Buying Bonds for Beginners?

[MercyMe]

I second The Bond Book by Annette Thau. It is clearly written and answered many questions.

Thanks! Just requested it at the library and will pick it up next week sometime.

 

[MercyMe]

You put in the order now but it won't be executed until 2 business days of the issue date. So you have time to change your mind. But it is first come/first serve.

Thanks again Freedom56.

Question about Fidelity's fees on buying bonds...
They say it's $1 per bond. So if I buy a new issue GSE/Agency bond for $100,000 then is the fee $1 or is is $100?

 

[Chuckanut]

Other than what others have posted, you can also find an ETF for whatever you want to monitor. There are whole market ETFs like AGG and others that monitor munis and such. I also watch the yield table at Fidelity. It will show the secondary market in real time across all durations.

I settled on a Schwab total bond index fund EFT. It gives me the information that I want.

 

[The HalfBreed]

Since yields went up again recently, I started buying US Treasury Bills (<1 year) and one can move to Treasury Notes (>1 year or up to 5 maybe) but I keep it short, like 6 month Treasury Bills which are sold weekly.
I recently bought ~ 4% Treasury bills (3-6 months) and they're sold at PAR.

My last one (Oct. 6, 2022) was for 30K...and I bought it for $29,416.08....(interest will be $583.92) when the entire 30K is returned to my account.
I buy 1 per month and rotate them, and they can be reinvested up to 4 times automatically via TreasuryDirect. Easy to set up an account and free from state taxes.
I've been doing this for over 10 years, and I watch, coz if the weekly emails tell me interest on that last one went down to 1% or less, I bail and stop reinvesting and look elsewhere.



Good Luck.