Alternatives to traditional stock and bond investments have never been more plentiful — or more complex.   For financial advisers, the fast-changing alternatives marketplace represents both challenges and opportunities. But what the alternatives market doesn’t offer advisers, according to some sources, is the option to sit back and ignore the potential of non-correlated investments.  The Structured Products Association is "definitely seeing more forward-thinking advisers coming into the structured-products space.”  Structured products generally involve the use of derivatives to provide investors with a specific balance of capital protection, income generation and capital appreciation. They have fixed maturities, and the condition of each product also is fixed in advance.

According to the SPA’s latest calculations, the structured-products industry is on pace to exceed $100 billion in total annual sales. This compares with $64 billion last year and $40 billion in 2005.   A spokesperson for the SPA stated, “I think we’ve made some major breakthroughs in the past couple of years.”   Structured products are “a fit between alternative and traditional investments.”