I mentioned in my previous blog that non-systematic risk is non-rewarding. Unfortunately many people has huge exposure to this risk without even knowing. Today I was at a bank and I saw the staff aggressive selling a structured product to two aunties. I know full well that many people will just invest a very large amount of money into these structured products. However structured products contain very huge non-systematic risk. In such a product there is always two components – a zero coupon bond and a derivative part. The zero coupon bond has a risk of default because it is usually guaranteed by a single entity. Similarly, the derivative part has counterparty risk. Again it is usually the same entity. So if that same entity goes burst, the investor’s money will all be totally gone. Will this happen? I remembered it took just one man in Singapore to bring down the oldest merchant bank in London down the drain. So never say never. Give your comments