I live in Canada and bought a Gartman commodity note last January, just before the greatest commodity cash in history. Fortunately, this is a 6-year principle guarateed note. If I keep it the full 6 years, the guarantee holds. If I cash it early there is a penalty, dependant on the performace. After the 1st year it has grown 5%. How? This note is a true hedge fund. The commodity index it is based on is offset by bonds. If the index rises, it is higher weighted in the fund. If the index falls, bonds are higher weighted. The index itself is well managed and has only fallen 25% in the past year (compared to others that have fallen 60-90%). But since the index was falling, severely, its weighting in the fund shrunk to something like 5%, while bonds grew to 95%. When commodities recover and teh index starts rising, its weighting will increase and the note will grow faster. This has worked so well, so far, that I am buying another note this year if one is offered.