On the phone with my attorney’s assistant a few months ago to prepare for the next day’s closing on a condominium, I suddenly realized my calculations were $20,000 off. Looking for a source of quick funds without penalties for early withdrawal, I called Fidelity, where I have an IRA.

I explained what I was after, I was handed off to a trader who looked at my holdings and discussed where to get the funds. We agreed on the details and he recited the transaction to me, then stopped to ask if I wanted the money wired, which would add $15 to the cost. I did. He added that to the trade.

With the trade recorded, he handed me off to an administrator to take care of the bank details. It took a minute or so, but it was a live handoff with introductions all around. I was impressed.

The next morning I checked my bank account over the Internet a few times before I saw the credit pending. So I called my bank to find out if that meant I could write a check against it.

Now I know why banks have so many branches. In phone menu hell for five minutes with no way out to a person, I finally gave up and drove to a branch, where I found the funds had cleared and I could get a bank check. I sailed through the closing as if everything had always been fine.

I thought of that Fidelity experience when they sent me a survey about some new products in health insurance they were considering. Would I be interested in this or that, would Fidelity’s sponsorship be appealing?

Yes, Fidelity has established itself, in my few direct dealings over the years, as an excellent firm. My bank, however, will never have more than my minor checking account balance – after all its mergers it is transactionally convenient with ATMs most of the places I travel, but I would never consider investing with it. Then again, with its view of my balances, it probably would never consider asking me to.

With a reputation built up over decades, Fidelity has created an immense value, especially in wealth management where clients are looking for someone, or some firm, to trust. Does this keep the Johnsons awake at night? How easily reputations in finance can be lost, as we have seen in the last couple of years.

Wealth management, our cover story in this issue, is particularly treacherous because clients can be presented with so many options, and firms have so many ways to make fast money. For life insurance policies in estate planning – does a firm get three bids or just refer the business to a subsidiary? The industry has seen many companies punished for putting clients into inappropriate investments, selling them in-house funds that are complete dogs (apologies to the memories of my two wonderful golden retrievers) or living up to that old Woody Allen line about brokers being people who invest your money until it is all gone.

At TowerGroup’s annual conference, Fidelity Vice Chairman and COO Bob Reynolds noted that from 1983 to 2003 the S&P rose 13.3 percent annually while the average investor’s holdings rose 7.1 percent, a gap of 6.2 percent.

“Our mission is to end this gap.”

You know, I tend to believe him.