15 writers on business, finance

Investors often ask who else I read. Actually, few pundits write much that is new, unique and thoughtful. I often sample writers and never read them again.

But some I always read, even those with whom I disagree – exactly because they offer unique angles.

Here is a top-tier smattering of 15 heavyweights always worth considering:

Kimberley Strassel and Holman Jenkins in The Wall Street Journal rip apart the underbelly of political intrigue and mystery of events like the Mueller investigation better than anyone else.. Somehow, they get inside complexity without getting lost.

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John Tamny from RealClearMarkets.com writes caustically but shows why most economic pontificators are looney. His economics is fundamental and never blindsided by fads. Sometimes he misses that other things, like politics, may be more important than economics.

For a guy with a small investment business, Barry Ritholtz of Bloomberg has a huge voice. He is unusually brief and cuts through market nonsense and bad investment management practices. He has a nose for BS. And America’s market jabber overflows in BS.

I read Jim Cramer at The Street just because I love the guy and have for a long time. He’s fun. Sometimes his offbeat market notions are way off, but other times they are spot on, finding gems in haystacks that most other miss. He has way more common sense than his animated TV antics imply.

Steve Forbes, a multi-decade friend, is a fundamental writer on monetary policy. While he often advocates a gold standard – which will happen when hell freezes over – his prognostications are routinely right, robust and insightful.

Gillian Tett of The Financial Times dives super deep into banking blunders. If we ever again have 2008-like banking problems, you likely hear it from Gillian long before others. Often too pessimistic because, like most journalists, she seeks problems, her knack for climbing inside banking is second to none.

Caroline Baum of Marketwatch is surgically precise on things interest-rate related and the Federal Reserve. She routinely depicts what is wrong with current consensus thinking and speaks directly to real causes, effects, and the correctness or not of Fed actions. She also opines on politics, but there, doesn’t say anything unusual.

You can bookend Baum with Jeffrey Gundlach who runs asset management firm, Doubleline. He writes irregularly – but is also cameoed in various print and TV media. Currently the world’s much-acclaimed “Bond King”, with an ego to match, he is always worth considering because of his outsize opinions, often wrong and often right. Even when you’re sure Gundlach is wrong, never underestimate his views.

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For money-saving tips, Bill Baldwin of Forbes, is tops. (He was my editor there for 10 years.) He is always sniffing out unheralded ways for you to invest better. No nonsense, super experienced, plain-spoken and modest to a fault, Bill’s advice can save your retirement nest egg big bucks.

Joseph Bosco of The Hill dissects Asian political affairs uniquely. Merryn Somerset Webb of MoneyWeek and the Financial Times attacks virtually everything I believe in – which is why I read her. Three heavies –  Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan, Larry Fink of Blackrock and Ray Dalio of Bridgewater – are all meritorious on almost any darned thing.

Ken Fisher is founder and executive chairman of Fisher Investments, author of 11 books, four of which were New York Times bestsellers, and is No. 200 on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans. Follow him on Twitter: @KennethLFisher

The views and opinions expressed in this column are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY.