Mar. 17, 2020
Comment on SEC Proposed Rule #S7-24-15: This rule is a really bad idea and must be defeated! Leveraged and inverse funds are an important investment option which not only allow me to seek enhanced returns they MOST IMPORTANTLY help me PROTECT my portfolio. It is not difficult to understand leveraged and inverse funds and their performance characteristics. I can understand them, and so can everyone I know. I certainly don’t want a third party evaluating my capability to understand such investments and potentially preventing me from buying them. You need look no further than the 401k industry to see the detrimental effects of doing this. Having a third party decide what is and is not a suitable Retirement investment in these plans has left people trying to prepare for their retirement no ability to simply access the same investment options in a 401k plan that are otherwise available to them or any individual. The result: underperforming performance options generating big revenues for, you guessed it, the fund companies, and insufficient ability to either diversify our portfolios, protect them from major downturns, or invest in securities that perform the best. The situation is so bad that employees at the companies who are providing these same 401k investments refuse to invest in their own products! The deck is already stacked in favor of “Wall St” and institutions vs. the individual investor like me. Leveraged and inverse funds are an important, easy to understand tool for the average investor to manage our risk and take advantage of the full range of market opportunities. It is imperative that you preserve the long-standing free public markets where investors and our advisors have the freedom to buy public securities without additional government-imposed limitations on our choice! Thank you. Regards, John Baskey