Posts belonging to Category Structured Notes



Alternative Investments Begin to Haunt LPL Financial

 

LPL Financial, the country’s largest independent broker-dealer, is encountering serious problems involving its sales of alternative investments. LPL is also (not coincidentally) one of the country’s largest sellers of alternative investment products. In 2011, LPL sold $758,435,677 of variable annuities (which are considered by most industry observers as being alternative investments) and $110,643,148 of other […]

Victims of Elder Investment Fraud – A Growing Problem

 

Investment scams targeting senior citizens continue to proliferate in Georgia and across the country. In fact, the Atlanta Journal Constitution recently published an article dealing with financial fraud perpetrated against seniors.  The article (“Financial fraud scams target Georgia seniors”) focused on an 81 year-old lady who was the victim of a ponzi scheme.  A ponzi […]

Will Alternative Investments Fuel the Next Financial Debacle?

 

Investors are being sold more and more alternative investments and large broker-dealers are ramping up to supply that demand, according to the Wall Street Journal (“Alternatives Get a Boost”). The trouble is that most investors do not fully understand these products and their brokerage firm advisers do not fairly explain the risks and problems associated […]

More Experts View Bonds as High Risk

 

Many experts believe that fixed income has become a high-risk asset class, more so than at any time in recent years. Demand has pushed bond prices way up and yields way down. Bond sales for 2012 are expected to break the 2009 record of $1.024 trillion. Investors’ average allocation to fixed income is 26%, double […]

Brokers Unload More Structure Notes on Investors

 

Investors are urged to be cautious about purchasing structured notes. Brokers are on track to sell more than $10 billion of structured notes linked to the S&P 500 stock index this year. In fact, sales will reach the highest levels in at least three years, according to Bloomberg (“Structured Notes Tied to S&P 500 Set […]

Insurance Companies Raise Red Flags on Certain Alternative Investments

 

The recent actions of errors and omissions insurance carriers should serve as a major red flag to investors. Many of these carriers are refusing to issue coverage for sales of certain alternative investments. In other words, these carriers have determined that the risk of loss associated with the sale of certain alternative investments is too […]

Exchange-Traded Notes – An Investment that Most Investors Should Avoid

 

Exchange-traded notes are complex products sold by “the best salesmen in the world” who are often betting that their potential customers do not know just how complex they are. In most cases, investors would be better off not buying exchange-traded notes, according to USA Today’s John Waggoner (“Non-experts may want to avoid ETNs”).

Regulators Issue an Alert to Investors Regarding ETNs (Exchange Traded Notes)

 

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the self-regulatory arm of the U.S. securities brokerage industry, has issued an Investor Alert regarding the features and risks of exchange-traded notes (“U.S. brokerage regulator warns of ‘unpleasant surprises’ on ETNs,” by Stuart Gittleman, Reuters).

Hedge Funds Hit Hard by Commodities Investments

 

Slowing U.S. jobs growth, slowing growth in China, concerns about another global recession, and uncertainties relating to the Euro crisis, have turned commodities bulls into bears as hedge funds beat a hasty retreat from commodities for the third consecutive month, according to Businessweek (“Hedge Funds in Longest Rout Since Global Recession,” by Tony C. Dreibus).

Alternative Investments Are No Investment Panacea

 

Financial advisers need to know that dangers lurk in the complex world of alternative investments and they must disclose these dangers to their clients. At present, many investment advisers are under pressure to sell alternative investments and are doing so in greater numbers than ever before. Alternative investments can include virtually any investment that is […]