The Making of a Market Guru: Forbes Presents 25 Years of Ken Fisher

Introduction

Twenty-five years is a long time to do just about anything. It's a particularly long time to make stock market forecasts for all the investing world to scrutinize—over and over again. Sticking your neck out inherently involves certain risks, like getting your head chopped off (figuratively, of course. This isn't eighteenth-century France) by readers, investors, editors, or anyone else. But that's exactly what Ken Fisher has done over the last two and half decades, monthly, in Forbes. Ken's columns have included his views on investments, the economy, market misperceptions, specific stocks, financial planning, the news, politics, and politicians—anything and everything impacting capital markets. His tendency to go against the investing public's prevailing opinion has made him more susceptible to criticism than most—over the years, Ken has probably received far more hate mail than love letters. It may seem masochistic, but the contrarian in him wouldn't have it any other way. The wisdom of good advice often isn't apparent until well after it's offered.

Twenty-five years makes Ken the fourth-longest-running columnist in Forbes history (as of this writing). An impressive tenure, but in his columns Ken has been clear about his ultimate goal. "My goal? To be number one. To be still writing this column when the issue of August 30, 2016 comes out." ("Rummaging in the Attic," December 18, 1995.) At that point he would overtake Heinz Biel who wrote for just over 32 years—from November ...