The Investor Education Fund has launched a new section on its Web site help investors learn more about alternative investment products.

The alternative investment section of Focus On…Investment Products brings together plain language information on hedge funds/principal protected notes, income trusts, exchange traded funds, labour-sponsored investment funds, and exempt market securities.

The new section provides information on the common characteristics of these investment options, as well as information on how to assess the risks, costs and suitability of each investment product.

“It is critical that investors understand the risks of these recently popular products and continue to follow good investment strategies such as diversification,” says Terri Williams, president of the Investor Education Fund.

“More and more investors are asking us, both online and at our recently sponsored Investor Education Month seminars, about these alternative investment products,” says Williams. “They read about them in the news and hear about them from their advisers, so they are curious. Now they can turn to this new ‘Focus On…’ feature for objective, understandable information to help them do their homework.”