“Less Downside, Most of the Upside” — What You’re Really Paying For
When markets get choppy, or retirement gets close, a certain pitch starts showing up in inboxes and advisor meetings: get most of the stock market’s gains, but be shielded from most of its losses. It sounds like the investing equivalent of a seatbelt — a sensible extra layer of safety that costs you almost nothing. The reality is closer to a trade than a shield. Somebody, somewhere, is pricing that protection, and the money to pay for it comes out of your own return, your own flexibility, or your own risk exposure. The question worth asking isn’t whether these products are real. It’s what, specifically, you’re giving up to get them.