Money Talks has been to the forefront in pointing out the pitfalls of some less-than lucrative types of trackers in recent months But we were not the only ones.

Have they have fallen from grace after a barrage of bad publicity? We asked around.

"Only one company that I know of is still promoting tracker bonds but I don't tend to recommend them due to the caps on growth and limited guarantees, " says Liam Ferguson of Ferguson & Associates. (www. ferga. com) Gerard Sheehy of PRSA. ie agrees: "I have never sold a 'tracker' bond nor am I likely to do so in the future as I do not see where the value is for the client."

Sure, investors got their money back thanks to the much-vaunted capital guarantee. And the period in question included a big downturn in shares, so at least the investors were spared a loss.

Some trackers, such as a few issued by New Ireland, even paid up to 16%on top of the capital guarantee, which was a nice earner.

But most just gave back the original stash.

And what many novice investors don't realise is that getting just your money back after five or six years is the same as making a big loss.

Inflation over five years would add up to nearly 30% . . . and that's how much less your money would be worth after five or six years even if it was 100% guaranteed.

A big downside to trackers is that they are complex instruments . . . and fancy "nancial engineering ain't cheap.

Charges are built into the fund to pay its designer . . . usually a foreign bank . . . and the bank that sells them, totalling around 8% in many cases.

That's too much. Most investment products are far less loaded these days. Apparently, investors who want safe havens are seeking out guaranteed funds instead.

These won't set the world on fire . . . as with trackers you pay for security with higher charges and lower performances . . . but at least the fleecing is a little less than usually happens with trackers.