The Next Investor Trainwreck

“Boom Time!  Creativity and Innovation!  Record-breaking sales!  If you’re not squirming in your chair yet then you haven’t been around the investment business very long.”

I have a piece up today at The Wall Street Journal that you can consider my opening salvo on an aggressively sold financial product that I believe is being over-recommended and wrongly explained everywhere you look.

I am also concerned that with such major demand for these instruments and so much need for “differentiation in the marketplace,” corners are being cut and people might be getting a bit too “creative” with their construction.

I’ll get you started here and then send you over…

In 2002, the clever folks in the Wall Street Workshop came up with the ultimate product for retail brokers to sell to their investors.  It was – get ready for this – a Principle-Protected Unit Investment Trust (UIT) that was linked to the performance of the top ten stocks in the Nasdaq 100.  It was one of the worst vehicles I’d ever sold anyone in my former career as a broker and it sold like Cinnabon at the Mall of America.

Consider the following…

Keep Reading:

The Phantom Menace (WSJ)