are separate, making it easier to track where your money is going and identify spending patterns.
• Tools and lessons: Robust educational tools and tips are readily available through the Fidelity Bloom^® app.
• Customizable features and built-in cash rewards: Customizable round-ups and flat spending rewards can help you grow your savings over time.
• Simple savings tools: Direct deposit, saving match, and recurring transfers let you build your savings without much effort.
• Rewards on regular purchases: Shopping tools and a rewards debit card make it simple to earn rewards on items you’d likely be purchasing anyway.
• Interest earnings: You could earn a yield on your balances.

Fidelity Bloom Cons

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• Savings match cap: Annual savings match is capped at 10% of $300, so you can only earn an extra $30 per year even if you deposit more than $300 into your Fidelity Bloom^® Save account.
• Possible to lose money by investing: The Fidelity Bloom^® Spend and Save accounts are brokerage accounts, and stored money is invested in money market mutual funds. Technically, then, it’s possible to lose money, but money market mutual funds are extremely low-risk, so the chance of losing money is remote. Also, funds are covered by the SIPC, so your money is protected in the event that Fidelity fails as a company.
• No access to other accounts: If you have existing Fidelity accounts besides the Bloom^® Spend and Save, you won’t be able to access them through the Fidelity Bloom^® app. Instead, you’ll need to log into the Fidelity app or your online dashboard to manage your accounts.
• Rewards are taxable: Any bonuses and rewards you earn through Fidelity Bloom^® count as taxable income, so you’ll likely receive a Form 1099 from Fidelity come tax time.

How Do Round-Ups Work on Fidelity Bloom?

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Fidelity Bloom^® users get access to a customizable round-ups feature that triggers every time they use their Fidelity Bloom^® debit card. While many competitors only round up purchases to the nearest dollar, Fidelity Bloom^® round-ups are far more flexible. You can opt to round up purchases by a set dollar amount (between $1 and $10) or an overall percentage (between 1%-10%). When you make a Fidelity Bloom^® debit card purchase, the round-up is activated, and your pre-selected amount is transferred to your Fidelity Bloom^® Save account.

Thus, your round-ups could add up to a decent sum … but if you’re not careful, it could whittle away at your overall budget. For instance, if you set your round-ups to 10%, and then you make five $50 purchases with your debit card, $25 will be transferred from your Spend account to your Save account. Tracking your purchases and managing round-ups wisely can ensure your day-to-day spending doesn’t break your monthly budget.

How Does the Fidelity Bloom Save Account Match Work?

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As mentioned, Fidelity Bloom^® offers an annual match of 10% on qualifying deposits up to $300, which means you can accumulate up to $30 in additional savings each year (assuming the offer continues beyond this year).

Your cumulative deposits don’t need to amount to $300 to receive some amount of match. Nor do you need to deposit $300 all at once to qualify for the full $30 in savings match. Save account match amounts are awarded at the end of each month. So, for instance, if I were to make $100 in qualifying deposits in January, I would receive $10 at the end of January. I could then deposit $100 in February, then another $100 in March, to earn another $10 in each of those months—thus reaching the $30 cap.

Does Fidelity Bloom Really Help Change Spending Habits?

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By separating the two functions of saving and spending into two accounts, Fidelity Bloom^® relies on behavioral science principles to help with spending more mindfully and saving more. It also offers an array of tools that can make it easier to save money, as well as helpful tips and guidance to keep you on track toward your goals.

But no app can automatically change your spending habits. You have to put in the work, too.

Will Fidelity Bloom Help Me Save Money?

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Yes, Fidelity Bloom^® can help you save money if you use its tools and features wisely. Its round-up feature, rewards, savings match, and educational tools can all support your goal to save more money.

But like I said above, a tool can’t help you unless you use it. While the Fidelity Bloom^® app can help you build better savings habits, it’s ultimately up to you to commit to changing your behaviors.

Fidelity Bloom FAQs

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Can I see my other Fidelity accounts inside the Fidelity Bloom app?

Fidelity Bloom^® customers can only view their Spend and Save accounts inside the Fidelity Bloom^® app. If you’re an existing Fidelity customer, you’ll need to log in to the corresponding Fidelity app or online dashboard separately to view and manage your other account(s).

What types of accounts are Fidelity Bloom Save and Spend?

Fidelity Bloom^® accounts are technically taxable brokerage accounts, not bank accounts. (Indeed, funds that you deposit are actually invested in a money market fund.) Thus, you’re not covered by FDIC insurance like you would be with a traditional bank account. Instead, your Fidelity Bloom^® accounts have SIPC protection. Brokerage accounts covered by SIPC insurance are protected in a similar way to FDIC insurance—that is, if the financial institution fails as a business, your assets (up to a certain threshold) are still guaranteed. (But I’ll be clear: SIPC coverage does not cover investment losses due to market fluctuations.) Fidelity Bloom^® accounts are covered for up to $500,000 of securities, including up to $250,000 in cash.

Is Fidelity Bloom free?

Yes, Fidelity Bloom^® is a free financial app that can be used on Apple and Android devices.

How old do you have to be to use Fidelity Bloom?

You’ll need to be 18 or older to open a new Fidelity Bloom^® account. This age restriction is fairly standard with most brokerage accounts. That said, Fidelity offers a Fidelity Youth™ Account for minors age 13-17. If you’re interested in that option, your parent or guardian will need to open the account on your behalf. Other account requirements also apply.

What other financial accounts does Fidelity offer?

Fidelity offers one of the largest lineups of financial and investing accounts. So if you’re looking for something that isn’t quite what Fidelity Bloom^® has to offer (or more likely, another account to tack on to Fidelity Bloom^®), here are some of the other financial accounts Fidelity offers:

• Traditional IRAs
• Roth IRAs
• Rollover IRAs
• SEP IRAs
• Health savings accounts (HSAs)
• Cash Management Account
• Fidelity Youth^™ Account
• Plynk Invest

Disclosures

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Terms and Conditions for Fidelity Bloom^®

The Fidelity Bloom^® app is designed to help with your saving and spending behaviors through your Save and Spend accounts, which are brokerage accounts covered by SIPC. They are not bank accounts and therefore are not covered by FDIC insurance.

The Fidelity Bloom^® debit card is issued by Leader Bank, N.A., and the debit card program is administered by BNY Mellon Investment Servicing Trust Company. These entities are not affiliated with each other or with Fidelity, although, the parent company of Fidelity has a minority percentage, non-controlling interest in Leader Bank. Visa is a registered trademark of Visa International Service Association, and is used by Leader Bank pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc.

Images are for illustrative purposes only.

¹ The Fidelity Bloom^® app is free to download. Fees associated with your account positions or transacting in your account apply. Accounts made available via the app may be subject to fees.

² You could lose money by investing in a money market fund. An investment in a money market fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Before investing, always read a money market fund’s prospectus for policies specific to that fund.

Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC, 900 Salem Street, Smithfield, RI 02917