Fisher Investments

Fisher investments has a top notch Marketing pitch complete with charts, documents and glitter. When it comes down to performance they underperform period. Before you get hooked and reeled in by the glitter and fast talkers, do your own investigating. Read every review you can find. Come to your own conclusion. They lost $ 30K for me in 1.6 years. They never showed any growth in my portfolio from day one. They talk a great game so be on guard.

I was with Fisher Investments for about 6 years. During those 6 years there has been a good bull market run. Fisher returned me 7% — well below the market. I had other money in mutual funds — not managed by Fisher — that were performing very nicely. Fisher wanted those funds which I was reluctant to give them. They then told me that I should part ways since I wasn’t able to contribute more funds. I would avoid them and just buy some good mutual funds.

This is an update to my previous review which has been placed in the «not recommended» section. Here are a few of Fisher’s brilliant maneuvers when they took over my investments in September, 2014:
Sold ANTM at 90, now 141
Sold PPG at 190, now 230
Sold PANW at 88, now 134
Sold 1200 shares of AAPL at 102, now 127
Bought GOOGL at 588, now 537
Bought AXP at 90, now 80
Bought BHP at 59, now 48
Bought SLB at 102, now at 84
Bought SIEGY at 120, now at 107
Bought RY at 72, now 61
Bought JNJ at 109, now 100
Bought SNY at 58, now 48
As you can see they are exceptional at buying stocks at their highs and watching them decline and selling excellent stocks that have great upside potential. Since I fired Fisher in October, I have achieved a 13% gain (5% above what I started with when I turned my portfolio over to Fisher). Had I stuck with them my gain would have been 2% or an overall loss of 6% from what I started with. I have trounced Fisher Investments by 11% in 4 months, not because I am so good but because they are so bad.

After voicing my concerns with a single representative of Fisher I never expected a response.
Well, I did receive a response from Management and was very impressed in the handling of my complaint. I am convinced that Management has very high expectations and level of professionalism. It simply could not have been handled any better!

Moved both my IRA and other Profit Sharing Plan retirement funds to Fisher just over one year ago — Obviously the global equity market has been on a roll during this period, so performance has been great — During the past 30+ years I was previously with various other investment firms, including UBS, Merrill others — I enjoy the personal touch that Fisher’s staff provides, the luncheons where I can meet other investors and the general impression that my decision to make this consolidated move has been a good one. Onward & Upward …

They will lose ¾ your money and then fee you on the ¼ that is left. Effectively they will lose all your money

I have been a Fisher client since the year 2000, so feel I’m in a much better position to comment on Fisher’s performance and quality of service than others who have come and gone as clients in a year or two. I’ve been happy with my portfolio some years and not so happy in other years. The past 13 years have been hard on stocks investors at time and there’s no such thing as a crystal ball, no firm that I know about has a perfect track record in the past few years. I’m not a «big client,» my accounts are probably fairly small compared to many others that Fisher handles. But I’m always treated with respect, client contact is maintained on a monthly basis with a personal phone call.
I urge people considering Fisher to look at facts and figures when making decisions. I had another money manager who performed poorly for several years and I transferred all my investments over to Fisher in 2014. There’s no such thing as a free lunch in investments, but I remain true to course. No money manager can hit every up and down with 100% accuracy.
In my life’s experience, the stock market always «comes back,» but sometimes one must have a strong stomach to weather the downs. I would not hesitate to recommend Fisher Investments to friends or family members.

Investers beware! Fisher Investments — Private Client Group is a marketing machine, but Fisher does not pay attention to your personal portfolio. When you sign up, all your funds are lumped immediately into thier portfolio without regard for current economic or stock market conditions. Individual stocks in the portfolio are not examined to see if they are overbought or are have poor performance. Within a few weeks of hiring Fisher Investments to be my money manager, my portfolio was down nearly $ 100,000. They were floundering, keeping some stocks for a year before selling the stocks for over a 30% loss. I suppose if you happen to get in with them right after a huge pullback, you maybe OK. BEWARE, they did not sell when there was a downturn, so all your profit can be lost. Also, their fees for trades are higher than promised. I was not allowed to speak directly with the accounting department to question their fees. Don’t believe Fisher’s hype or advertising! There are good money managers out there. I found a great one. I hope this review keeps someone else from making the same mistake I did. Good luck investors.