Fisher Investments?

[LitGal]

Has anyone had any experience with Fisher Investments? They keep contacting us, wanting to manage our rollover IRA's (from 401Ks). We've invested quite well on our own over the years, between Vanguard,T Rowe Price, and my husband managing his 401K options through his employer.

From what I can tell, Fisher would simply create for us a portfolio that they think is appropriate, but charge us 1.5% in fees annually, whether the acct. makes or loses $. Vanguard and T.Rowe Price have done the same, in theory, through the specific funds we have chosen from them.........but their fees are quite reasonable. Plus, funds are easy to track on their websites. If they decrease in value, at least we are only paying low fees to watch our $ drop a bit.

We spent years as "do-it-yourself"ers, selling our own house and cars, painting, doing home maintenance, etc. But, we are getting tired...........and my husband is not well. (No, he doesn't have cancer or heart issues; it's a rare form of lung disease, though he never smoked).

(If it would help to know more about our situation, I put our background on the "Hi, I am...." thread.)

It would be nice to hear if anyone has had experience with the Fisher Co., based in Woodside, CA.

Thanks!

 

[Major Tom]

I made the mistake of giving them my contact info about a year ago in return for a free market report. They still keep calling me, even though I have expressly told them that I am not interested.

I thought their fees were a bit high and realized that I am perfectly comfortable with my low-fee passive index fund approach.

 

[2017ish]

I obliviously signed up for them to contact me when I downloaded a report or analysis that they were touting some time ago. The recommendations of the report/analysis were dangerous, at least in my opinion. I told their representative that in great detail (with citations) when he emailed me, and they haven't bothered me again.

 

[gcgang]

They are a relentless marketing organization. Kenneth Fisher's father was Irving Fisher, I think, a pioneer in money management who made the notorious quote in October, 1929, just before the crash, that stocks were permanently trading on a higher plateau.
Ken has had a column in Forbes for 25+ years.
IMHO, a rather high priced stock picking service.

 

[LitGal]

Just an FYI-- I checked Wikipedia. Ken Fisher's father was Philip Fisher, not Iriving Fisher. But I do agree that it seems to be a high-priced stock-picking service.

 

[Brett_Cameron]

I too gave them my contact info just before I became FI. They keep contacting wanting me to turnover my entire portfolio to them despite me telling them I would never do that. I wish they would leave me alone.

 

[bbbamI]

I have no idea how they got our address. I keep getting info from them in the mail. ...and I keep throwing it in the trash.

 

[haha]

They are a relentless marketing organization. Kenneth Fisher's father was Irving Fisher, I think, a pioneer in money management who made the notorious quote in October, 1929, just before the crash, that stocks were permanently trading on a higher plateau.

Nope, Kenneth's father was Philip Fisher, a very good money manager in the Bay Area who Warren Buffett credited with expanding Buffett's investment universe into good businesses, not just statistically cheap stocks. Philip Arthur Fisher - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ha

 

[growing_older]

Fisher is everywhere and they are quite aggressive. Lots of seminars and once you are on their mailing list they will send you hugely oversized envelopes touting their latest "reports" forever.

I think they are quite expensive as a generic wrap account and they are absolutely relentless. If you are happy with what you have been doing, there's no reason to involve them and their generous fees.

 

[gcgang]

Thanks for correcting me on Ken's dad. I was always amazed and thought it was a testament to chutzpah and marketing that Ken could make it after his father had made such a blunder.
But LitGal, if by getting "tired" you mean that you need someone to help manage your finances, you may want to explore fiduciary relationships with an entity like a Trust company. If you've got $1mm+ of financial assets, you should be able to get a more comprehensive approach than a stock only manager like Fisher provides, for less than 1%.

 

[obgyn65]

No, sorry.

I like Edward Jones and Bank of America / ML.

Has anyone had any experience with Fisher Investments?

 

[NanoSour]

Never give out your real Name/Address and use an email designed specifically for this type of junk marketing. It'll save you tons of hassle when signing up for stuff on the internet.

Nano

 

[travelover]

Rule of thumb is that you can spend 4% of your portfolio yearly in retirement. If you give this wrap account 1.5%, that leaves you 2.5%. Does that sound OK?

 

[Richard4444]

Rule of thumb is that you can spend 4% of your portfolio yearly in retirement. If you give this wrap account 1.5%, that leaves you 2.5%. Does that sound OK?

Perfectly said

 

[REWahoo]

Rule of thumb is that you can spend 4% of your portfolio yearly in retirement. If you give this wrap account 1.5%, that leaves you 2.5%. Does that sound OK?

Said another way, does paying Fisher 37.5% of the annual amount you can safely spend from your portfolio sound OK?

 

[mystang52]

Add me to the chorus of responders who keep getting nagged by Fisher. I now just hang up on them.

 

[brewer12345]

"Extended warranty? How could I lose?!"

- Homer Simpson

 

[Major Tom]

When on the phone with the rep, I asked how their portfolios performed against the major benchmarks. It turns out that of the benchmarks they use, the S&P 500 isn't one of them. One of them had the word "world" in the title. Sorry I cannot be more specific - I have now thrown their literature away.

I don't remember which benchmarks they were using, but the fact that they couldn't (or wouldn't) tell me how their portfolios had performed against the S&P 500 was a factor in my losing interest. That, and the high fees.

 

[523HRR]

I had some money with Fisher Investments several years ago, but left them due to poor performance and high fees. Ken Fisher is rather arrogant and tends to let his ego get the best of him. He presents perfectly logical investment strategies that turn out to be wrong, but then is very slow to change course only to provide more elaborate rationalizing to explain the below-market results. Steer clear.

 

[sheehs1]

I downloaded something off the internet from Fisher years ago. Probably at least 8 years ago. Went so far as to set up an appointment with them to have their rep come and "discuss". At that point, I was willing to learn more about investing and was taking in information from all sources.

This rep kept telling me he had clients in my area but would not give me their names. I asked him for copies of "real" statements from their clients (with the names marked out). Never provided it. I asked him for detailed explanations of why they were different from everyone else out there. While he gave me a lot of "words" in response, his answer didn't answer my question. I cancelled the appointment.

I ended it by telling the guy:
"you know what, I DO NOT KNOW WHO YOU ARE and I am not investing my money with you on a cold call. I don't care what your literature says. It could be made up for all I know". I found Ken Fisher arrogant and agree with most other's here regarding him and his firm.

I still periodically receive their mailings.

 

[Donzo]

They have been after me for years - I see FISHERINVESTMENTS on my caller ID at least 2X per week and let it go to answer machine - they never leave a message. I also get the large envelopes - good fire starters.

Don't know how they got my info.

 

[dtbach]

I'll never forget Ken Fisher saying in a Forbes column in early 2008 that there was NO CREDIT CRISIS! And to load up on stocks!

Guess he got that wrong.

I've bought a few stocks from his recommendations in Forbes (not alot of $$) and none of them has been a good investment.

Stay away from them.

 

[ejman]

They have been after me for years - I see FISHERINVESTMENTS on my caller ID at least 2X per week and let it go to answer machine - they never leave a message. I also get the large envelopes - good fire starters.

Don't know how they got my info.

Same here. Interesting that all of the responses so far have been negative. I wonder how they stay in business? Must be that relentless marketing along with P.T. Barnum's maxim.

 

[Major Tom]

I noticed an ad for Fisher Investments here this morning. I closed it down because I didn't want to see it, and found a much more useful ad - a coupon code that I used to get 10% off a cat condo. It has 3 perches, an enclosed house, and 2 sisal scratching posts.

I think it's the first time I have ever consciously taken advantage of a banner ad, and I'm pleased as punch. There might be a lesson for would-be advertisers here - E-R.org member ignores investment ad and buys a cat condo instead

My kitties thank E-R.org in advance for their new play-home!

 

[hlfo718]

The amazing part is that they manage something like $20 billion! Think about the fees he is collecting adding little to no value.