Reasons to consider individual bonds
Diversification
Regular income
Potential tax benefits
Preservation of principal1
Types of bonds
U.S. Treasury |
Direct debt obligations issued by the U.S. government, which uses the revenue from the bonds to raise capital and/or make payments on outstanding debt |
Agency |
Debt obligations issued by agencies of the U.S. federal government or by private agencies, called government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), which are federally chartered, but publicly owned by their stockholders |
Municipal |
Debt obligations issued by states, cities, counties, and other public entities that use the loans to fund public projects, such as the construction of schools, hospitals, highways, sewers, and universities |
Corporate |
Fully taxable debt obligations issued by corporations that fund capital improvements, expansions, debt refinancing, or acquisitions that require more capital than would ordinarily be available from a single lender |
High yield |
Debt securities rated below investment grade2 based on the issuer's weaker ability to pay interest and capital, resulting in the issuer paying a higher rate to entice investors to take on the added risk |
New issue and secondary markets
Guaranteed Investments Limited offers investors the opportunity to participate in both the new issue and secondary bond markets. Investors pay no commissions or concessions when participating in new issue offerings, but Guaranteed Investments Limited charges a mark-up (for buys) or mark-down (for sells) in the secondary market. (See Guaranteed Investments Limited Brokerage Commission & Fee Schedule (PDF) for more information.)
New issues have a significant presence in the bond market as issuers are constantly entering the market to “roll” their existing debt as well as create new debt. Accessibility of new issues varies for individual investors, with the Treasury market most accessible and the corporate market least accessible.
The secondary market is composed of bonds that were issued in the past and may be traded until redeemed by the issuer. Unlike equity markets where the universe of approximately 5,000 securities is available to trade at all times within market hours, the U.S. bond markets actively offer only a relatively small subset (tens of thousands) out of the more than 1.2 million unique bonds currently in existence. The composition of this offered subset also varies from day to day.
Guaranteed Investments Limited makes it easy for you to view and select from our large inventory of new issue and secondary market bonds and CDs to meet your needs.