Fischer Investments
Looking for feedback from anyone who has worked with Fischer Investments. Their commercials say "we do better when our clients do better." I spoke to a representative, and some of what I was told sounds almost too good to be true, which of course makes me leery. I have a Zoom meeting coming up in a week, and would be helpful to hear from anyone who has invested with them. Feel free to respond to me privately.
Oct 7, 2023
Parent Replies
Fisher takes a pretty hefty percentage fee compared to other firms or individual fiduciary advisors. I haven’t invested with them for that reason. I’d definitely shop around.
Fisher Investments does a lot of commercial advertising and often appears on Google news and their finance pages making different pronouncements. They also send out paper advertisements in the mail. (We have received some ourselves). Usually reputable firms do not have to undertake so much publicity as their reputation is spread by word of mouth. You might be correct in being leery as those who speak loudest and most often cannot always be trusted.
While I have NOT invested with them, here's my take on that pitch line: investment advisors tend to charge a percentage fee, based on the type of investment asset, and the value / amount of that asset. Their percentage fee tends to be highest on stocks, slightly lower for bonds, and lowest of all for "cash" part of the investment account. So ... if you start with $200,000 of stocks, and they're charging you a 1% fee to manage that portfolio of stocks, it would cost you $2,000 that year. If over time the value of the stocks goes up to $300,000, they'd then be charging you $3,000 that year. Thus, when "you do better ... they do better." And no, Fischer is not unique in this regard. This type of fee arrangement is very common for investment firms.
You might also want to consider how ubiquitous their ads are, and how much they must be spending on advertising ... Good luck!