Novice with bond questions

[houndog]

Hello Everyone,
The questions that I have may seem elementary and simple to most of you... but…I have bought stocks in the past but never bonds.
I had an individual that I just had to my office who was cold canvassing on the phone. He does not work for a large investment company nor any of the nationally advertised ones.
He told me of several bonds, paying a good dividend for the right period of time that I was looking for.
The bonds are rated AAA and are from companies that I am aware of and to me are stable enough to buy.
Question 1, When a bond is purchased from a “financial advisor” of the above type how could I make sure that he is legitimate? AND… Question#2, Who is my check to be made out to. He says a transfer company…I would think it should be made out to company named on the stock.
Thanks everyone for your help in answering these two questions.

[brewer12345]

Unless this individual can stand up to a healthy amount of due diligence from you (who are you? who is your firm? why should I have anything to do with you? etc.), I wouldn't even consider doing business with a cold caller.

If you have an account with any major discount brokerage (Fidelity, Schwab, etc.), you can call their bond departments and get shown a wide array of individual bonds to purchase. But make sure youare capable of doing sufficient research on the issers to avoid buying something that should not be rated what it is. Lots of people have lost lots of money buying highly rated bonds that they knew nothing more about than the rating and the issuer's name.

[Rambler]

All the warning bells and klaxons are ringing...

As Brewer said, check with your well known brokerage. If the bonds are from AAA rated outfits, you can most likely get them from a brokerage you know and respect. No need to use (or pay for) an individual financial adviser for that.

R

[Rambler]

BTW, why did you post this thread in the Health section? Probably should be in FIRE and Money.

R

[FinanceDude]

I'm going to move it if that's ok with everyone........

[megacorp-firee]

cold caller ? Run away ... run away ...
use a major brokerage firm, especially if you are a novice.
You can still get your pockets picked ... but at least you are with one of the big boys and may have a chance to have any greivences heard