Buying Bonds

[AndyADH]

I am just curious, How many people on here own Bonds?

If you own them what made you choose them? Security? Profit etc.

If you don't own any why not?

To me it seems like a good way to get a steady return as long as you do not pick a firm like Bear Sterns.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Also if not bonds what do you invest in to get a steady return without risking it all. I just want something to beat ING Direct.

Thanks again for your time

[Timmy33]

Yes I own UK, US and European Government and Corporate Bonds.

Gov'ies are an alternative to cash in a way. Useful if you don't want to be fully invested but want to keep money in your ISA.

They contribute to the overall yield of my portfolio and provide an element of currency diversification....i.e. holding $ and Euro denominated bonds is equivalent to holding those currencies.

A good Bond Fund is the M&G AAA rated fund that invests in Treasuries. It's been an excellent hedge to my stocks in a rather volatile year to date!

HTH.

[hornet]

That's actually answered a question I was going to ask. Fully allocated on the cash ISA front, and looking at graduallly building a funds portfolio within a shares ISA. Want to have a core that returns cash equivalent (or thereabouts) interest, if only to take advantage of the ISA allowance, and I think bonds are the route I'm going to take.

[Timmy33]

You might like to consider the following bond funds in that case.

- 'M&G Real Yield £ Class A Inc': UK Treasury Fund
- 'Invesco Perpetual Global Bond Inc': Diversified Global ( G7 ) Government Bonds
- 'Threadneedle European Hi Yld Bond Acc': Mix of high yielding A rated corporates & Govs

Of course the last one on the list has been a stormer as the Euro has shot up against the £. Of course it can go the other way though! So you have to decide to what extent you want to mix some currency views into your portfolio.

The middle one has quite alot of JPY Govies in it too. Well have a look at the blurb on them, all I know is that they represent a few lovely points of Blue in a sea of Red stock prices in my portfolio at the moment!

HTH.

Edited by Timmy33 on Friday 28th March 15:38

[AndyADH]

Thanks for the input.

I also take it like buying the bonds yourself, buying into a mutual fund will pay coupon payments, in this case dividends every 6 months, Am I correct. If so what sot of are you seeing through your bonds? Because their price is usually pretty stable, or do the funds constantly buy and sell.

Sorry I need to look into these further, but if any one can offer any input, it is great fully received.