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Kenneth Lawrence Fisher (born November 29, 1950) is an American billionaire investment analyst, author, and the founder and executive chairman of Fisher Investments, a fee-only financial adviser. Fisher's Forbes "Portfolio Strategy" column ran from 1984 to 2017, making him the longest continuously running columnist in the magazine's history. Fisher is now known for writing monthly, native language columns in international outlets. Fisher has authored eleven books on investing, and research papers in the field of behavioral finance. In 2010, he was included in Investment Advisor magazine's "30 for 30" list of the 30 most influential people in the investment advisory business over the last 30 years. As of January 2026, his net worth was estimated at $13.2 billion.
Over the past few decades, Fisher helped Fisher Investments become one of the largest independent money managers in the world.
In 2007, Fisher and Thomas Grüner founded Grüner Fisher Investments in Germany.
Starting Fisher Investments in 1979 with just $250, Ken grew Fisher Investments to over $275 billion in assets under management by 2024.
In June 2024, Fisher Investments announced Advent International and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority agreed to purchase a minority stake in the company worth between $2.5 billion and $3 billion. The deal valued Fisher Investments at about $13 billion and was the first outside investment in the company. Fisher retained majority beneficial ownership and more than 70% of the voting shares following the sale, which completed in early 2025.
According to The Guru Investor by John P. Reese and Jack M. Forehand, in the late 1990s, Fisher defined his investment philosophy after studying the stock returns and P/E Ratios between January 1976 and June 1995 of six investment categories: large-cap value, mid-cap value, small-cap value, large-cap growth, mid-cap growth, and small-cap growth.
Value investing 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.
Fisher has authored eleven investing books, six of which were national best sellers:
The Only Three Questions That Still Count, The Ten Roads to Riches, How to Smell a Rat, and Debunkery were all New York Times bestsellers.
In 2015, Fisher released Beat the Crowd: How You Can Out-Invest the Herd by Thinking Differently. In an interview with CNN Money, Fisher discusses how media hype around major economic events have already been priced into stock markets globally, and why investors are better served worrying about factors the market is ignoring. Fisher released the Second Edition of The Only Three Questions That Count in April 2012, and the Second Edition of The Ten Roads to Riches in April 2017.
In 2012, Fisher and his wife gave $7.5 million to Johns Hopkins University to fund the new Sherrilyn and Ken Fisher Center for Environmental Infectious Diseases. After much deliberation, the Fishers’ donation was approved.
In the 2024 presidential campaign cycle, FEC records show Fisher did not contribute to Trump, Joe Biden or Kamala Harris, but gave to others, including Republican and Democratic candidates, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Reporting on the story was led by Bloomberg. In an October 2019 article, Bloomberg, which called Fisher "among the most successful money managers in America" wrote that he made comments likening winning money-management clients to "trying to get into a girls' pants." In a Bloomberg interview at the time, Fisher said he felt his comments were taken out of context. In February 2020, Bloomberg corrected its reporting and wrote Fisher "cautioned against using financial planning—which involves getting people to talk about their money—as a way to sign up new investing clients, comparing that approach to picking up a woman in a bar." A recording made at the Tiburon conference, obtained by CNBC and referenced by Bloomberg, captures Fisher saying "you wouldn't go up to a woman in a bar and ask what's in your pants."
On October 11, 2019, it was announced that in response to Fisher's comments, the state of Michigan withdrew its pension fund of $600 million from Fisher Investments.Washington Post, "Investment Firm whose Chairman made crude comments at summit loses $600 million in assets," 11 October 2019 [3] On October 16, 2019, the city of Boston pulled their $248 million pension fund from Fisher Investments due to Fisher's off-color comments.
Other repercussions followed. Fidelity announced it was reviewing the $500 million in assets that it has Fisher's organization manage, and Philadelphia's board of pensions terminated its relationship with Fisher. Within weeks of the incident Fisher Investments lost more than $2.7 billion as several institutional clients, including government pensions, severed their relationship with the firm.CBS, "Goldman Sachs is latest firm to pull money from Fisher Investments, total is now $2.7 billion," Oct, 24, 2019 [4] The firm Fisher founded is taking action as well. Fisher Investments Chief Executive Damian Ornani wrote a memo to employees stating: “Ken's comments were wrong.” He said the firm was taking steps to address diversity and inclusion within the organization itself.CNBC "Fidelity criticizes money manager Ken Fisher, who loses Philadelphia as a client", October 16, 2019 [5] Accessed October 17, 2019 A report from Bloomberg L.P. contended that this behavior was commonplace at Fisher Investments and that Fisher himself had made derogatory remarks a number of times before.
The controversy did little to slow Fisher's AUM growth. At the time of the controversy, Fisher Investments managed $100 billion in assets. By December 2019, Fisher's assets under management rose to $121 billion. By February 2025, the firm nearly tripled in size to $299 billion in assets under management.
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