Introduction to Fisher Investments
This is an introductory video from Fisher Investments outlining their investment philosophy, client services, and fee structure. The firm emphasizes a top-down, globally diversified portfolio management approach led by a five-member Investment Policy Committee with over 150 years of combined experience. Fisher Investments positions itself as a fee-only, client-first advisor serving over 200,000 clients globally since 1979.
Summary
Fisher Investments presents itself as a client-first investment management firm founded in 1979, currently serving over 200,000 clients globally. The firm emphasizes its deliberate structural separation of service, sales, and portfolio management roles to ensure clients receive specialized attention at every stage of their relationship.
At the core of Fisher's investment process is a five-member Investment Policy Committee (IPC) consisting of Ken Fisher, Jeff Silk, Aaron Anderson, Bill Glasser, and Michael Hansen, who collectively hold over 150 years of industry experience. The IPC is supported by three dedicated research teams: Capital Markets (top-down macroeconomic and geopolitical analysis), Securities (bottom-up stock selection), and Capital Markets Innovation (quantitative and proprietary research). Together, these teams provide the IPC with the analysis needed to make strategic portfolio decisions.
Fisher's investment approach is described as flexible, global, and top-down — contrasting with what they characterize as the more common bottom-up, stock-picking-first methodology used by many other managers. Their process begins with asset allocation decisions, moves to identifying favorable market categories (sectors, countries, styles), and only then selects individual securities. They also manage assets for over 200 global institutional clients.
Beyond portfolio management, Fisher offers holistic financial planning services including social security navigation, tax planning, estate and insurance strategy evaluation, and connections to vetted third-party CPA networks. Clients receive personalized service teams, proactive market communications, in-person and virtual events, and access to educational resources.
Fisher operates as a fee-only investment advisor, charging a simple advisory fee based on assets under management, with no commissions, product sales, kickbacks, or layered fees. The firm argues this aligns their financial interests directly with those of their clients — they do better only when clients do better. The onboarding process is designed to be straightforward, involving personal goal discovery, portfolio recommendation, account setup at third-party custodians, and ongoing strategy monitoring.
Key Insights
- Fisher Investments argues that separating service, sales, and portfolio management into distinct roles — rather than combining them — ensures clients receive undivided, specialized attention at every stage of their relationship rather than dealing with generalists with conflicting incentives.
- Fisher's Investment Policy Committee takes a top-down approach that begins with asset allocation as the highest-impact decision, then identifies favorable market categories, and only selects individual securities last — the opposite of the stock-picking-first approach they attribute to most money managers.
- Fisher Investments claims that investor home-country bias limits investment opportunities, and that their globally diversified approach allows them to both reduce risk and capitalize on a broader set of opportunities than a domestically focused strategy would allow.
- Fisher operates as a fee-only advisor charging solely based on assets under management, explicitly rejecting commissions, product sales, and layered fees — which they characterize as 'rife in the industry' — arguing this structure aligns the firm's financial incentives directly with client outcomes.
- Fisher Investments describes a Capital Markets Innovation team that takes a quantitative approach to developing proprietary research methods — which they call 'capital markets technology' — designed to complement rather than replace the fundamental applied research conducted by their Capital Markets and Securities teams.
Topics
Transcript
[0:11] Thank you so much for your interest in Fisher Investments and our global affiliates. Since we first began managing money in 1979, our goal has been put clients like you first. We believe this focus on putting investors first is why we currently have the privilege of serving over 200,000 clients globally. To learn more about our wide range of services and features and how they may benefit you, contact us at the phone number below or visit our website. Thank you again for your interest in Fisher Investments. We know you have many money management options and we appreciate your interest in [0:42] learning more about how we can help you. With Fisher Investments, you're not just another…
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