债券基础知识

Bonds are just like IOUs. Buying a bond means you are lending out your money.
Bonds are also called fixed-income securities because the cash flow from them is fixed.
Stocks are equity; bonds are debt.
The key reason to purchase bonds is to diversify your portfolio.
The issuers of bonds are governments and corporations.
A bond is characterized by its face value, coupon rate, maturity and issuer.
Yield is the rate of return you get on a bond.
When price goes up, yield goes down, and vice versa.
When interest rates rise, the price of bonds in the market falls, and vice versa.
Bills, notes and bonds are all fixed-income securities classified by maturity.
Government bonds are the safest bonds, followed by municipal bonds, and then corporate bonds.
Bonds are not risk free. It's always possible - especially in the case of corporate bonds - for the borrower to default on the debt payments.
High-risk/high-yield bonds are known as junk bonds.
You can purchase most bonds through a brokerage or bank. If you are a U.S. citizen, you can buy government bonds through TreasuryDirect.
Often, brokers will not charge a commission to buy bonds but will mark up the price instead