Buying Bonds on Schwab Acct.

[lawman]

I have recently bought some municipal bonds in my Schwab account. When I go to the bonds offered page for all bonds offered I will click on municipal and then select a maturity date for the bonds I want to see. They are then listed from the highest yielding to the lowest. I've recently noticed a listing yielding 2.9%..I saved that to my saved pages and continued shopping..I did not buy anything..The next day I made the same municipal selection to see if it was still available..It did not come up. The highest yielding offering was 2.5% however when I went to my saved searches it did come up..I went through the steps to make a purchase but stopped just short of executing the trade so I know it was still available. I have two questions.
1. Is the list of offerings the best that is available to investors like me or is that a picked over list?
2. Why did the higher yielding bond not show up the next day?

 

[Freedom56]

Some fool bought the 2.9% yielding bond so it's gone. It's not a great yield given what we are likely to see in a few months. Just wait until the yields shoot up to 5-6% before even considering muni bonds. I have been tracking unleveraged muni bond CEFs and a month ago they were yielding about 2% but now they are yielding 3.5%. In a few months they will yield over 5%. Leveraged muni bond CEFs were yielding 4% a month ago and now they are yielding 5.5% and in a few months they will yield about 7%. "The trend is your friend" and even more so in 2022 as rates rise and investors head for the exit doors. Just be patient.

 

[lawman]

Some fool bought the 2.9% yielding bond so it's gone. It's not a great yield given what we are likely to see in a few months. Just wait until the yields shoot up to 5-6% before even considering muni bonds. I have been tracking unleveraged muni bond CEFs and a month ago they were yielding about 2% but now they are yielding 3.5%. In a few months they will yield over 5%. Leveraged muni bond CEFs were yielding 4% a month ago and now they are yielding 5.5% and in a few months they will yield about 7%. "The trend is your friend" and even more so in 2022 as rates rise and investors head for the exit doors. Just be patient.

The 2.9% bond was still available..I went through the motion to buy it but stopped just short of doing so..I am going to take your advice and hold my cash but I'm skeptical that if bonds do start paying more in a few months will I get the chance to buy them. In other words will those offerings to small customers like me show up on the bond offering page? ..

 

[Freedom56]

The 2.9% bond was still available..I went through the motion to buy it but stopped just short of doing so..I am going to take your advice and hold my cash but I'm skeptical that if bonds do start paying more in a few months will I get the chance to buy them. In other words will those offerings to small customers like me show up on the bond offering page? ..

The best time for retail investors to buy bonds is during market sell-offs when funds just dump holdings onto an illiquid market. New issues get clobbered during these market sell-offers as even the underwriters dump offerings that can't find any institutional support. However, beware of Schwab as they do not allow limit orders. As of this moment, the market is down another 500 point with 35 minutes to the close. The 10 year yield dropped slightly but bonds, notes, and preferred stocks still continue to drop with the market. We still have not seen any capitulation in the equity markets and valuations are still stretched. We are still in a downward drip, drip, drip mode.

 

[OldShooter]

When you have questions, just call the Schwab bond desk. I have found them to be very helpful. If you order through them IIRC there is a $25 charge but without my asking they have often waived it. If your regular Schwab rep can't give you a number or you don't have a regular rep, PM me and I'll give you a name and a phone number.

I am not a big bond guy, so having a real person to talk to is very helpful for me.

 

[lawman]

When you have questions, just call the Schwab bond desk. I have found them to be very helpful. If you order through them IIRC there is a $25 charge but without my asking they have often waived it. If your regular Schwab rep can't give you a number or you don't have a regular rep, PM me and I'll give you a name and a phone number.

I am not a big bond guy, so having a real person to talk to is very helpful for me.

Thanks Guys! Being able to bounce things off you here is fun..I am once again interested managing my portfolio.. For too many years I was on auto pilot which may account for why I got clobbered on my investment grade bond fund. I have tested the water and purchased a couple of bonds on the Schwab platform so I am comfortable doing it now..For now I'm gong to keep my powder dry and use it to buy individual bonds except for one fund that I really like (BLNDX)

 

[clifp]

When you have questions, just call the Schwab bond desk. I have found them to be very helpful. If you order through them IIRC there is a $25 charge but without my asking they have often waived it. If your regular Schwab rep can't give you a number or you don't have a regular rep, PM me and I'll give you a name and a phone number.

I am not a big bond guy, so having a real person to talk to is very helpful for me.

Ditto, I've used the Schwab bond guys a number of times and never been charged a fee (Caveat this was many years ago. Have not bought bonds, other than Ibonds in a long time). They understand what they are doing and gave good advice.