Best Price FS has been a long term advocate of the merits of structured products …
As you may know, Best Price FS is amongst the professional adviser firms who have believed in the merits and value of including structured products in investor portfolios for many years now. Not all structured products – but certainly what we call ‘best of breed’ structured products.
We have an objective and balanced view, in believing that structured products can and should be held by investors alongside other investment options, including best of breed mutual funds (both active and passive).
Over the years, as many readers will be aware, structured products have sometimes been ‘picked on’ and have suffered from various criticisms. But often, in our opinion, from ill-informed and misguided critics … many of whom, frankly, don’t seem to have known what they are talking about!
Knowledge and understanding is key …
There is nothing wrong with professional advisers and investor’s maintaining a healthy degree of scepticism, when assessing investment options. And everybody is entitled to their opinion. But we are mindful of the difference between a sceptic and a cynic. A sceptic is somebody who remains open to evidence changing their view. A cynic, however, is somebody who ignores the evidence and maintains their view regardless.
With this in mind, we are pleased to see that more and more press articles starting to appear that reflect the positive progress of the UK structured products sector, the providers and their products, with substantive evidence regarding actual performance.
And we note that the value and benefits of structured products are being increasingly recognised, on their merits … and also due to the fact that so many other investment options have been going through a difficult time, in the current economic and stock market environment: for example, only one so-called ‘absolute return fund’ delivered a positive return in 2018, when that is the only thing that these funds are supposed to do! (more about that in our next blog and email!).
A small selection of press articles about structured products …
So, we thought that you might find some of the press articles of interest:
Moneyfacts (link via the UK Structured Products Association). November 2018: https://www.ukspassociation.co.uk/news/news/ilp-moneyfacts-read-tim-leonard-s-article-structured-products-wind-in-its-sails. A good general article.
Citywire. December 2018: https://citywire.co.uk/funds-insider/news/david-stevenson-bank-fears-should-worry-all-investors/a1187317?ref=citywire-money-opinion-list. An interesting article, by respected Financial Times columnist, David Stevenson. David draws attention to investors thinking about the banking sector and what it can indicate about the wider economy and stock market, which we agree with. He also highlights Tempo Structured products (our first and only ‘STAR structured product provider) and the level that the Tempo Issuer and Counterparty Scorecards (‘TICS’) goes to. In fact, investors can access parts of ‘TICS’ via the Best Price FS website – https://www.bestpricefs.co.uk/structured-products/tics. If you haven’t already taken a look, try to find time to do so … you will see the ‘extra mile’ that Best Price FS goes to, in terms of additional information and support for investors.
Citywire. January 2019: https://citywire.co.uk/funds-insider/news/david-stevenson-marmite-funds-tempt-in-choppy-markets/a1193711?ref=citywire-money-opinion-list. Also a good article, by David Stevenson. David flags Tempo’s Long Income Plan, as a plan he likes, for low risk ‘boring’ income – and we would agree with him: it’s a good plan for investors looking for ‘steady-eddy, sleep at night’ income options.
The online comments added to articles, in particular this last article, are somewhat typical, in terms of what we have already highlighted above, structured products do seem to attract the comments of people that seem to be very keen to show how little they know … and the article is titled ‘marmite’.
Such comments just don’t stand up to scrutiny, however, and we do think that they say more about the knowledge levels of the commentators (who, if they are independent professional advisers, are regulatorily expected to be knowledgeable) than about the efficacy of structured products, where the evidence of the merits of including structured products in diversified and balanced portfolios is so increasingly clear and irrefutable.
Don’t forget the risks …
Of course, as with all investments, there are risks involved. But we are very careful to explain the risks just as clearly as the benefits of structured products – and we provide extensive information on our website to help investors understand these risks in detail.
Don’t forget the Risks – https://www.bestpricefs.co.uk/structured-products/long-growth-accelerator-plan-option2#risks
Call to action: you may not see better investment terms on products than are available right now …
Take a good look at the structured products available right now – as the terms are exceptional. Tempo’s products, in particular, are offering materially improved terms for investors in the current tranche, which represent really compelling opportunities for investors (although now closed to ISA transfers – see our website https://www.bestpricefs.co.uk/tempo-structured-products/.
Please contact us to discuss any interest that you have in any products, to find out more about the Best Price commitment to provide best information, best service and best price execution for investors, including discounted advice services.