Check out this amazingly long article on bonds at Bill Cara’s website. I am printing it out right now and it will soon be reading material on the bus for me, once I am finished the book I am reading currently. It is a part of my never-ending goal to learn more about bonds and how they work, the different types of bonds, and the different ways of investing in bonds (individual bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs).
If that page is a bit too wordy and complicated for you, check out Investopedia.com’s excellent bond tutorial.
Great site! I also found this site devoted entirely to bonds:
http://mybondinfo.com.
I am also interested in learning all about bonds for my portfolio.
I am queued up at the library for “In Your Best Interest: The Ultimate Guide to the Canadian Bond Market.” The title definitely sounds great! I’ll let you know if its worth your while when I get done with it. I am 8th in line, so hopefully won’t be too long.
Thanks for the info.
In Your Best Interest is the only book the DIY canadian investor should ever read.
IMO.
Be weary of this Bill Cara guy. The idea that just because the stock market and economy are more volatile as a reason to sell an investment-grade corporate bond are not well founded. It is of prime importance that you understand where you put your money. The fact we face so much corporate risk in all markets is simply a reason to reduce your exposure to longer-term corporate bonds. The risks of an investment grade bond defaulting in under five years, if you have done your homework, remain roughly equal to that for government bonds.