Episode 261: Structured Products with Felix Fattinger and Petra Vokata & Jill Schlesinger

<p>Our focus for today's episode is the topic of structured products and we welcome two expert guests to weigh in with their research and insight on the subject. Felix Fattinger is an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Vienna Graduate School of Finance whose research focuses on complexity from a number of perspectives. Petra Vokata is an Assistant Professor of Finance at Ohio State University, currently working in areas of household finance, financial innovation, and consumer financial protection. Both Felix and Petra offer some amazing takeaways for retail investors, deftly balancing the data with their ability to read it and implement the lessons we should learn about structured products. We then welcome Jill Schlesinger back to the show to talk about her new book, <em>The Great Money Reset.</em> We hear from her about the process of writing the book, her aims for its publications, and the main questions it can help individuals answer.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p><span style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Felix Fattinger thanks his co-authors Marc Chesney, Jonathan Krakow (both University of Zurich) and Simon Straumann (WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management).</span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Key Points From This Episode:</strong></p> <p> </p> <ul> <li>Felix talks about his interest in complexity and how to understand the three different types of structured products. <strong>(0:07:23)</strong></li> <li>The definition of headline rates and their relationship to expected returns. <strong>(0:18:23)</strong></li> <li>Laying out the biggest lessons from Felix's research; price competition regulation, expected returns, and simulating portfolios. <strong>(0:32:21)</strong></li> <li>Petra shares her reasons for researching structured products and what she focuses on. <strong>(0:40:36)</strong></li> <li>The doubts Petra has about YEPs, the evolution of their fee structure, and estimating their expected returns. <strong>(0:49:02)</strong></li> <li>The YEP index and how it