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I’m pleased to announce that I will be speaking at the Investment Management Consultants Association 2014 Winter Institute. This year’s event will take place on December 8th, 2014 in Phoenix, AZ. My presentation, “Simplifying Complex Products and Concepts: Using Some

Introducing our first “Structured Notes Gone Wild” segment – the most interesting, unusual, or just wacky ideas we’ve come across.  One of the compelling elements of structured investing is that design is only limited by

I recently authored an article on structured note annuities which appears in the October 2014 issue of California Broker. They have graciously allowed me to it reprint here: The structured note annuity (SNA) is a

In July we broached the topic of leverage in a post titled “5X Leverage – Sane or Insane?” For those wondering, the answer was sane – the note should outperform the Euro Stoxx index it

As a Deconstructed Notes follower, you probably know my take on structured investing – the beauty lies in the limitless tailoring that can be applied to meet investor needs. On the flip side, the industry

With Labor Day quickly approaching and summer coming to a close, it seems like an opportune time to provide an update on some of the prior stories we have featured. One of the trends we

In my last blog post I discussed leverage as a tool to outperform in certain market environments. The various investment options we reviewed were all focused on increasing or otherwise shaping the upside potential of

I have recently come across a few highly leveraged structured note offerings. One such note that caught my eye was a 5 year note offering 5x the upside performance of the popular Euro Stoxx 50

This morning Vertex Pharmaceutical (VRTX) announced positive results for phase 3 clinical trials.  As a result, the stock soared 50%+ pre-market, surpassing $100 for the first time in the firm’s history.  Of course, an unsuccessful

This past week I came across an interesting survey conducted by Russell Investments on Smart Beta indexes. For starters, what is “Smart Beta”?  That can depend on who you ask; the consensus definition in this

Structured Note Annuities (SNAs) are a relatively new retirement product within the insurance complex; they are poised to become a breakout product due to their ability to provide defined exposures for investors, similar to bank

Imagine you purchase Apple stock.  By definition, you and the seller are on opposites sides of a binary trade – if Apple zooms up, you will have made money and the seller will presumably regret

A recent structured note caught my attention because it a) offered great characteristics and b) was based on an underlying biotechnology stock.  These characteristics suggest that note performance may be tied to an upcoming binary,

An advisor recently asked me to evaluate a structured CD he was considering; the market linked CD paid a variable coupon derived by the performance of a basket of 10 stocks. Why are we interested?

One of my favorite advertising slogans from childhood was the Wendy’s “where’s the beef?” question regarding competitor (i.e., McDonalds and Burger King) hamburgers. I often hear a similar question regarding structured notes – “where’s the

Happy 2014!  In the spirit of New Year’s resolutions, we thought this would be an opportune time to help investors reduce risk by developing a checklist template specifically crafted for structured note investments. As I

An advisor has requested my opinion on a Step-Up Callable CD, which I was keen to consider as it relates well to two of our recent discussions on tapering and callable notes. There is no link

Given all the attention on whether (or when) the Fed will taper, we found two notes that should generate positive returns if (when) tapering begins. Why are we interested? The “conventional wisdom” is that rates

This week we look at the specific advantages of structured products as a way to customize a stock purchase. Why are we interested? Ford revolutionized the car industry with the introduction of the Model T.