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Fisher Investments

Closed-end funds and OEICs
UnclePhilip
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Fisher Investments

#51639

Postby UnclePhilip » May 6th, 2017, 2:13 pm

I am currently looking at Fisher Investments, and transferring some of my investment money to their global OEIC

Any experiences here on them, please?

Thanks

Uncle

BarrenWuffett
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Re: Fisher Investments

#51655

Postby BarrenWuffett » May 6th, 2017, 3:07 pm

I suspect you will be disappointed. My advice FWIW is to keep well clear!

UnclePhilip
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Re: Fisher Investments

#51694

Postby UnclePhilip » May 6th, 2017, 4:58 pm

BarrenWuffett wrote:I suspect you will be disappointed. My advice FWIW is to keep well clear!


Why? Could you say more?

BW Uncle

UnclePhilip
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Re: Fisher Investments

#51695

Postby UnclePhilip » May 6th, 2017, 4:59 pm

FredBloggs wrote:
BarrenWuffett wrote:I suspect you will be disappointed. My advice FWIW is to keep well clear!

^^^^ +1.


Why, please?

bw Uncle

UncleEbenezer
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Re: Fisher Investments

#51754

Postby UncleEbenezer » May 6th, 2017, 11:35 pm

FredBloggs wrote:I suggest you (ask Fisher to?) benchmark it against another vanilla international fund and compare before and after costs returns for 1, 3 and 5 years. I would choose either Fundsmith or the Lindsell Train funds to benchmark against. HTH.

Any particular funds suggested in this context are more-or-less certain to be an unfair comparison. You're selecting current good performers with the benefit of hindsight.

Comparing against an appropriate index makes much more sense, as it removes such biases.

Alaric
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Re: Fisher Investments

#51756

Postby Alaric » May 6th, 2017, 11:56 pm

I think I know the name as a "wealth manager" as I've probably received unsolicited marketing material from them.

I wasn't aware they are also OEICs managers.

mc2fool
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Re: Fisher Investments

#51757

Postby mc2fool » May 7th, 2017, 12:28 am

Alaric wrote:I think I know the name as a "wealth manager" as I've probably received unsolicited marketing material from them.

I wasn't aware they are also OEICs managers.

Indeed. I can't find them or their (supposed) OEIC on either Trustnet or Morningstar, nor on the HL or ATS platforms, and there's no mention of an OEIC on the Fisher Investments website, which seems to be replete with glossy verbiage and totally lacking in any detail. They even have a page on fees which claims they have a simple, transparent fee structure but doesn't tell you how much the fees are!

One gets the feeling they are expensive and opaque .... but maybe we've got this all wrong: UnclePhilip, if you have a link to the description/factsheet/etc of their OEIC, please provide it.

UncleEbenezer
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Re: Fisher Investments

#51763

Postby UncleEbenezer » May 7th, 2017, 7:25 am

FredBloggs wrote:I'm all ears. Without hindsight just how do you assess a fund manager's track record?

Whoosh! Lesson 1 in statistics: if you pick data you already know to measure, you prejudice your results.

If you had said "come back in 2022 and assess [other fund] against Fundsmith and LT", that would be a fair comparison. You have no hindsight that tells you which funds will perform best over the next five years.

If you had posted in 2007, suggesting that Fundsmith and LT should be used in 2017 as benchmarks for assessing other funds, that would be fair. That's predicting, without the benefit of hindsight, that those investments will outperform.

With hindsight, you can always pick Fund X, that happens right now to be performing strongly, and then dismiss any random Fund Y by suggesting comparison against Fund X. That's what you're doing.

Dod1010
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Re: Fisher Investments

#51767

Postby Dod1010 » May 7th, 2017, 7:52 am

Trying not to get too far off the OP's query, I have never used Fisher Investments but you will see them advertising on sites such as this from time to time. They seem to me to write sensible reports and Ken Fisher, the founder, has written books that make sense. I have never used them but I had a very smart younger guy come and see me and I was quite impressed That was some years ago and I like others here have a natural 'anti' feeling against most advisers.

Not all advisers are useless money grabbing people and I have no reason to put Fisher into that category although I cannot recommend them because I do not know.

If the OP needs an adviser then I would say speak to them and prepare for a visit and take it from there. meanwhile of course keep your hands in your pockets and part with nothing until you feel happy with them.

They are far as I know, based in California. What occurs to me is though why use their global OEIC? Does it have some special features you cannot get closer to home?

Dod

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Re: Fisher Investments

#51768

Postby GJHarney » May 7th, 2017, 8:12 am

Their website seems designed to pull the wool over the eyes of those that don't understand how simple investing actually is. And has been said, the fact that the page that talks about fees doesn't actually tell you what their fees are does not fill me with any confidence at all (as does the lack of performance tables and factsheets).

To the OP I would suggest that if you don't want diy and you want someone to allocate your money for you then something like Nutmeg is likely to be far cheaper (and their fee structure is certainly far more transparent), but if you are simply looking for a good performance global fund with reasonable costs I would perhaps try Vanguard ETF's (if you have enough for the direct investment) or go down the IT route (I quite like Fundsmith, but distrust funds reliant on one person, and his fees are far too high in any case), something like one or more of the direct invested Baillie Gifford funds (no holding/platform charges, free transfers between funds and divi reinvestment), split between Scottish Mortgage, Monks, Saints and perhaps one of their Jap funds and you won't go far wrong.

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Re: Fisher Investments

#51782

Postby UnclePhilip » May 7th, 2017, 9:48 am

Thanks for replies

To flesh out a bit: I am looking to transfer some of our equity investments to managed funds. The Fisher proposal was in response to me reading some of their literature.

Their Global Total Return fund is benchmarked against the MSCI World Index; their returns have beaten mine over the last 10 years!

There's a high entry threshold of £250,000. I like the global reach, and would keep nearly half our equity portfolio in our hands to run a UK-based dividend portfolio. I am comfortable with the total return focus producing quarterly income through sale of units.

We are currently selling an investment property, as well as moving a section of assets into managed funds; this has to do with personal biographical details (age, health etc) which are fairly typical of those of our age. A rather dramatic health episode recently concentrated my mind.

In general I am attracted by the diversification such a transfer would produce; we have I think been rather over concentrated on a few stocks. The UK dividend portfolio could wallow in large lumps of BATS etc...

Not decided yet on Fisher, but I must say I like what I've found out so far (decision waits anyway on successful completion on house sale)

Any further thoughts anyone?

Best wishes

Uncle

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Re: Fisher Investments

#51787

Postby scotia » May 7th, 2017, 10:05 am

I have kept contact with Fisher for a good few years, and have always been pleased with their pleasant and seemingly sensible approach. The contact was started by myself requesting a report. I currently have not invested any funds with Fisher, but they are strong contenders when I feel ready to drop the baton, and let someone else look after a sizeable proportion of my investments. So far, that hasn't happened. I remember some excellent information in some of their reports, and I have never found them pushy - usually just some information by post, and a telephone call about once a year which politely enquires as to whether or not I would now like to avail myself of their services.

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Re: Fisher Investments

#51788

Postby Alaric » May 7th, 2017, 10:16 am

mc2fool wrote: They even have a page on fees which claims they have a simple, transparent fee structure but doesn't tell you how much the fees are!


A Google search comes up with

https://investorjunkie.com/42952/fisher ... ts-review/

which talks of annual fees in an American context of between 1% and 1.5%.

For example, if you have $500,000 in multiple accounts the fee will be 1.5%. If you have $500,000 in one account, it will be $1.25%. For accounts of $5 million or more, the fee is 1%.


That's over and above the fees charged by any platforms or funds that they may recommend you invest in.

As a wealth manager, it's a potential conflict of interest if they have in house funds. What incentives would their advisers have to recommend in house funds rather than external ones?

Alaric
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Re: Fisher Investments

#51791

Postby Alaric » May 7th, 2017, 10:37 am

Alaric wrote:As a wealth manager, it's a potential conflict of interest if they have in house funds.


The funds where they are the named investment manager are under the name of "Purisima".

http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/funds/s ... F0GBR06L09

and the charges

http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/funds/s ... 6L09&tab=5
http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/funds/s ... L09&tab=12

What I would want to know was whether they would be charging a fee for managing your assets over and above the charges internal to the fund, which are high by standards today.

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Re: Fisher Investments

#51801

Postby BarrenWuffett » May 7th, 2017, 11:22 am

What I would want to know was whether they would be charging a fee for managing your assets over and above the charges internal to the fund, which are high by standards today
.

Surely a reputable firm with nothing to hide would clearly state this information on their website for all potential investors to see. The fact they do not suggests they wish to hide this and I therefore assume not only will there be additional charges but they will be on the high side. I repeat...my advice FWIW would be to steer well clear of Fisher.

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Re: Fisher Investments

#51812

Postby nmdhqbc » May 7th, 2017, 12:00 pm

It seems to be American. Are you there? Otherwise would it not make more sense to go for UK solutions?

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Re: Fisher Investments

#51981

Postby Kidman » May 8th, 2017, 10:18 am

I have had contact with Fisher Investments over quite a few years. It started with an unsolicitied mailshot inviting me to reply for an investment report, then they asked for a meeting to explain their services. I agreed to that but I explained that if I was looking for such a service then I would also see several of their competitiors as well and choose my favourite.
As stated above, they are American, and Ken Fisher's quarterly magazine is only about the US which made me feel that either they wouldn't know what is going on here or I would be invested solely in US stocks.
They showed me plenty of pages on past performance and explained their fees, which I feel were around the 1% p.a. mark. I don't check my own performance but theirs didn't seem any better than I get from a basket of decent investment trusts without losing a per cent in fees.
In the end I stuck with my own route if for no other reason than changing from my own portfolio to any managed service would crystallise taxable capital gains to an unnecessary extent.

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Re: Fisher Investments

#52569

Postby LooseCannon101 » May 10th, 2017, 5:20 pm

If you are looking for a way to obtain global equity exposure without paying excessive fees, what about using one or more global investment trusts e.g. Foreign and Colonial (FRCL), Witan or Alliance? I have been investing with FRCL over 20 years and found their saving scheme to be well run and cheap. The returns have averaged 8.8% per annum with dividends re-invested.

Wealth managers and advisors should always be treated with utmost scepticism as their aim is to extract as much of your hard-earned cash as possible. I spoke to one of the directors of FRCL at the AGM and we agreed that an excellent return can be achieved by buying a global investment trust and then doing nothing for 20+ years. An advisor would never suggest sitting on one's hands for that length of time and so would be unlikely to recommend a trust like FRCL.

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Re: Fisher Investments

#146820

Postby IFMorris » June 20th, 2018, 8:21 am

I have now been with FI for approaching 4 years and have nothing but praise for them.
1. The level of contact and flow of information is far better than that which I have experienced with other companies.
2. Investment performance has been well above expectations and again one is very clear on where one's money is invested.
3. They respond to questions far quicker than anything I ave experienced, in fact trying to get answers from my previous company was almost impossible.
4. I have seen some people on these boards bang on about fees, it's performance in all areas that makes the difference. If the performance is good then forget the fees but look at what you get for your money, same with cars, furniture, holidays and so on.
5. Every year they hold face to face presentations with their investment managers at which they clearly explain their market views and invite questions and debate.

I have no relationship with FI, other than letting them manage my money from which I draw a pension, but would recommend them wholeheartedly.

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Re: Fisher Investments

#146828

Postby Stonge » June 20th, 2018, 9:13 am

IFMorris - welcome to Lemon Fool. 8-)


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