For Financial Advisors
Built for your due-diligence standard.
Structured note ETFs, individual notes, equity SMAs, and structured-note SMAs — with the materials, transparency, and compliance support your practice needs.
Advisor context
What advisors are solving for
Most advisors exploring structured strategies are managing the same tension: clients want income and some form of downside awareness, but the traditional fixed-income stack has thinned and the equity risk premium is hard to present alone. Structured notes, structured note ETFs, and SMAs address that tension — with very different trade-offs depending on the wrapper and client profile.
StrategIQ Funds works across all three wrappers. That breadth is intentional: no single structure fits every client, and a boutique that only offers one format will eventually steer you toward the wrong fit.
The due-diligence conversation we expect
We expect advisors to arrive with hard questions. What is the credit exposure? What happens at each observation date? How does this appear in the client's performance report? How is the fee disclosed? We provide strategy overviews, illustrative payoff scenarios, and fee schedules for every offering — in crawlable documents, not PDFs locked behind a registration wall.
Portfolio fit
SMA customization and model-portfolio fit
Structured note ETFs are designed to slot into a model portfolio the way any conventional ETF does: daily liquidity, disclosed expense ratio, no K-1. They are commonly sized as a fixed-income alternative or yield-enhancement sleeve — but they are not bond substitutes. Income is contingent, upside may be capped, and the fund can lose principal in a sufficiently sharp decline.
Structured-note and equity SMAs offer the highest customization available in this category. In a separately managed account, the advisor can specify the underlying reference, protection level, issuer constraints, and maturity ladder — and because the client directly owns the positions, tax-loss harvesting at the individual note or security level is possible in a way that no ETF or pooled fund can match. Common industry practice keeps any single counterparty below 15–20% of a structured-note SMA to manage issuer concentration.
Custom-built for your client — not off the shelf
Other firms act as brokers — gathering off-the-shelf, plain-vanilla structured notes and marketing them to the masses. Then you, as the advisor, are supposed to find one of those notes and make it fit into your client's financial plan. We think that's crazy, because your client's situation is unique, and your planning style is proprietary to you. That is why we recommend building custom structured-note strategies to solve your clients' unique problems.
Need to create consistent monthly income? Want inverse exposure to an asset? Looking to gain if the market falls? Whatever the unique situation, we can help customize a strategy that addresses your client's concerns and fits the situation.
Because we build and manage these strategies ourselves, you work with one team — the people who actually constructed the strategy — not a sales desk routing your questions to a third party. We publish our explanations in plain language and work across wrappers, so the structure fits the client rather than the other way around.
Wrapper comparison
Choosing the right vehicle for the mandate.
Each wrapper serves a different client profile. The table below is illustrative — confirm any specific offering's terms in its prospectus or offering documents.
| Dimension | Structured Note ETF | Individual Note | Structured-Note SMA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liquidity | Daily, on-exchange | OTC; secondary market may be thin | Customized; typically 30–90 day notice |
| Issuer credit risk | Typically none (regulated fund) | Full single-issuer (unsecured debt) | Diversifiable; best practice ≤15–20% per issuer |
| Customization | Standardized | Per note — single issuance | Highest — bespoke underlyings, laddering, limits |
| Fee transparency | Disclosed expense ratio | Embedded ~1.5–3% (not line-itemed) | Advisory fee + underlying note costs |
| Tax-loss harvesting | Not available (pooled) | Not available | Available at position level |
| Typical minimum | Share price | $25k–$100k+ | $100k–$500k+ |
| Model-portfolio fit | High — operationally like an ETF | Lower — custom settlement, illiquidity | Moderate — requires separate account infrastructure |
| Suitability docs | Prospectus filed publicly | Term sheet + prospectus supplement | Manager disclosure + individual note docs |
Illustrative ranges based on public regulatory guidance, including FINRA. Confirm specific product terms in prospectus or offering documents. Not a forecast, offer, or recommendation.
Request access
Start with a conversation, not a pitch deck.
Tell us about your practice and the client profile you are trying to serve. We will share the relevant strategy materials and discuss whether there is a fit — without the standardized marketing deck that tells you nothing you need to know.
What to expect
Tell us about your practice
Custodian, account sizes, client objectives, and any compliance constraints.
Receive the due-diligence package
Strategy overviews, illustrative scenarios, fee schedules, and risk disclosures — confirmed only, never fabricated.
Ask the hard questions
We expect them. Construction, observation dates, credit risk, how the position appears on a performance report.
Decide without pressure
If the strategy is not a fit, we will say so. Boutique relationships work long-term or not at all.
Questions
Advisor FAQs
We work with RIAs and registered representatives on structured note ETFs, individual structured notes, equity SMAs, and structured-note SMAs. Account structures and minimums vary by strategy — contact us to discuss fit for your book.
We provide plain-language strategy overviews, illustrative scenario analyses, and due-diligence materials designed to support your documentation workflow — not replace it. You get what you need to understand a strategy and explain it to a client; your compliance program remains responsible for final suitability determinations.
Yes. SMAs are the highest-customization wrapper we offer — advisors can specify underlying references, protection levels, issuer constraints, maturity laddering, and concentration limits. Customization is discussed during onboarding; changes after funding typically follow a defined notice period.
Structured note ETFs trade daily on-exchange and carry a disclosed expense ratio, which makes them operationally similar to conventional ETFs in model construction. They are commonly sized as a fixed-income alternative or yield-enhancement sleeve within a broader allocation — not as a bond substitute, because income is contingent and principal is at risk.
Structured note ETFs hold exposure inside a regulated investment company and typically do not carry single-issuer credit risk the way an individual note does. Structured-note SMAs can be diversified across multiple issuers with advisor-specified concentration limits — best practice generally keeps any single counterparty below 15–20% of the portfolio. Individual structured notes carry the full credit risk of the issuing bank as an unsecured creditor.
We provide strategy overviews, illustrative payoff scenarios, fee schedules, and risk disclosures for each offering. ETF strategies additionally have publicly filed prospectuses. Additional materials are provided in the due-diligence package upon request.
Minimums differ by strategy. Equity SMAs and structured-note SMAs typically require a meaningful minimum to achieve diversification across positions; common industry ranges are $100,000–$500,000 or more. Structured note ETFs have no minimum beyond the share price. Contact us for current minimums on each strategy.
Better strategies for your clients — and your practice.
Talk to the team to learn more about how our strategies can help you deliver better outcomes for your clients and grow your practice.