SPAXX: Unlock 3 Cash Management Choices Available to Fidelity Customers

Note: nothing in this article or anywhere on personalfinanceguru.com is investment advice. The information contained herein is not intended to be investment advice, it’s for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as professional financial advice. Financial product information changes rapidly, we recommend checking the rates on third-party sites to confirm the most up-to-date information. The performance represented is historical; past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results and investors may not recover the full amount invested. We are not financial advisors and we recommend you consult with a financial professional before making any financial decisions. If you need professional financial advice, consult a licensed financial or tax advisor, which we are not.

SPAXX executive summary

• SPAXX is a money market fund operated by Fidelity.
• It primarily invests in ultra-safe investments like short-duration government back securities.
• It’s been around since 1990 and has only broken even with inflation on average since that time. (Average return over the life of 2.54% vs. average inflation since 1990 os 2.52%, at time of writing).
• SPAXX is one of a couple of options Fidelity offers as one option to use as a cash core position.
• You can change what security is used as your cash management core position, but not every option is available for every type of account.
• While this is considered an extremely safe investment, it is not FDIC-insured, like some of Fidelity’s other cash-management options. You can technically lose this investment, though we think that’s extremely unlikely. The FDIC and FCASH. The FDIC-insured option still earns a small return, but it is generally less than the money market options.
• Other core position cash management options include:

1. FDRXX
2. FCASH
3. FDIC
4. FZFXX

SPAXX: what exactly is it?

SPAXX, otherwise known as the Fidelity Government Money Market Fund is a taxable money market fund operated by Fidelity as one of a few options its clients can use to manage the cash in their accounts. 

Each Fidelity account needs to have a ‘core position,’ which is the position Fidelity uses to “process cash transactions and to hold uninvested cash.”

There’s no transaction fee for buying and selling into or out of this core position, however, SPAXX does have an expense ratio of 0.42%. Unlike certain other money management funds at Fidelity, SPAXX has no minimum investment required. 

It’s a large fund that appears to be popular with Fidelity clients, with an AUM of ~$250B at writing.

Its holdings are extremely conservative, mostly short-duration government repurchase agreements as well as some treasuries. This is consistent with the objective SPAXX states in its prospectus to “seek current income consistent with preservation of capital and liquidity.”

It appears to be offered in most Fidelity accounts, including retirement accounts, but Fidelity does not publish the specifics of which cash management option is allowed by account type.

SPAXX: historically, performance has roughly broken even with inflation

SPAXX’s annualized historical performance is a bit disappointing at 2.54%. Although to be fair, this is consistent with its mission of capital preservation and liquidity. We would caution investors to remember that this is NOT 2.54% above inflation, so when thinking in real dollars investors are likely to break even. So, while this is a good cash management option, it’s not suitable for long-term investment.

As expected, the return in the decade or so since the financial crisis was nearly zero but has been increasing along with interest rates in 2022-23.

SPAXX: basic stats

SPAXX only holds investments for an average of 62 days and which makes sense since its weighted average time to maturity is only 8 days.

It has been around for over 30 years and has over $200B under management.