Fisher Investments Press Discussion Forum

Topic: Fisher Investments Books from Fisher Investments Press

Welcome to the Fisher Investments discussion forum on Fisher Investments books. Through its partnership with publisher John Wiley & Sons, Fisher Investments launched its own publishing imprint, Fisher Investments Press. Under this imprint, Fisher Investments has already released four books in a series of investing sector guides. These detailed books each cover a specific investing sector—some of those already in circulation are Fisher Investments on Energy, Fisher Investments on Materials, and Fisher Investments on Industrials. This forum is dedicated to providing Fisher Investments employee feedback on Fisher Investments Press books.

The following represents commentary by Fisher Investments’ staff members on the above mentioned topic. All comments are subject to the website disclaimers located here.

31 Comments

Don't fear debt
Added by ashmuth on 11/4/2009
There’s been a lot of news surrounding debt lately. Debt is nothing new and is, in fact, still well within manageable levels. I found Chapter six to be very useful while trying to understand just why we shouldn’t worry over debt and why it can be a good thing.

On Oil…and Stocks
Added by evec on 3/31/2009
Yet another common myth is that oil prices and stocks move in opposite directions; that is, if oil prices rise, then stocks fall. Ken Fisher examines this claim in detail in The Only Three Questions. The result? False, and the data that backs it up completely blows this myth out of the water. Simply put, oil and stocks are not correlated, negatively or otherwise.

Debt and Deficits
Added by LWHoffmans on 3/6/2009

In light of recent news surrounding the 2009 US budget and projected record-sized budget deficit, Chapter Six may be of particular interest. In contains a historic perspective and fundamental economic analysis why debt and deficits don’t have the impact on investing and markets many people believe.

Confirmation Bias
Added by JMarquand on 3/27/2009
I found Ken Fisher’s analysis of confirmation bias to be very interesting, and applicable to the challenges investors face every day. Stated simply, the idea that we, as individuals, seek out bits of evidence supporting our notions and beliefs while ignoring evidence that contradicts our biases sounds pretty familiar! Ken Fisher encourages readers to ask his third question: What is brain doing to blindside me? to try to overcome this bias.

Easy read
Added by ashmuth on 4/29/2009
OTQ is a sensible and thought provoking read. Ken Fisher questions conventional myths and answers them with precise methodology.

Buying high, selling low (hang on…)
Added by jd on 3/23/2009
In line with EBA’s comment on how difficult it is for us to comprehend big numbers, our brain can derail us in other ways too. Certain emotional reactions did us a world of good in prehistoric times but those same responses compel us do the opposite of what’s logical these days. For instance, we tend to invest when things are going well and we’re comfortable (being too cautious probably saved us from a saber tooth attack or two), and sell out when they get tough and scary (running away sometimes helped us survive too). This leads to an interesting phenomenon Ken Fisher covers in Chapter 3 of the Only Three Questions That Count. Folks tend to buy high and sell low (in this case mutual fund investors)—just the opposite of what we should be doing if we want our investments to grow!

Easy Read
Added by CRF on 4/21/2009
I found Ken Fisher's book, The Only Three Questions That Count, to be an enjoyable, easy read. I do not have an educational background in finance, but Fisher makes financial topics easy to understand. He doesn't "dumb" down the topics, but presents them in an interesting (and often comical) way that allows for comprehension. Now that I've read Ken Fisher's book, I feel I have a much better grasp of what I read in newspapers or see on TV.

Cover to cover or section by section
Added by jd on 4/13/2009
JMarquand, you’re right about the Only Three Questions being written in an accessible style. And for anyone daunted by the length, it’s pretty good for just cracking open wherever or strategically choosing interesting topics and diving in section by section.

On Gold…
Added by evec on 3/17/2009
With gold seemingly more popular lately with investors, Ken Fisher provides a good counterview to gold’s supposed benefits in Chapter 6. For instance, is gold a good hedge? Historically, what was its long-term earnings compared to stocks? Only Three Questions delves into these questions and others when addressing gold as an investment. I recommend this to anyone seriously considering buying gold as a hedge.

Ken Fisher on Stop Losses
Added by EBA on 3/12/2009
The section in Chapter 9 about stop losses might be particularly relevant for investors now who are selling based on market lows. There are some great reasons not to make that investment mistake and in this chapter Ken Fisher covers the biggest!

Behavioral Finance
Added by JMarquand on 3/13/2009
I really enjoyed Ken Fisher’s thoughts on behavioral finance, which he weaves throughout the chapters of The Only Three Questions That Count. Understanding why people act as they do and how that inherently affects their investing behavior was a concept I was unfamiliar with. Until reading about it in this book, I also didn’t realize the extent of its potential impact on the stock market.

Knowing what others don't...
Added by EBA on 4/1/2009
Ken Fisher describes his impetus for writing this book as paying homage to Capitalism. It must be even more challenging in today’s environment, when Capitalism and free markets seem to be under attack, to apply the 3 Questions. How can one “know what others don’t” in such an uncertain environment? How can we decipher what our brains are doing to trick us from all the bad news that we should legitimately be concerned about?

Questioning Popular Beliefs
Added by CRF on 4/28/2009
I’m definitely guilty of going through life without questioning popular beliefs. But as Ken Fisher points out, popular beliefs are not necessarily correct beliefs. Human brains aren’t wired for investing, so we fall into a lot of mind traps we and other investors create. Turning popular beliefs on their heads is a simple but effective way to break free from that.

An Accessible Read
Added by JMarquand on 4/3/2009
The aspect of Ken Fisher’s "The Only Three Questions that Count" I found most appealing was its accessibility. I must admit I was hesitant about cracking open a relatively long book on investing practices when the book hit shelves. However, I was quickly engaged by his open style and his lack of pretense. It was clear that Ken Fisher simply wanted to share his knowledge and wanted readers to enjoy the ride.

The Benefit of Global Investing
Added by jd on 3/17/2009
I enjoyed Ken’s global view in The Only Three Questions. I believe we often fall prey to home country bias, but global investing can reduce risk in a number of ways we don’t normally consider—increased diversification is just the most obvious. For instance, Ken indicates in Chapter 7 exchange rate fluctuations tend to cancel over time in the globally diversified portfolio. A great point to remember.

A Bear Market Rule-breaker
Added by EBA on 4/9/2009
There ARE some things that are different this time though, right? Or at least highly unusual. For example, it’s not often that a bear market starts with such pervasively negative sentiment. Usually, bear markets are preempted by euphoria in the marketplace…This particular bear market does break some of the rules.

Investing Myths
Added by JMarquand on 3/9/2009
The Only Three Questions provides investors with a unique way to look at the markets, which seems especially useful today. The beginning of the first chapter immediately caught my interest as it encourages readers to recognize there are many things we believe that are inherently wrong. Identifying these “investing myths” is a challenge that Ken’s book addresses.

Gotta love spreadsheets...
Added by jd on 4/20/2009
These days we’re pretty privileged—at least insofar as information’s concerned. The internet has made huge chunks of economic and market data available to the public. One need only download it into a spreadsheet and voila! In the Only Three Questions, Ken Fisher shows us how to do a few very useful calculations using spreadsheets (correlation coefficients and annualized returns for instance). Analyzing hundreds or thousands of data points in a fraction of the time it used to take can help answer Ken’s three questions for yourself—or even better, come up with and verify your own questions!

not like a textbook
Added by DEzzat on 4/17/2009
Ken Fisher's The Only Questions is filled with uncommon knowledge helpful for all audiences. Unlike textbook style finance books, I think Only Three Questions reads like an entertaining yet educational guidebook to investing. There's something for everyone in here, great read.

Is this the end of days?
Added by jd on 4/6/2009
EBA, I agree these days are some of the most challenging an investor can face—the depths of a bear. Why? Because we want to turn tail and run, and many of us do. But Ken Fisher’s Three Questions tell us when sentiment is uniformly good or bad, the market will probably do something else. Today’s calls for capitalism’s end aren’t unique. They represent the cycle of regret shunning evident during most bear markets and recessions—if history tells us anything, they’ll be subsumed by the next bull market. The end of capitalism? Unless we’re witnessing the end of days, I wonder…

Entertaining
Added by ashmuth on 4/22/2009
I would agree with DEzzat. The Only Three Questions is highly entertaining while still providing readers with a solid educational experience.

Good read even for those unfamiliar with markets and finance
Added by evec on 3/10/2009
Good and informative reading even for people unfamiliar with the way markets work. I am rather new to the investing world and finance in general, and found the information in this book fascinating. Prior to reading this, I hadn’t considered how much innate, hardwired behaviors were capable of affecting investing decisions. Also interesting to learn how so many investing “truths” are actually myths.

Valuable Resource
Added by ashmuth on 4/15/2009
The Only Three Questions is a “go-to” resource for me. I have found it extremely valuable whenever I am doing research on various topics. Specifically, I found the section on the strength of the dollar in Chapter Seven very useful.

More on behavioral finance
Added by EBA on 3/18/2009
One topic Ken covers in his section on Behavioral Finance is how the human brain is bad at deciphering numbers beyond a certain size. Humans have a hard time comprehending the difference between, for example, a billion and a trillion. It’s difficult to visualize because it’s all so much larger than numbers we see in front of us on a daily basis.

More on Gold
Added by EBA on 3/25/2009
I agree with evec’s comment about gold. Many think it plays the role of currency ‘hedge’ in the portfolio. Looking at the data, not only are historic long term returns poor versus other asset classes, gold is more volatile than many think. In the game of risk versus return, I believe gold offers far less return for the risk one is assuming.

End of capitalism? Nah.
Added by evec on 4/7/2009
Reading the headlines, JD, I also wonder about the fate of capitalism too. Then, I remember what so many news organizations fail to point out: We’ve been through recessions before, and capitalism has prevailed time and again. What’s the reason why this time will be any different?

More on global investing
Added by JMarquand on 3/20/2009
I agree with jd. A global view is an invaluable tool for investors. Ken Fisher’s focus on global investing in The Only Three Questions That Count provides a relevant look at the challenges that investors face in today’s global economy.

Sell in May?
Added by LRD on 4/27/2009
One of the more enlightening sections of Ken Fisher's The Only Three Questions That Count was 'Sell in May?' in Chapter 5. For years, I believed the 'Sell in May - Go Away' adage was investing wisdom. With May right around the corner, I'm glad I read Ken Fisher's book. I used to think summer time equated to less economic activity, less investing and lousy stock returns. Turns out I was exactly wrong! Ken Fisher points out the summer months following May can actually do quite well.

Government Spending
Added by aanderson on 3/12/2009
Ken Fisher's commentary in chapter 6 is indeed relevant today given the massive amounts of government spending we’re about to see. I’m particularly fond of the heroine addicted iPod owner analogy. How money gets spent by the government in this environment is much less important than the fact it gets spent. Unless money is put in a can and buried in the backyard, it can have a positive effect on the economy.

making sense of media
Added by DEzzat on 4/24/2009
I agree with CRF. Especially in current times, most people believe anything they read or see in the media. Ken Fisher helped me to better understand the best signs and things to look for while blocking out other widely known information.

Tinted glasses
Added by jd on 3/30/2009
Good point JM! Our investing decisions are dyed by confirmation bias and stretched thin by overconfidence—another classic symptom of our “stone age” brains covered in Ken Fisher's The Only Three Questions That Count. Investors often accumulate pride and shun regret. In other words, we view the past through tinted glasses, favoring triumphs over failures. This leads us to think that our investment record is better than it really is, resulting in some common investing mistakes—like putting all our eggs in one, “can’t fail”, basket.