Subject: Re: Boomer Candy
I'm in that retired set, and have used options myself, so I looked at a couple of 'buffer' ETFs from First Trust. They are like the 'structured products' to which Jim refered, but are offered in an ETF. See link below for your reading enjoyment
https://www.ftportfolios.com/r...

FWIW, my take away is that they're "broken collar" funds:
A collar is when you're long the market, buy a protective put (a conservative move with guaranteed downside protection, but expensive), and partially or even completely offset the cost of that protective put by selling an OTM call. Selling the call caps your upside, but if the level of upside participation and the level of downside protection is to your liking, then a collar can be a conservative way to participate in a particular market. As Jim mentioned, it's easy to do yourself if a bit handy with options.

But then they sell another option, a farther OTM put (perhaps to goose returns from this extra received premium to make the fund look more attractive).

This breaks the guaranteed downside protection that the original collar provides and turns it into a 'buffer'.
You're only protected in the 'buffer' region between the two put strikes: you participate in a downturn down to the first put strike, are protected down to the second put strike, but then have zero protection below that.

If you can find buffer levels that make you happy, and acceptable fund fees (assuming you don't do options yourself), then the first hurdle is passed.

A second hurdle is buried in the fine print of the prospectus. The funds I looked at use FLEX options. These are custom options negotiated with, and issued by, CBOE. I can't help but think that the market for such custom options is very thin compared to ordinary options. In fact they warn of the possibility of ill-iquidity in the prospectus, i.e. you (well, they) might not be able to use the custom FLEX options when you need them because the market is too thin.

So I came away wondering
"why is a buffer a good thing?"
and
"even if it is, can the fund make it work in a stressed market where FLEX options might be very ill-liquid?"