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I hear Servicemaster (SVM) will be a good stock now because of all the Katrina cleanup on the gulf coast.
I am considering investing with Fisher Investments (Forbes magazine columnist, Ken Fisher). Any comments from any investor or investors who have intrusted their money with him and his group?
We moved our assets over to Fisher Investments in March 2002 at which time they were in cash. In May 2002, Ken Fisher put all of his clients back into stocks (100%) and for the following year we saw our assets tank-tank-tank – until the market rebounded after the Iraq war started in March 2003. He may have made a great (lucky?) call in March 2000, but his May 2002 call was certainly poor timing to say the least. It was a very stressful roller coaster ride we did not need or ask for. Also, Fisher’s benchmark is the Morgan Stanley World Index. In 2004 he underperformed his benchmark by almost 8%!!! We would have been much better off in a low-cost MSCI World Index fund. Since 80% of money & fund managers underperform their benchmarks, we must ask ourselves….why do we continue to bet against ourselves?? Save yourself some money and create a diversified portfolio using low cost stock & bond index or ETF funds.
Is there a blog for discussing opportunities in private placement investments? I am interested in discussing merits of small “club” deals that present win-win opportunities that make sense and have demonstrated market viability.
I am planning to invest with Fisher Investments (FI) but I am skeptical because of large amount close to $1000000 and possibility of lnot doing well with FI. The VP did paint a rosy picture but did not talk about investors who may be bitten by FI. Is there any one out there who have lost money with FI while staying with them over 2 years or so.
Horror Story:
I talked to a consumer who did not get their tax refund, even though it was sent shortly after April 2005.
After 8 months, he discovered that the check was being mailed to Jackson Hewitt, the top income tax preparation company in the US.
Nobody from Jackson Hewitt told him the check would be mailed to them. Nobody from Jackson Hewitt econtacted him when it arrived. The JH office closed after tax season, so he called customer service and they mailed him the check directly, it was a cashier’s check from Santa Barbara Bank and Trust.
The 800 number for check verification on the check answered “sorry, can’t verify funds” even though the check is two weeks old. Santa Barbara Bank and Trust branch manager Alison Miller refused to cash the check and would not explain why.
When I contacted her, she still would not explain why. When I talked to customer service, the representative started laughing when he realized it was Jackson Hewitt’s account. He never told me the punch line, but I assume there is a problem with Jackson Hewitt funds.
So, I encourage folks to avoid Jackson Hewitt, Santa Barbara Bank and Trust, Wells Fargo (they stink) and PayPal.
We need some standards -until then — we need complete boycotts of rotten financial service organizations.
I keep getting mail from Fisher Investments- Are they Legitimate? There website looks good.
They were being investigated a couple of years ago by the NASDAQ. Google around a bit and you will find it on Business Week. They supposedly do not “tailor” each account as they promise. But if you are happy with their 3-5-10 yr performance then go for it.
does Fisher issue a financial statement? Would my investment be safe, do they carry insurance?
How can you believe their 3-5-10 yr? According to that Wall Street Journal Fisher is not AIMR compliant in the first place.
http://www.latrobefinancialmanagement.com/Research/Managed_Money/Define%20Aggressive%20Fisher%20Sales.pdf
You seem to be saying they have false performance figures. An editor’s note in the Biz Week article Ted referred to above says the S.E.C. conducted an inquiry that led to no enforcement action. I assume they looked into performance figures.
Without AIMR compliance- I would not trust anyones performance claims. Since SEC investigated Fisher Investments for different reasons, and Fisher is not claiming AIMR compliance- I doubt SEC looked at performance figures.
Hi All,
Have any of you played with a new automated system called TAPL? I have been investing in blue chips for a long time and I have no clue how people make it on penny stocks, but there is this site that my broker has been using and he claims that he is doing good off thier work. Have any of you played with this place? Is it ‘real’ or just another scam? They say it free:
http://stocktruth.com/
But who knows…
Anyway, tell me if it is any good and maybe post why because my real interest is why anyone would trust a ‘free’ site for this type of work?
—
sam
I pulled this from the SEC website. It appears that it does not enforce or endorse AIMR. So what’s the big deal about Fisher not being compliant? I suspect that other firms are building this up to attract business; however it doesn’t appear to matter. Key thing is Fisher does often beat the market.
CXO does a survey (do a google search) and Ken Fisher is the most accurate ‘predictor’ of the market at 69%. He’s whooping up on the money talk TV/radio guys!
While the Commission does not endorse or enforce AIMR Standards, an adviser’s inaccurate claim of AIMR compliance may constitute a false and misleading statement, which may violate the Advisers Act
As a former investor with Ken Fisher’s company, I would recommend against placing any money with him.
But troubling questions have been raised concerning Fisher’s advertised claims that he custom-tailors investor portfolios. According to various former clients and former employees interviewed by BusinessWeek, Fisher’s advertised promises are long on hype and short on delivery. If the claims of overstated advertising are true, Fisher may have overstepped ethical, and even legal, strictures in his quest for client cash.
BusinessWeek has learned that the Securities & Exchange Commission is conducting an inquiry into Fisher Investments, and that several former employees have told the SEC that they believe Fisher’s advertised claims are exaggerated. One former Fisher Investment counselor, Dan Laimon, president of San Diego’s TriVant Custom Portfolio Group, which he started after leaving Fisher last year, told BusinessWeek: “Almost 99% of the Fisher portfolios are identical in their composition.” Laimon says that is “odd” because of “the very wide range of their clients’ investment objectives, income requirements, and risk tolerance.”
Another probe into Fisher Investments is being conducted by the NASD. The regulator, reacting to a tip, accelerated a previously scheduled review of the firm’s affiliated brokerage Purisima Securities. Fisher’s lawyer says the NASD discovered no “material problems.” But that conclusion may be premature. NASD spokesperson Nancy Condon says: “The exam has not been completed.”
Any more comments on Fisher INvestments? I am looking to invest substantial amounts of money and would like to know if there is someone better.
Ive done a comparison of Fisher to a universe of peer group managers, and Fisher is an “also ran”. Low alpha, low upside capture ratio, and higher downside capture ratios. The American Funds has many funds that put them to shame and are substantially lower in cost.
What did you use for your comparisons since he doesn’t publish his picks etc?
I am seriously considering Fisher Investments but have had a very hard time finding out what their actual performance is? Are their any acutual cusotmers out there who are willing to share their experience.
George
I am a customer of Fisher Investments. Evaluating the performance is difficult to do. Every account may be similar but will contain different amounts of shares based on the beginning portfolio value. They tend to round off in increments of 25 or 50 shrs per equity. Also, they will sell an equity at a loss/profit and re-invest with a new equity and begin performance of the new equity at 0%. However, if you keep track of your beginning and year end values, adding the custodial fees and distributions and/or dividends, you can put a performance value on your portfolio. Since Jan 2005 to Feb 15,2008, I have had a cumulative return of close to 62%.
Not any published data. Just my starting value, against current value, plus withdrawls, custodial fees, and dividends that are re-invested. Realize that is for 3 yrs+. May just be the right time that I began with them.
I am looking to invest a considerable amount of money into fisher investments. Can anyone tell me of their positive or negative experiences with them?
Ken Fisher published a mea culpa last month about his poor performance:
Since 1995 FORBES has asked its columnists to compare the performance of their picks with the market. This was my third worst of those 12 years. If you had bought all 60 of my 2007 recommendations you would be up 0.9% right now, assuming you lost 1% to transaction costs. Similarly timed investments in the S&P (without a transaction penalty) would be down a collective 0.5%.
Most of the lackluster performance of my picks came from a very wrong decision in February to jump into housing stocks. Beazer Homes, my worst choice, was down 79%.
The Ken Fisher wiki says that there’s no public performance. Well maybe but Fisher runs a fund called Purisima – look it up and maybe youll see why they dont publish there numbers. Theres a mutual here and a similar fund in Europe – the performance on that one is real bad nearly bottom out of 200 or so funds. Good luck and keep looking – try a ETF before Fisher.
If you are considering investing with Fisher Investments, I would encourage you to first read the article and accompanying comments about them on Odesskiy Listok Newspaper site, http://www.odessapage.com/new/en/fisher-investments
Buyer Beware about using Ken Fisher. Why would a manager put anyone into bank stocks in May of 07 with the real estate bubble already leaking severely? My realized losses are mind numbing and they in their desperation are behaving more like day traders than managers. “Buy high and sell low” must be their motto. I joined them May 15th 07 and my Roth is being decimated. They sold stocks from the Roth at a loss like Microsoft that I had held for 9 years and watched moved sideways . You cannot take a write off from a Roth. They evidently have no fiduciary duties when it comes to retirement accounts. Then to see them buy it back in March of 08. I will never recover the losses they have inflicted upon me. They purchased Lehman common stock in May and at it’s high of 73.50 and sold it the night of March 17th. Today it is up over 10 bucks a share and I have at least a 5 K loss. He sold at the bottom for 24.15 plus brokerage fees. e . I have to wonder if it was sold so FI could buy it back for favored customers at a giveaway price. The Fisher “hand holder” tells me I must stay with them for many years to see how well they will do. My scarce resources are dwindling. Frances Campbell
I’ve been recently talking with a sales representative for FI who is trying to convince me to place my retirement funds with Fisher. I’m currently split between Merrill Lynch & Wachovia. I have just cancelled my Wachovia Managed Account that was costing me north of 1% with poor results. I was more the manager than they were and was paying them for the right to lose money and value.
Is Fisher another one of these cases. I had a bad experience with a managed asset account with Harris, Betalll through Prudential(later to become Wachovia). I don’t want to go through that again. Any suggestions appreciated