Fisher Investments Review

Fisher Investments Ratings at a Glance

Overview of Fisher Investments

Fisher Investments’ 5-person investment policy committee (IPC) helms all investment strategies for over 135,000 clients. As a Registered Investment Adviser, the firm is held to the Fiduciary Standard, which requires putting clients’ interests first and disclosing all potential conflicts of interest. All clients benefit from a personal relationship with a dedicated relationship manager. The firm’s expertise navigating financial markets and laser focus on client well-being set it apart.

Fisher Investments decides your optimal strategy based on what it believes best fits your financial situation and goals, while managing risk and keeping an eye on projected future market conditions.

Though Fisher Investments often recommends investing in equities, fixed income securities, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for equity and blended accounts, the firm may also invest in structured products, derivatives, defensive securities, cash and cash equivalents, and other assets, if they are appropriate for you and their views on forward-looking market conditions. As you unpack this Fisher Investments review, remember that you are searching for a broker you trust, investments you understand and support all in one. Plus, you should assess the risk of any investment before moving forward.

As you look into this investment advisor's asset management options, remember that Fisher financial services cover a range of topics, needs and clients. Allow Fisher advising to meet you where you are so that you can grow wealth and plan for the future.

As you learn more about Fisher, you will find that most services are tailored to you, ensuring that you can succeed. Fisher Financial is known for the following services.

Financial Planning

Fisher Investments provides comprehensive financial planning to its clients. Your dedicated point of contact at the firm—your Investment Counselor—will walk you through a financial evaluation, retirement income plans and portfolio management strategy. Fisher Investments professionals also have experience with Social Security, Medicare, tax-efficient investing, estate planning, 401(k) rollovers, and more.

Retirement Planning

Fisher Investments specializes in retirement planning. Your Investment Counselor will help you identify your goals and invest in securities that will keep earning even after you stop working. The firm does all it can to guide you toward long-term financial security.

Tailored Portfolio — Personal Wealth Management

Fisher Investments leaves no stone unturned as it designs your tailored portfolio. First and foremost, Fisher Investments gets to know you as a person, not just a client, and wants to understand your unique individual needs.

Smart private managers look closely at your goals, compare those goals to available services and help you realize gains.

Once your Investment Counselor has a clear sense of your values and what drives you, a multi-faceted approach is employed to carve out the best portfolio design for you. Factors taken into account include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Time horizon
• Investment goals
• Tax considerations
• Outside assets
• Outside income
• Restrictions and customizations

Your Investment Counselor will get to know you and your specific needs to find the best comprehensive investing strategy for you. Fisher Investments balances and adjusts portfolios as needed to reach your goals, rather than focusing on a single style of investing. For example, Fisher Investments may add global investments to your portfolio, rather than only taking a U.S.-based approach.

Annuity Evaluation

At some investment firms, investors nearing retirement are advised to purchase annuities as part of their investment strategy. An annuity is an insurance product designed to provide you with periodic income and protection against the financial uncertainty of outliving your savings.

Fisher Investments doesn’t sell or recommend annuities because the firm believes these financial products often clash with clients’ best interests. With annuities, most people don’t fully understand what they are getting and paying for it. To help investors better understand their annuities, Fisher Investments will evaluate any existing annuities you have, decipher annuities’ fine print, and see whether or not your annuities support your long-term goals.

If you decide an annuity you own does work for your long-term financial plan, you don’t have to do anything else. If you decide your annuity is not the best fit, Fisher Investments can help you redeem it and may be able to help reimburse some of your surrender fees via a fee credit for becoming a Fisher Investments client.

Professional Portfolio Management

Fisher Investments believes in active portfolio management tailored to your unique financial situation and goals. Fisher Investments builds portfolios with a disciplined, top-down investing approach and manages them in a unique style that focuses on flexibility and global diversification.

Top-Down Investing

Top-down investing considers global macroeconomic conditions, like economic fundamentals, politics, and investor sentiment, first in the portfolio construction process. It combines these top-down factors with your stated investment objectives to build a portfolio likely to help you reach your goals.

Fisher Investments’ top-down approach follows a 70/20/10 model. This model projects that 70% of your returns depend on asset allocation (the mix of stocks, bonds, and cash in your portfolio over time), 20% on asset sub-allocation (countries and sectors in your portfolio) and 10% on the specific individual securities in your portfolio. Fisher Investments uses this disciplined approach to ensure clients are optimally invested for their goals.

Flexible Strategy

Fisher Investments strives to maintain an open mind when it comes to your portfolio. The firm knows there’s no one-size-fits-all investing approach. Its rigorous, consistent reviews of your portfolio, the ever-changing markets and current financial and investment news helps Fisher Investments ensure your strategy adjusts as needed.

For example, some categories of stocks cycle in and out of favor. Fisher Investments looks at all categories of stocks when selecting options for your portfolio rather than paying attention to the most popular category in the moment.

Global Portfolio Management & Diversification

Many money managers only focus on U.S. equities. This is limiting and ties your portfolio too closely to factors affecting 1 economy. Diversifying your portfolio globally means a broader range for investing options, enabling your advisor to only pick assets that serve your financial goals. It also helps mitigate risk by cushioning against the ups and downs of a single economy.

To utilize the services of Fisher Investments’ Private Client Group, you usually need to have at least $500,000 in investable assets. However, there are accounts available starting at $200,000 for those who are much farther away from retirement.

In short, Fisher Investments wants to work with a larger cache so that they can make the best decisions for you and what the money needs to do. Even so, if you have $200,000 and enter into a new account with that figure, you will sit down with Fisher and talk about if you will be adding more to the account, when you might reach the $500,000 mark, when you plan to retire, etc.

At the end of the day, though, the platform seems to be more suited for investors/retirees who can deposit half a million right away.

Fisher Investments’ fees are straightforward and transparent. The firm calculates fees based on the size of your assets under management. Fisher Investments believes this approach makes the most sense — you’ll get world-class, unbiased guidance and their only incentive is to make decisions that maximize your wealth.

The fee range sits between 1% and 1.5% of the total value of the portfolio at the end of each quarter, depending on how much the firm is managing for you. You are billed quarterly. So, if you have a smaller portfolio that only requires a 1% fee, you will be charged .25% each quarter, etc.

If you open an account at the $200,000 level, you will likely be charged somewhere around 1.5%, but you would need to speak with a financial advisor at Fisher to make sure you know the exact fee you will charged. Remember, too, as your portfolio changes in size, your fees will shift. You can reach out to your advisor at any time to learn what your fee will be this quarter.

Fisher Investments vs. Competitors

Fisher Investments bills itself as an investment firm that does better when you do better. Because the firm doesn’t sell commissioned products, it can help you save money, but there is a high minimum to access the Private Client Group. Therefore, you might want to look at the competition and see what’s out there.

Fisher Investments has what you need if you want world-class, client-first investment advice with a forward-looking approach. As a client, you’ll benefit from a firm that focuses on your long-term financial success. You won’t find a cookie-cutter strategy, complex fees or biased advice with Fisher Investments. Call today to set up a free financial consultation.

Frequently Asked Questions

ⁱ *Annuity Fee Credit Terms & Conditions

Limited offer: Fisher Investments reserves the right to cancel, suspend or modify the offer at any time and for any reason without notice.

Eligibility: The offer is available only to qualified investors who become clients of Fisher Investments and who surrender an annuity, CD, REIT, or mutual fund and transfer the proceeds to be managed by Fisher Investments. Nothing in the offer infers any right on any person to become a client of Fisher Investments. Fisher Investments reserves the right to refuse or terminate any person as a client for any reason. Any request to participate in the offer is subject to acceptance by Fisher Investments.

Conditions:

The maximum surrender cost that Fisher Investments may agree to pay will depend on the actual surrender cost or exit/liquidation charge of the product (excluding capital gains and other taxes) and the value of the total portfolio transferred for management by Fisher Investments. Any portfolio already managed by Fisher Investments will be excluded for the purpose of determining the maximum surrender cost to be paid.

Any surrender cost that Fisher Investments may agree to pay will generally be reimbursed in the form of a credit to the Fisher Investments quarterly investment advisory fee. Installments for ERISA plan assets will only be credited to the Fisher Investments’ managed account that contains the ERISA plan assets. Installments are subject to adjustment based on withdrawals of assets from Fisher Investments’ management.

All payment obligations will immediately cease if the client relationship with Fisher Investments or the account receiving payment is terminated for any reason before the end of the payment period and no further installments will be paid. Payment periods can last over ten calendar quarters or longer.

Risks: there is no guarantee any proceeds from any product mentioned above managed by Fisher Investments will achieve any specified level of performance, or that performance will be any higher than what could be achieved within the product. Investing in securities involves the risk of loss. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

The contents of this site should not be construed as tax advice. Please contact your tax professional.