These kinds of structured buffered complex products are just alternative ways to invest in the S&P 500 or something other kind of index. The only difference is who is getting paid for creating and selling the product. In this case it's usually large Wall Street banks always be closing. And on the insurance side it's large insurance companies with sales forces to match. If you know the history of these kinds of products you'll see that they rise, get promoted, get popular for a while and then fade away over time.