Following my July 22, 2025 article “Financial Fairy Tales: Buffered, Overlay and Defined Outcome Funds,” the team at ABR Dynamic Funds shared their July 2024 analysis of these increasingly popular investment vehicles. Their research perfectly illustrates a fundamental Wall Street truth: the more complex a product appears, the more investors should scrutinize what they’re actually buying—and what they’re paying for it.

The “100% Protection” Promise

Consider a recent product launch that caught investors’ attention: S&P 500 exposure with complete downside protection and a 9.81% cap on gains over one year. At first glance, this sounds like the holy grail of investing—upside potential with none of the risk.

But as ABR Dynamic…