Market Linked Guaranteed Investment Certificates ??

I had one of these offering from TD, and the way it worked is on the day of maturity is when the return is calculated. So if the index happens to be down for that particular day or the weeks prior you can receive literally nothing. In fact if I recall even though the market had increased over the years it happened to be down a couple months prior so all I received was the principal. Never again.

Generally these GICs benefit the banks more than the user.

They'll typically have a participation rate, where you are either capped at a particular amount of the returns (lets say, you get 70% of the returns of the index, the bank gets the other 30%) or they have a hard set return (10%, lets say, so if the market gains 20% in a year you get 10%, bank gets 10%).

What I can say though is that the main benefit of them is the principal protection. The bank takes on the added risk of the chance of the market going down, so they typically take a good chunk of the returns if the market goes up.

They're sup-optimal products for many investors. However, I can't really speak on whether or not they're right for your friend, as everyone's investment goals and risk tolerances are different.