The Bond Book: Everything Investors Need to Know About Treasuries, Municipals, GNMAs, Corporates, Zeros, Bond Funds, Money Market Funds, and More [Hardcover]

Annette Thau (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0071358625 | ISBN-13: 978-0071358620 | Publication Date: November 2, 2000 | Edition: 2

In today’s volatile financial environment, growing numbers of investors are looking to flee the stock market in search of safer ground. While the bond market has often been a “safe haven,” confusing new bonds and bond funds make it increasingly difficult for unfamiliar investors to choose the correct fixed income investments. The Bond Book provides investors with the information and tools they need to make bonds a comforting, important, and profitable component of their portfolios. Thoroughly revised, updated, and expanded from its bestselling first edition, this all-in-one sourcebook includes: *A new section on using the Internet to research, buy, and sell bonds *A new chapter devoted to increasingly popular foreign bonds *Detailed information on the inflation-linked Treasury bonds *Explanation of the new categories of bond funds *Tips on how to evaluate and buy bond funds

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The Bond Buyer’s Answer Book for Treasuries, Munis, Bond Funds, and more!

"The Bond Book does a superb job of explaining simply and clearly what an investor needs to know about bonds. The second edition improves on upon the first by including recent innovations in the bond market, such as the Treasury’s inflation-linked securities. Investors who are new to the bond market will find this book to be a great guide for how to get started. Seasoned investors will find it to be a handy reference tool."
--Martin J. Mauro, Fixed Income Strategist, Merrill Lynch Private Client Group

"The Bond Book has many good lessons for fixed income investors and managers."
- A. Michael Lipper, Chairman and Founder Lipper, Inc.

"Annette Thau gives the investor the tools to build a secure financial future using cash flow assets. In the book, Ms. Thau carefully details the nuances of the securities, how they work, how to buy and sell them, and what to expect from them. She does it all in very clear, easy-to-understand language with plenty of examples. It’s a must for anyone who wants to use the power of compound interest to grow his or her money. This book illuminates what has been a dark corner of the investment world."
—Michael Shamosh, Senior Fixed Income Strategist, Gabriele, Hueglin & Cashman

"This book is meant to be practical. It assumes little or no knowledge of any bond investment, but it explains all of the critical information required to buy any security, be it a Treasury bond, a municipal bond, or a bond fund."
--From the Foreword

In today’s volatile financial environment, growing numbers of investors are looking to flee the stock market in search of safer ground. While the bond market has often been a "safe haven," confusing new bonds and bond funds make it increasingly difficult for unfamiliar investors to choose the correct fixed income investments.

The Bond Book, Second Edition, provides investors with the information and tools they need to make bonds a comforting, important, and profitable component of their portfolios. This comprehensive sourcebook, thoroughly revised, updated, and expanded from its bestselling first edition, now also includes:

• A new section listing free and low-cost ways to use the Internet—both for researching and buying bonds
• In-depth coverage of recently introduced securities including inflation-indexed bonds, I savings bonds, CMOs, emerging market bonds, and more
• A totally revised and expanded section on bond funds—fully explaining each type of fund along with fund returns from the past 15 years.

The Bond Book gives you a broad, useful overview of bonds. Straightforward and clear, it provides specific information and hands-on guidance to make bonds an important part of your investment portfolio—both today and in the future.

"You may, after reading this book, decide to allocate more of your portfolio, or less, to bonds, or to change the mix. Whatever you decide, the information contained in this book will enable you to invest in a more informed manner and, in turn, increase your returns."

The Bond Book is today’s best reference for making your best bond investment decisions. Look to this all-in-one guide for information on topics including:

• How to buy Treasuries without paying a commission
• Yield curves
• Types of high yielding savings bonds
• CMOs and REMICs
• Call risk
• Insured versus uninsured municipal bonds
• Tax concerns
• Duration
• Junk bonds
• Bond funds versus individual bonds
• Unit investment trusts and closed-end funds
• Bond ratings
• Index funds
• Asset allocation
• Swaps
• Discount versus premium bonds

Totally revised, thoroughly updated The Bond Book, Second Edition, will start you on the path toward making your own bond investment decisions with confidence—based on facts and historical performance figures instead of hype and headlines.

About the Author

Annette Thau, Ph.D., is a former municipal bond analyst for Chase Manhattan Bank. Until recently, Dr. Thau was a visiting scholar at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. She earned her Ph.D. from Columbia University and has received numerous awards, including a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for Younger Humanists, and University Fellowships from Columbia University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 394 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 2 edition (November 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071358625
• ISBN-13: 978-0071358620
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #276,853 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars comprehensive review of bonds, November 3, 2003

By 

D. J Najarian (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Bond Book: Everything Investors Need to Know About Treasuries, Municipals, GNMAs, Corporates, Zeros, Bond Funds, Money Market Funds, and More (Hardcover)

This book can help you make money. How? It reviews the history of spreads between Treasuries and Municipals, between Treasuries and Junk bonds, and between Treasuries and other types of bonds/securities. By buying the appropriate security when the spread is abnormally large by a wide margin, which admittedly may only occur once every ten years or so, I believe one could make a ton of money. An example would be to buy junk bonds when the spread between junk and treasuries exceeds 1200 basis points. Another example would be to buy municipals if their yield surpasses the treasury benchmark. Patience will be required, though, since, as the author points out, it is tough to make a killing in the bond market all the time (i.e. the market is usually highly efficient).

The author also does a terrific job pointing out the different types of risk (reinvestment, inflation, currency, interest rates, credit, etc.) for all the different types of securities and duration of securities. She then tells you how to select a security appropriate for your needs given the risks. For example, if you don't want to worry about a rise in rates destroying the value of your bond, buy one that you can hold to maturity and collect at par. Better yet, buy one with a short duration.

In conclusion, any well rounded financier needs to know about bonds--even Warren Buffet--the famous "stock picker"--invests a ton in bonds. This book is a great start to earning this skill.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book on Bonds, December 10, 2000

By 

Charles Pettis "Chuck" (Freeland, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Bond Book: Everything Investors Need to Know About Treasuries, Municipals, GNMAs, Corporates, Zeros, Bond Funds, Money Market Funds, and More (Hardcover)

2000 has been the year to be in bonds. Bonds have provided much better returns than the stock market. This is the best book (out of four that I bought and read) on bonds that I have found. It is clear, easy to understand, and has everything you need to know to get started. The section on Treasury bond ladders is especially helpful.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an excellent introduction, April 9, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Bond Book: Everything Investors Need to Know About Treasuries, Municipals, GNMAs, Corporates, Zeros, Bond Funds, Money Market Funds, and More (Hardcover)

This seemed to me the clearest and most comprehensive of the introductory bond books I've looked at, head and shoulders above the others. Thau has a vintage Ph.D. in French Literature and is careful and thorough w/o being pendantic--more auntly than professorial. The book was updated in 2000 and the very conservative portfolio advice at the end may resonate w/ more readers. There's a short section on internet investing, and a bit more math than at least one other reader suggests.