| Kenneth Fisher | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1950 (age 61–62)[1] San Francisco, California |
| Residence | Woodside, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Humboldt State University |
| Occupation | Founder, chairman, and CEO of Fisher Investments |
| Net worth | US $ 1.4 billion (est.) (February 2010)[1] |
| Spouse | Married, 3 children |
| Relatives | Philip A. Fisher (father) |
Kenneth Lawrence Fisher (born 1950) is a widely published American investment analyst, and the founder, chairman, and CEO of Fisher Investments, a money management firm headquartered in Woodside, California. Fisher writes the monthly “Portfolio Strategy” column in Forbes magazine, contributes to other financial and news magazines, has written seven books, and has written research papers in the field of behavioral finance.[2] Fisher is on the 2010 Forbes 400 list of richest Americans[3] and Forbes list of world billionaires, and as of 2010 was worth $1.6 billion.[4] In 2010, he was named to Investment Advisor magazine's "30 for 30" list of the 30 most influential people on the investment advisory business over the last 30 years.[5] As of 2010, Fisher’s firm manages $41.3 billion in 38,521 customer accounts[6] and has been called the largest wealth manager in the United States.[7]
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Kenneth L. Fisher was born in San Francisco, California, the third and youngest son of Dorothy (née Whyte) and Philip A. Fisher, an investor and author of three books, most notably Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits.[8]
Fisher was raised in San Mateo, California. He went to Humboldt State University to study forestry, but graduated with a degree in economics in 1972.[9] Citing contributions to the finance world and the ongoing study of redwood ecology, Humboldt State recognized Fisher with its Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007.[10]
After graduating, Fisher worked for his father, Philip Fisher, who was a noted money manager and author. Fisher started his own company, Fisher Investments, in 1979.[11]
Fisher has three sons, Nathan, Jesse and Clayton (the eldest).[12]
In 2003, Fisher started to collaborate with Thomas Grüner, a German moneymanager. In 2007, Fisher and Grüner founded "Grüner Fisher Investments".[13]
In 2009, Fisher received the inaugural Tiburon CEO Summit award for Challenging Conventional Wisdom. Charles Schwab received the inaugural award for Maintaining a Focus on Consumer Needs.[14] Fisher also has a Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy Award for published research.[14]
In 2010, Forbes published an accounting of Fisher’s stock pick performance, as made in his columns, over the last 14 years. His stock picks beat the S&P 500 overall on average, and have beat the S&P in 11 years out of 14 (as measured by Forbes).[15]
In 2011, Fisher was ranked as one of the top 25 most influential figures in the financial industry by Investment Advisor Magazine. [16]
Fisher’s theoretical work identifying and testing the price-to-sales ratio (PSR) is detailed in his 1984 Dow Jones book, Super Stocks. James O'Shaughnessy credits Fisher with being the first to define and use the PSR as a forecasting tool.[17] In Fisher’s 2006 book, The Only Three Questions That Count, he states the PSR is widely used and known, and no longer as useful as an indicator for undervalued stocks.[18] However, the PSR is still frequently included as required curriculum for the Chartered Financial Analyst exam and has allowed Mr. Fisher to successfully miss significant portions of several bear markets over his career. [19]
Small-cap value was not defined as an investing category until the late 1980s. Fisher Investments was among the institutional money managers offering small-cap value investing to clients in the late 1980s.[20]
Fisher does research in the study of behavioral finance. He has coauthored several research papers on the topic in collaboration with Meir Statman, the Glenn Klimek Professor of Finance at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University.[2]
Specifically, some of Fisher's research has been on the supposed link between stock market P/E ratios and stock prices. In a paper published in 2000, Fisher jointly with Statman found there to be no meaningful link between a stock's P/E or its dividend yield and its future return.[21]
Fisher also studied the relationship between consumer confidence and stock returns. Their research shows there to be no statistically significant link, meaning consumer confidence doesn't seem to predict future stock returns.[22]
As of 2009, Fisher has authored over 18 research papers on topics ranging from stock markets to consumer confidence to behavioral finance.[23]
Fisher has authored seven investing books including Super Stocks (Dow Jones, 1984), The Wall Street Waltz (McGraw-Hill, 1987), 100 Minds that Made the Market (McGraw-Hill, 1993), The Only Three Questions That Count (John Wiley & Sons, 2006), The Ten Roads to Riches (John Wiley & Sons, 2008), How To Smell A Rat (John Wiley & Sons, 2009), and Debunkery (John Wiley & Sons, 2010). The Only Three Questions That Count, The Ten Roads to Riches, How to Smell a Rat and Debunkery were all bestsellers.
Fisher wrote the introductions to the Wiley Classics Series re-publications of Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits,[24] Paths to Wealth Through Common Stocks,[25] both by Philip A. Fisher, and The Battle for Investment Survival[26] by Gerald M. Loeb. Fisher also wrote the introduction to The Warren Buffett Way by Robert Hagstrom.[27] Fisher's books have been translated to German, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Italian.[28]
Fisher has also authored investment-related articles appearing in Research Magazine,[29] Financial Planning,[30][31] Journal of Portfolio Management, The Financial Analyst’s Journal, The Journal of Investing, The Journal of Psychology, and The Journal of Behavioral Finance,[2] among others. Fisher's "Portfolio Strategy" column in Forbes has appeared monthly for over 25 years. In the UK, Fisher has written for Bloomberg Money, Investment Week, and The Financial Times.[32][33] He currently writes monthly columns for UK investment blog Interactive Investor International,[9] and a weekly column in a major German newspaper Focus Money.
Fisher has launched a publishing imprint in partnership with John Wiley & Sons, Fisher Investments Press.[10] Books published under the imprint so far include Own the World, 20/20 Money, and a series of sector investing guides.[11]
In 2010, John Wiley & Sons published The Making of a Market Guru: Forbes Presents 25 Years of Ken Fisher by Aaron Anderson, commemorating Fisher's over 25 years of writing a regular column for Forbes.
Fisher Investments is known to advertize widely across the financial and non-financial media. It regularly advertizes its free market reports, especially targeting wealthy individuals with over $500,000 in financial assets.
On July 7, 2011, Bloomberg News reported that, according to an interim arbitration award, "Fisher Investments Inc. may have to pay damages of $376,075 for breaching its fiduciary duty to a retired investor", Sharyn Silverstein. According to the arbitrator, Karen Wilcutts, Silverstein contacted Fisher Investments to request a copy of a free book. According to Bloomberg: "In conversations with Fisher representatives in 2007 Silverstein made it clear that she and her husband, Seth, intended to take withdrawals from their investments after her husband retired, which he was planning to do at the end of that year, the [interim award] said. When her assigned investment counselor with the firm drew up her recommended portfolio... he entered that she had no income needs from her portfolio and that her only objective was to increase the value of her investments at the time of her death. The Silversteins have no children and therefore have no need to leave an inheritance, the award said." Fisher Investments pressured Silverstein, aged 64, into liquidating all of her fixed income investments, and investing them in equities. In the arbitrator's words,
Fisher simply made the same recommendation to Ms. Silverstein that it makes to the vast majority of its clients: 100 percent equities benchmarked to the MSCI World (MXWO) index.
Silverstein reportedly lost about $376,075 of her initial investment of $876,357.
A Fisher Investments spokesman described the interim award to Silverstein as "completely wrong on the law and the facts". He continued,
With more than 25,000 clients, losing an arbitration once every seven years is a record far better than any major competitor, which underscores the integrity of our firm."[34]
Fisher supports ongoing study of redwood ecology, particularly the emerging field of study of redwood canopies. Fisher wrote the introduction to the second edition of Sawmills in the Redwoods by Frank M. Stanger. In it, Fisher details his own experiences locating, excavating, and cataloging artifacts from 1890’s era steam-powered sawmills on Kings Mountain in San Mateo County, CA.[35] In 2006, Fisher established the Kenneth L. Fisher Chair in Redwood Forest Ecology for the Department of Biological Sciences at Humboldt State University, currently held by Stephen Sillett,[36] the biologist who's featured, along with Sillett's brother and his wife, in Richard Preston's 2007 book The Wild Trees.[37]
A grant from Mr. Fisher made it possible for the Save-the-Redwoods League to begin using LiDar to measure redwood heights and measure biodiversity of the California North Coast redwood forest. The League feels this can be useful in reforestation efforts, and also in finding trees that may surpass the Hyperion in height.[38]
Fisher also contributes frequently to historical research for San Mateo County, writing most frequently on King's Mountain redwood logging and settlement history and other historical San Mateo events.[39][40] Based on his expertise in California Redwoods and Redwood logging history, Fisher provided a peer review of chapters five and six of Coast Redwood: A Natural and Cultural History.[41]
Fisher has also helped launch and fund the Save-the-Redwoods League climate change initiative, which aims to study the impact of climate change on coastal Redwoods.[42]