Structured Notes and Buffer funds are sleep-well-at-night products designed to protect investors from market drops. Brokers and nervous investors love them, despite their complexity and fees.Talk to any financial advisor these days, and he or she is likely to have a strong opinion about something known as “structured notes.” These complex products are sold as the “have your cake and eat it” investments of the wealth management world. Their specialty is flexibility –some are geared toward growth and others toward income. Returns are generally capped and in all cases the goal is to limit downside risk. They are manufactured by big banks like JPMorgan using derivatives, and are often sold as “stock market-linked” with “sleep well at night” protection. They come with various maturities, typically ranging from six months to five years, provide principal protection and sometimes offer annual yields of 10% or more.Up until the last few years, structured notes were mostly the domain of hedge funds and other sophisticated investors or ultra-wealthy clients

AQR's "The Less Efficient Market Hypothesis" Wins "outstanding article" Recognition in 26th Annual Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy Awards.