An Introduction to Non-Traded REITs
(Feb 2012)
Both FINRA and the SEC have started warning investors about non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs), which are growing in popularity but expose investors to very serious risks. We at SLCG have had a variety of cases involving non-traded REITs and would like to describe our experience analyzing these investments and what they mean for regulators and retail investors.
In the most general sense, REITs are simply companies that hold almost entirely real estate assets. These companies can...
Futures-Based (Commodities) ETFs
(Jan 2012)
Investors may think, when investing in Futures-Based Commodities exchange traded funds (ETFs), that they are gaining exposure to the underlying commodity. In this blog post, we discuss the ability of these ETFs to track the spot price of the underlying commodity.
In a previous blog post, we introduced the basics of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). In this post, we are going to discuss a specific kind of ETF: Commodities Futures Based ETFs.
There are a large number of Exchange Traded Funds...
Structured products: 2011 year-end market review
(Jan 2012)
2011 was another big year for structured product sales both in the US and abroad. According to Bloomberg's year end totals, almost $45.5 billion worth of SEC registered structured products were sold in the US in 2011, down only slightly from $49.4 billion in 2010. There were 7,293 individual products sold, up from 6,443 a year earlier.
The number of products linked to interest rates decreased, which was made up for with increases in products linked to equity assets.
Sales in Europe grew...
What are 'structured products', anyway?
(Jan 2012)
By Tim Husson, PhD
We've done a lot of work on structured products. And I mean a lot. In addition to our research on valuation and suitability issues, we've devoted a section of our website to informing investors about different types of products, as well as Tear Sheets evaluating several thousand structured products released over the past couple years. We have found that most structured products are issued at a substantial premium, and that many investors (especially retail investors) do...