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Where did they invest?

CompareStructuredProducts.com - 24/08/2022

Back in the post-market crash, pre-vaccination world of Q3 2020, we published an article to a professional audience begging advisors the question where are you investing your clients now?

In the article we promoted the Mariana 10:10 Plan August 2020, emphasising that its defined outcomes under defined circumstances, paired with its ten-year maximum investment term, should afford investors a certain peace of mind – not least given the context that the article was written in.

Each backed by Goldman Sachs and linked to the performance of the FTSE 100 Index, the Mariana 10:10 Plan August 2020 offered three investment Options with potential investment returns per year held of 7%, 8.75% and 10% respectively.

All three Options matured on their second anniversary (15 August 2022), with the FTSE 100 index having recovered significantly over the two years following our original promotion.

One criticism of structured products is that they cap the growth potential so may result in lower returns than alternative, uncapped investments such as tracker funds in a sustained bull market. For example, the FTSE 100 Index rose by 23.3% over the term of the August 2020 Mariana 10:10 Plan (14th August 2020 – 15th August 2022) and so with the benefit of hindsight, investors would have achieved a greater return having been invested in a FTSE 100 tracker fund.

The benefit of hindsight allows for comparison and reflection, though it ignores behavioural finance and investor sentiment at the time of investment.

It is worth reminding yourself that at the time of our initial publication (8th July 2020), the FTSE 100 had fallen by 19.04% YTD and an established COVID-19 vaccination remained an unrealised global goal. Further national lockdowns were likely, markets were volatile and investor confidence was low. The 10:10 Plan offered a defined return for time in the market, the returns on offer were far from unattractive particularly given the circumstances and those returns were delivered.

Structured products offer investors a degree of capital protection against all but extremely adverse market conditions at the end of an investment term i.e. 10 years with the 10:10 Plan, and the opportunity to achieve significant capital gains in flat or even falling markets. The future position of the market in the short to medium term is mostly a matter of speculation.

Consider the situation back in 2018 when investor confidence was somewhat higher than it was at the peak of the pandemic. An investment into Option 1 of the March 2018 10:10 Plan could have similarly matured on its second anniversary, but conditions were such that it ran for four years, maturing earlier this year, realising a capital gain of 28.8% despite the FTSE 100 Index being down by 0.47% over the investment term.

These investments can play a significant role as part of a well-diversified portfolio alongside alternative investments such as, say, a FSTE 100 Tracker, and will provide a degree of peace of mind, predictability and protection in uncertain times.

Full details of the latest 10:10 Plan, including Lowes’ Summary Papers, can be found here.