In late December of 2007, my sister signed up with Fisher Investments. She gave them almost $700,000. They began buying stocks in January, 2008. Now her stock portfolio is worth $615,000. Her previous portfolio contained many long held assets that were inherited, so when she cashed out, she incurred sizable capital gains to pay to boot. Oh, and my sister is retired and not otherwise wealthy ... single, a small house, on social security, with no pension, etc. But she did inherit this bungle of stocks and bonds.