I recently put together a list of some of the most toxic financial products on the market today: http://www.filife.com/stories/danger-toxic-financial-products .

Of course, they tend to be loan based (401k Loans, Refund Anticipation Loans, Margin Accounts, Leveraged ETFs) with an unregulated investment product thrown in (Life Settlements).

Had this been a few years ago, the products would all have been mortgages - pick-a-pay, 40-year loans, etc. But I'm sure we've missed a few. I generally think that any product which involves a sales pitch over a free lunch is questionable. You'd have to buy dinner (not in a conference room) to get me to consider it. And breakfast, don't even ask.

What did we miss? Where did we go wrong?

Not sure that it would be considered a 'product', but along the lines of the tax refund loan, I'd say the biggest drain on an individual's financial situation would be the use of payday loans. The people that run those shops are close, if not at, the bottom of the totem pole of integrity.

Variable annuities - now more than ever; anything that uses a variation of the word 'enhanced' (enhanced cash, yield plus); hedge-fund mutual funds, which also includes absolute return, and principal protection funds.