Fisher junk mail

[Badger]

I keep getting large and I think expensive mailings from an investment company called Fisher Investments for an investment guide written by Ken Fisher. They immediately go into the circular file.
What is annoying is they way the letter starts out by assuming I am savy and have skill as an investor and how I out-saved and out-invested my peers.
How would they know?
It also has a mail back form requesting information on the size of my portfolio in order to get his investment guide. NO WAY!
With all the problems with ID stealing and scams I can't believe that anyone who really has been fortunate to amass a substantial portfolio would even need his guide to take the risk.
Just out of curiosity has anyone seen/read his guide?


Cheers!

 

[Optionality]

Ken Fisher manages manages 163 billion dollars. His company is a fee-only advisor. He is indeed very good at sending expensive marketing. I personally don't need help picking broad-market mutual funds, but hey, to each their own...

 

[mrfeh]

I've received it. It goes into the garbage without a second thought.

 

[big-papa]

Go over to the bogleheads forum and do a search on "Fisher Investments" and you'll see probably more than you ever wanted to know.

https://www.google.com/search?sitesearch=bogleheads.org&q=fisher+investments

 

[njhowie]

Here's the link to the retirement guide...

https://www.fisherinvestments.com/-...initive-Guide-to-Retirement-Income-72021.ashx

 

[Exchme]

Ken Fisher manages manages 163 billion dollars. His company is a fee-only advisor. He is indeed very good at sending expensive marketing. I personally don't need help picking broad-market mutual funds, but hey, to each their own...

Fee-only is their misleading advertising, it is 1.25% AUM for accounts under $1M, reducing slightly above that. I didn't look further, but I'm sure there are other fees like fund fees too. Very high cost and deserves the circular file that OP gives it.

 

[Car-Guy]

It took me years to get off of their mailing list. Fortunately they never got my phone number(s)... OTOH, if you have a fireplace, their mail could be useful since the brochures they usually send are made of large and heavy paper.

 

[Another Reader]

When I get the mail I stop by the recycling bin on the way into the house. I used to get a lot of flashy, expensive advertising from them that went into the bin. Haven't seen much recently. They probably decided I am not a high value target, since I never contacted them and keep a low financial profile.

 

[athena53]

What is annoying is they way the letter starts out by assuming I am savvy and have skill as an investor and how I out-saved and out-invested my peers.
How would they know?

Are you in a ritzy Zip Code? There are companies that compile mailing lists based on demographics such as average home value, median income, etc.- not sure if they have household assets. DH and I used to live in a wealthier, shop-till-you-drop suburb and got lots more invitations to "free" dinners from firms that wanted to manage our money. DH, who was 15 years older, also got tons of offers for free hearing tests from places selling expensive hearing aids. We moved from there to a suburb with poorer demographics and the mailings stopped. I'm fine with that.

Fisher may also have their own database built up; their banner ads always start with, "If you have more than $500,000 to invest..." so they're likely to get more click-throughs from people who do and can track the location of the connection. Then anyone who responds and gives their contact info and their total assets gives them more data so they know where to look for more clients.

I haven't heard from Fisher and I definitely have more than $500,000. Don't tell them!

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

Ken Fisher manages manages 163 billion dollars. His company is a fee-only advisor. He is indeed very good at sending expensive marketing. I personally don't need help picking broad-market mutual funds, but hey, to each their own...

I used to get these in the 1990s and remember that he made the case for investing with Fisher by comparing his returns with those of the Dow. Only. No others. Pfft.

 

[38Chevy454]

All those fancy mailing solicitations are paid by something - fees! That's all you need to know. When i receive them it just goes straight into recycle bin.

 

[Souschef]

Athena has got a good point about Zip Code. We live in a small town of 30,000 people, of which 24,000 are Hispanic.
We never get anything like Fisher brochures. All we get are hearing aid and Neptune Society mailings.I am disgusted by the slick big cruise brochures I still get from cruise lines I have not sailed on for over 10 years.

 

[doneat54]

Fisher advertises heavily on Facebook too, I see ads in my feed daily. And interestingly, I concluded just the other day (about Fisher and others) that the more they advertises to less successful, or at least threatened, they are. Not that I would hire a % fee "advisor" anyway.

 

[Chuckanut]

I used to get something from Fischer every month or two. They seem to have finally stopped. Each packet must have cost a small bundle to produce, print and mail out. That fact alone makes me think they have to charge plenty to make up for their marketing costs.

Fischer reminds me of a fancy new chain restaurant that opened up in brand new 'exclusive' retail mall. The same old same old at high prices. Give me the small restaurant in an old strip mall a block or two down from main street, owned by a young chief who is just starting out. That's my kind of place. Same goes for financial advice if I felt I needed it. Which I don't.

 

[braumeister]

I read something once that said Fisher spends $100 million a year on advertising. Ken Fisher is a multibillionaire personally, so his methods are clearly working.

 

[yhoomajor]

True story.
Around 2007-8 (depth of financial crisis), my mil+ NW had turned into ~250K (thanks to Options/Margin). Forced realized loss.

Oh.. I had also left my tech job (fully WFH) in 2007.. because I didn't need to Or so I thought. Right before the markets had dived.

Anyway.. a Rep from Ken Fisher cold-called... (they may have gathered some data on my past-financials from somewhere). I'm never rude and I assumed they must be hurting as well.. so I asked him to set an appointment for Friday. He calls on Friday. He asks bunch of questions, including my NW. I said its barely around 250k. Then he said they have recently lowered their minimum threshold and he can help sign me up.

I asked about fees.. and he did the typical sales pitch..mumbling about how they only make money if I do as well. But fees of 1%. I told him my accounts are at TD and Fidelity and my Fees/costs there are minimal.

I asked him a specific question: why, someone in my situation, would switch to high fee cost structure. And he said: Think of Hyundai and Mercedes. Entirely different class. You want to go with Mercedes. Hyundai was new then and most snotty impressionable folks assumed Korean cars to be low quality. Little did he know that we had bought a Hyundai Tucson in 2007. So I told him.. we bought a Hyundai last year. And its working fine for us

 

[OldShooter]

Athena has got a good point about Zip Code. We live in a small town of 30,000 people, of which 24,000 are Hispanic.

Same-o here. Our small suburb is majority minority so it is rare that we get a financial hustle.

... I am disgusted by the slick big cruise brochures I still get from cruise lines I have not sailed on for over 10 years.

Viking perhaps? We have been getting at least weekly catalogs and brochures from them for a decade or more, sometimes more than one in a day. Finally, I took the risk of drawing attention to myself by filling out their web site form and asking them to take us off their lists. To my amazement I got a polite and prompt response promising to do exactly that. And it has happened. Wonderful, though the garbage can I walk by on the way in from getting the mail is wondering where its daily bread has gone!

 

[Dtail]

I clicked once on a Fischer ad and then the mailings started. So I called them up and asked them a few comprehensive investment questions that he didn't know the answer to and then a few well placed words and poof no more advertising sent here.

 

[Souschef]

Same-o here. Our small suburb is majority minority so it is rare that we get a financial hustle.

Viking perhaps? We have been getting at least weekly catalogs and brochures from them for a decade or more, sometimes more than one in a day. Finally, I took the risk of drawing attention to myself by filling out their web site form and asking them to take us off their lists. To my amazement I got a polite and prompt response promising to do exactly that. And it has happened. Wonderful, though the garbage can I walk by on the way in from getting the mail is wondering where its daily bread has gone!

I know that Viking is notorious for their mailings. The 2 lines were Oceania and Regent, both of which we sailed on in 2007, and never again.

 

[Walt34]

What is annoying is they way the letter starts out by assuming I am savy and have skill as an investor and how I out-saved and out-invested my peers.
How would they know?

They don't of course, they're "shotgunning" their marketing as the others pointed out.

Heck, they used to send their stuff to me when I was six figures in debt and at one point during that time right after the divorce my checking account had a balance of two cents. Really. But I lived in what many would consider a wealthier zip code. I also didn't know jack about investing and I knew it.

When we moved to WV, and a considerably less expensive (although to us much nicer) area we still received their stuff, but less frequently. I guess they gave up on me because I haven't seen anything from them for a few years.