Billionaire Ken Fisher on Investing Principles (We Study Billionaires – The Investors Podcast, 35 mins)

(You can listen to the podcast by clicking here)

An insightful interview with Ken Fisher who talks about fostering the $100bn megafund, Fisher Investments. He’s a proponent of narrowness when it comes to investing and his philosophy is to avoid picking stocks based on ‘value vs. growth’ or ‘tech vs. healthcare’ – in the long term they all end up with similar equity returns. Most investors have migrated to the US as it’s a top performer of recent decades, but if we remove the tech sector from the story its performance is essentially similar, if not the same, to other regions. Fisher is a believer in tech’s intrinsic importance in driving innovation, but he says the high returns and alluring narrative largely appeal to late-stage bull market buyers. Instead, he favours small-cap, riskier stocks when on emergence from a bear market. At 30 mins, Fisher reveals his optimistic, ‘mostly bullish’ mindset. Towards the end, Fisher examines the current GDP trend globally, nominally growing at c.4% (which equates to a $3tn expansion yearly), he believes that only a very unlikely, hugely negative shock could counteract it and cause a recession.

Why does this matter? Amidst constant talks of an impending recession, it’s refreshing to hear an optimistic outlook on investing and the global economy, and this podcast pairs well with an article that Fisher recently published explaining his strong favouring of healthcare stocks and their similarities to big tech. Beware the current stage of the cycle, though, he believes sectors driving one bull market might not necessarily drive the next.

(The commentary contained in the above article does not constitute an offer or a solicitation, or a recommendation to implement or liquidate an investment or to carry out any other transaction. It should not be used as a basis for any investment decision or other decision. Any investment decision should be based on appropriate professional advice specific to your needs.)