A method of protecting at least a portion of an initial investment value of an investment made by an investor including the steps of: registering a C-corporation; electing the C-corporation to be treated as a regulated investment company; holding positions using the C-corporation in a set of put-option based instruments having a first underlying reference and a set of call-option based instruments having a second underlying reference, the first underlying reference being the same as or substantially correlated to the second underlying reference, so that the sets of put-option based instruments and call-option based instruments provide the at least a portion of the initial investment value at maturity of the investment; and making available the at least a portion of the initial investment value to the investor upon the maturity of the investment.