Fisher Funds Flounders While Global Markets Swoop – A Tale of Two Underperformers

At the bank’s parking lot, a single yellow cone stood guard over a pile of empty coffee cups, a silent witness to Fisher Funds’ latest performance flop.

Meanwhile, in Auckland, two of Fisher Funds’ listed managed vehicles posted dismal returns, lagging far behind a benchmark that had surged 30.5 %. While the Dow, the Nikkei and the FTSE all went for the moon, the funds in question were more interested in a trip to the back‑of‑the‑trading‑floor.

The losses came in a market that was, by most other measures, a roaring success. International indices were dancing, commodity prices were flirting, and investors were laughing at the idea that a fund could underperform by a whole three‑quarters of a percentage point.

In the aftermath, fund managers have been seen sipping more coffee than ever, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by the bank’s security team, who have replaced a single cone with a full convoy of them.

Analysts say the funds’ poor performance may be due to a combination of ill‑timed asset allocation and a fondness for holding cash when everything else was moving.

Investors, meanwhile, are left to wonder whether they should keep their money in these funds or simply invest in a sturdy pair of road cones that at least hold their own during a traffic jam.

The incident has sparked a city‑wide debate about the future of managed investment vehicles, with some calling for a stricter regulatory framework, while others suggest a more lenient approach that would allow funds to “take a nap” during market downturns.

For now, the only thing that seems certain is that Fisher Funds will need to do more than just stand in line to regain investors’ trust.