By JANE KOTCHKINA 16/08/2010
Structured Products have their fans and their detractors. One product currently being promoted is the Morgan Stanley FTSE Income Plan 2.
This product offers investors a regular income of 7.5% per annum for 6 years regardless of any movement in the FTSE 100 Index. Your initial capital is protected unless the FTSE 100 falls by more than 50% at any time during the life of the product. If the FTSE falls by 50% or more then the protection is removed and the capital will be reduced on a 1:1 basis based on the value of the FTSE at maturity.
If the FTSE 100 Index is above the level at which you invested, then you will not share in any of those gains and receive the amount you originally invested.
Points to consider
- The income generated from the investment is taxable to your marginal income tax rate, which could be as high as 50%.
- The investment is used to buy a corporate bond, effectively a loan to Morgan Stanley and therefore you could lose all your money in the event of the bank going bankrupt.
- Early encashment may mean you get back less than you initially invested.
- Initial commission is 3% (although this could be less if purchased through Bestinvest)
- You don’t get access to the dividends generated by the FTSE 100 which currently yields 4.5%.
Our view
The additional income provided by these products above the dividend yield of the FTSE 100 is around 3%. So the FTSE 100 only needs to move up 3% per annum for a direct investment in the stock market to outperform. Naturally this cap on returns is a cost for the downside protection against stock FTSE 100 falling less than 50%, however we feel this is too expensive as the capital is still at risk. Investors would be better off creating their own mix of cash and investments where investors retain control and can make changes when appropriate.