How to buy corporate bonds

Corporate bonds are issued by companies that want to raise additional cash. You can buy corporate bonds on the primary market through a brokerage firm, bank, bond trader, or a broker. Some corporate bonds are traded on the over-the-counter market and offer good liquidity.

Bond Basics

U.S. Government debt is considered among the safest of all investments. Corporate bonds are issued by companies, which have great flexibility in how much debt they can issue. Corporate bonds pay the highest yields because they offer the most risk.

Out of the online brokerage firms, we recommend investors who buy bonds online to have accounts at two brokerages: Fidelity and E*TRADE. Both bond-trading platforms offer a full bond inventory with up to 9,000 individual corporate bonds, quality trade execution, and competitive brokerage commissions.

You can purchase government bonds like U.S. Treasury bonds through a broker or directly through Treasury Direct. As noted above, treasury bonds are issued in increments of $100. Investors can buy new-issue government bonds through auctions several times per year, by placing a competitive or a non-competitive bid.

Bonds are often touted as less risky than stocks — and for the most part, they are — but that does not mean you cannot lose money owning bonds. Bond prices decline when interest rates rise, when the issuer experiences a negative credit event, or as market liquidity dries up.

You have a few options on where to buy them: From a broker: You can buy bonds from an online broker. You’ll be buying from other investors looking to sell. You may also be able to receive a discount off the bond’s face value by buying a bond directly from the underwriting investment bank in an initial bond offering.

Many bond investments have gained a significant amount of value so far in 2020, and that’s helped those with balanced portfolios with both stocks and bonds hold up better than they would’ve otherwise. Bonds have a reputation for safety, but they can still lose value.

The rule of thumb advisors have traditionally urged investors to use, in terms of the percentage of stocks an investor should have in their portfolio; this equation suggests, for example, that a 30-year-old would hold 70% in stocks, 30% in bonds, while a 60-year-old would have 40% in stocks, 60% in bonds.

There are five main types of bonds: Treasury, savings, agency, municipal, and corporate.

Making Money From a Coupon-Paying Bond

There are two ways that investors make money from bonds. The individual investor buys bonds directly, with the aim of holding them until they mature in order to profit from the interest they earn. They may also buy into a bond mutual fund or a bond exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Now is the best time to buy government bonds since 2015, fund manager says. Inflation worries have led to a sharp rise in bond yields in recent weeks — most notably on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury — and an accompanying fall in bond prices.

Bond Mutual Funds

The three types of bond funds considered safest are government bond funds, municipal bond funds, and short-term corporate bond funds.