Ken Fisher

[Ready]

Am I the only one who gets a letter in a big, full size white envelope every month from Ken Fisher, personally inviting me to call him to discuss my investment strategy?

The letter is always written in a folksy sort of way, and it makes it appear as if he is a local neighbor looking to help out the community with his investment advice. In reality he runs a $40B investment company, and from what I've read on the internet, I've seen more negative reviews than positive.

I don't know why I get so many letters from him. Does anyone else get his stuff, and has anyone used his firm to invest? Do they offer anything that the Vanguard/Fidelity/Schwab firms don't?

[golfnut]

I get these in the mail. I just ignore it and toss it in the trash. Stayin' with Vanguard and Fidelity.

[Mulligan]

I received one this week too. I get them about 2x a year. I do not know anything about them, but based on the size and expense of the marketing packet, I feel sorry for his investors. Somebody has got to pay for all that wasted packaging and postal costs. Based on the waste factor, I bet they gouge their investors with bloated administrative fees, also.

[Lsbcal]

It is just a mass mailing ... junk.

[samclem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ready Do they offer anything that the Vanguard/Fidelity/Schwab firms don't?

Yes--expensive handholding of dubious value.

We spent a lot of time talking about Ken Fisher's outfit recently in this thread.

[Major Tom]

I made the mistake of signing up to receive their free stock market report a year or two back. The report arrived and, predictably, so did the barrage of phone calls attempting to get me to switch my portfolio over to them. I took one look at the fees and decided against it. Truth be told, I wasn't really interested in them to begin with - just wanted to see their report on the state of the market. Every few weeks I received another phone call, and it took about a year before I convinced them to stop calling.

The salesguy who kept calling me sounded too much like - well, a salesguy

[Midpack]

I've been getting them and recycling without reading them for many years. I try to stop junk mail, but not always successful, Fisher is a case in point...

[mystang52]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Major Tom I made the mistake of signing up to receive their free stock market report a year or two back. The report arrived and, predictably, so did the barrage of phone calls attempting to get me to switch my portfolio over to them. I took one look at the fees and decided against it. Truth be told, I wasn't really interested in them to begin with - just wanted to see their report on the state of the market. Every few weeks I received another phone call, and it took about a year before I convinced them to stop calling. The salesguy who kept calling me sounded too much like - well, a salesguy

My same experience, EXACTLY.

[powerplay]

I have never received any of his junk mail. Must just be lucky though I surely get a number of other "opportunities" in my mailbox. Good thing we have these big giant blue recycle bins to put it all in.

[harley]

I got on Facebook last night to check on Sarah in Mongolia's progress, and what was waiting for me but a post on my News Feed from Fisher Investments. There was also another one from Pimsleur Language software. Obviously in the 2 or 3 months since I last got on FB they've taken to spamming me with "Suggested Posts". Probably something new in their privacy settings. I can't decide whether to go through the hassle of figuring out how to stop it, or just quit going to FB completely. I'm leaning toward the latter.

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by golfnut Stayin' with Vanguard and Fidelity.

+1
I can lose my money much cheaper than he can.

[W2R]

The older I get, the more investing junk mail I get. I also get more of those invitations to a free lunch if I will listen to a sales pitch while I eat.

They must think that older people are easier to con. Whether or not that is the case, there sure are a lot of people out there trying very hard to separate me from my money these days.

[scrabbler1]

I get too much junk mail from other sources, so I am glad I get nothing from this Fisher guy. I recall once in the 1990s I wrote a letter to the editor of my local newspaper about muni bonds and some guy from a local bond-selling outfit looked me up and called me, trying to sell me some muni bonds. I turned him down, of course, and thankfully never heard from him again.

[foxfirev5]

I received them for quite a few years untl they evidently realized I'm a lost cause.

[Onward]

I get them every month.

[clifp]

So glad to hear that others get the annoying junk mail. When I first retired I meet with them and they were very persistent. They were the first advisers that I demanded to see their personal brokerage statement, before doing business with them. It got rid of those guys. However, I figured it condemned me to a lifetime of junk mail..

Evidently I am not alone.