Individual Investors Get Burned by Collapse of Complex Securities

Re:Individual Investors Get Burned by Collapse of Complex Se... by alecco on Monday June 01, 2020 @03:19PM (#23382531)

> It worked so well—earning him 18% a year in dividends, on average—that he eventually poured $800,000 into the investments, called leveraged exchange-traded notes, or ETNs. When the coronavirus pandemic hit, he lost almost every penny.

Plain gambling.

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Re:Individual Investors Get Burned by Collapse of Complex Se... by walshemj on Monday June 01, 2020 @04:49PM (#23383631)

And no sign of having a balanced portfolio and this guy puts 800k into one leveraged stock.

I have about 25% of that in the UK and I am about 35% cash and have some very defensive stocks RIC GCT and Personal Assents that haven't lost any thing or are rebounding - just wish I had sold my RDSB in Jan/Feb but that would have oly saved my a 2-3 k loss

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Re:Individual Investors Get Burned by Collapse of Complex Se... by thoraway1010 on Monday June 01, 2020 @04:09PM (#23383148)

Who thinks they are getting a magic 18% year in risk free return?

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Re:Individual Investors Get Burned by Collapse of Complex Se... by perl4ever on Monday June 01, 2020 @06:43PM (#23384938)

Everybody; since the phrase "picking up pennies in front of a bulldozer" exists, you know it must be common.

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Re:Individual Investors Get Burned by Collapse of Complex Se... by thoraway1010 on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @02:41PM (#23394540)

18% is not pennies. That beats every low risk asset by a mile. 0.25% is pennies. And yes, all the market data fees, liquidity maker / taker fees - I get those pennies getting picked up.

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Re:Individual Investors Get Burned by Collapse of Complex Se... by mark-r on Monday June 01, 2020 @04:53PM (#23383688)

The power of wishful thinking is stronger than most people realize.

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