An Introduction to Bonds
In dealing with financial matters, the term "bonds" often comes up. Financially, bonds can be different things, and it is important in making financial decisions that these differences can be discerned. This guide, intended as an introduction to bonds for novices, offers information on the three main types of bonds, as well as websites useful to bond investing.
AARP Guide to Bonds - This site offers a good, unbiased overview of bond investing and the three bond types. Although it was produced by the AARP, it does not focus on bond investing for older or retired people, but is a source anyone could use.
Yahoo! Finance Education Center: Bond Investing - Yahoo! Finance's Education Center page on bond investing offers bond information from a variety of sources. This page contains links to a number of different sites, each of which contain information on a particular aspect of bond investing.
Bond Investing Overview - From the Motley Fool, this section of their site offers a comprehensive overview of bonds and bond investing. One thing it offers that the other overview sites did not is a bond calculator, which allows a user to view the value of their bonds under a variety of circumstances.
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U.S. Government Public Debt Information - Because treasury bonds are based on the debt of the U.S. Government, it is important to be informed about that debt and how it's being handled. This site offers a history of the public debt, monthly statements of the public debt, and interest rates and expenses, among other things.
Individual Investor Information - This site, from the U.S. Treasury, offers information which caters to the individual investors in U.S. Government bonds. It contains news and data about these bonds, as well as the ability to set up an account and purchase them on line.
Savings Bond Research Center - This site is also geared towards the individual investor, providing a plethora of pertinent information for them. Some of the topics covered deal with EE and I bonds, giving savings bonds as gifts, and treasury information dealing with identity theft.
Institutional Investor Information - This U.S. Treasury site offers information pertaining to the Institutional investment auctions, including recent auction results, a tentative auction calendar, and historical auction results.
Government Investment Information - This page from the U.S. Treasury deals with the Federal Investments Program, the purchase and management of government securities, and contains information dealing with borrowing programs for federal agencies and liquidation programs for executive agencies.
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U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission - This site contains information provided by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission designed to inform investors dealing with Municipal Bonds. It offers a general overview of the topic, and contains helpful links to topics relating to municipal bonds, including a link to their FastAnswers database.
Municipal Bond Insurance Information - On this site, Morningstar explains what municipal bond insurance is, why investors may or may not need it, and who offers the insurance. Although this part of the site is available to anyone, there are other parts of the Morningstar site that do require registration.
Municipal Bond Calendar - This site offers a calendar of municipal bonds which have recently become available throughout the United States. It lists the bonds by sale date, the amount made available, the issuer, and the state the bond was issued in.
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Investing in Bonds - This site provides basic information to investors about what bonds are and the different types, how to use and acquire them for investment purposes, and important bond related business news.
Bond Market Association - The Bond Market Association's website is dedicated to providing information to investors about the bond market. This site contains a lot of business information which would be pertinent to this type of investor, along with many other useful tools.
Bonds Online - This site offers a great deal of investing information dealing with corporate bonds, including sections on today's market, investor tools, and a search/quote center.
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Moody's - This site offers a large amount of information related to financial decision making. For the bond investor, Moody's offers issuer ratings, allowing a potential buyer to check the reliability of a group whose bond they may consider buying. While the site does require registration, it is at no cost.
Standard & Poor's - Standard & Poor's, one of the industry leaders in financial advice, offers credit ratings for bond issuers and insurers on its site. This service is offered without site registration, although other parts of the site do require it.
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Forbes - This section of the Forbes site offers bond market information, including indexes and bond headlines from the AP News Service.
Bloomberg - This page of the Bloomberg website offers rates on bonds throughout the market, and gives data on the treasury bonds, national municipal bonds, and mortgage rates.
Market Watch - This site, offered by the Dow Jones, offers information on current business and market news. Some parts of this site, like the personal portfolio, alerts, and account pages, do require free registration.
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Compiled by Anne Marie Martin, January, 2007. For questions or comments, please e-mail Anne Marie.