There is no shortage of financial professionals and wealth planning gurus who will tell you that linking your investment strategy to personal beliefs is unadvisable. The theory goes like this: by choosing which assets you buy and sell based on a set of values that are not rooted in real-world data or financial theory (trying to target your investment dollars to encourage environmentalism or the spreading freedom to oppressed peoples, etc.), you are severely limiting your ability to accumulate returns.
These professionals argue that an investment strategy ought to be amoral—which is to say neither moral nor immoral, but instead guided solely by making whatever moves generate the most money. This is the generally accepted consensus in the financial industry. There are, however, certain companies that don’t subscribe to this orthodoxy. One such firm is Fisher Capital Group, a precious metals firm based in Beverly Hills.
Fisher Capital’s business profile is atypical of most financial houses. For one thing, they operate almost solely in the realm of buying and selling gold, silver, platinum, and some other choice minerals. For another, they are unabashed in their espousal of what their corporate literature calls “core American values.”
The firm’s founder and CEO, Alexander Spellane, defines these values as follows: “We are proudly conservative. Patriotism, faith, family, integrity, and respect guide everything we do,” he says, before continuing, “There’s a tacit understanding among most American investment firms to portray themselves as apolitical. Or, barring that, to make it clear to their executives that politics ought to be kept separate from business. That is not the case with us. Fisher Capital is out in the open when it comes to our values.”
So, what’s the link between these values and wise investment strategy?
“Conservative principles built the American economy. From the revolutionary days to the Gilded Age of the late 1800s, widespread entrepreneurism, the free market, and limited government were the key drivers of economic growth, and all of that was underpinned by the gold standard. It was the gold standard that tied everything together, providing a universal measure of value that supported economic stability and growth.” Spellane explains. “As a country, we got away from that in the early 1970s. Since then, the dollar has operated as something called a fiat currency, which is not nearly as reliable.”
In fact, there is a considerable body of research supporting these assertions. In 2020, the Cato Institute, a respected think tank, published a report whose findings indicate that gold and silver have dependably maintained their relative value over the course of modern history, even acting as hedges against currency depreciation. In 2021, the American Institute for Economic Research issued a concurring report, indicating that gold has remained a robust store of value throughout several historic boom and bust cycles, as well as everything in between.
Indeed, precious metals, and gold and silver specifically, have long been held as a bulwark against rising inflation and economic turmoil, two things that conservatives tend to regard with deep concern. During the so-called stagflation period of the 1970s in the United States (which some have argued was partially caused by abandoning the gold standard), when inflation and economic stagnation combined, gold prices soared as investors sought refuge from the eroding value of the dollar. Likewise, during the 2008 global financial crisis, gold prices increased tremendously as investors sought safe havens amidst widespread economic uncertainty.
“Although no one hopes that a similar situation is on the horizon, there is no way to be sure of that,” comments Spellane. “We make the argument that gold, silver, and other precious metals are wise investments just in case. It’s all about risk management and taking precautionary measures—which are, in fact, conservative principles.”
Whether or not Fisher Capital Group’s philosophy of tirelessly challenging the longstanding financial status quo works over the long-term has yet to be determined, but it seems to be paying off so far. The firm has established itself as a dependable money-maker, earning praise from industry heavyweights like Forbes. Most importantly, Fisher Capital is posting solid returns for its clientele, expanding its list of accounts, and increasing its operating revenue. So, even from a traditionalist standpoint of financial amorality, the firm is performing very well.
From a moral standpoint, Alexander Spellane is pleased, stating, “We are doing what we set out to do when we founded the firm. We are stating our convictions openly and, in turn, attracting clients who share our beliefs. Together, we are strengthening our wealth through the acquisition of precious metals, and as a result creating some push-back on the wisdom of the US economy using a currency that isn’t backed up by either gold, silver, or some combination of the two.”
In speaking with Spellane, one thing becomes abundantly clear: Fisher Capital Group will not be swayed from its mission to help encourage a future where the American financial sector, as well as the larger nationwide economy, are governed by distinctly conservative values.
