Broadening the investment horizon

New developments in structured products and alternative assets mean there is a whole new horizon of options opening up for advisers to create bespoke solutions for clients

Despite the barrage of bad news that has seen Gordon Brown take more hits in his short tenure as prime minister than Frank Bruno took in his whole career - concerns over sub-prime mortgages, Northern Rock and other such issues - stock markets had, until the past few weeks, remained generally resilient, although far more volatile - a situation that looks likely to continue for a considerable period yet. Indeed, it was not that long ago that the FTSE 100 threatened, on several occasions, to break through its all-time high, while the S&P 500 actually achieved this feat, only for both to fall...