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CITATION

Thau, Annette. The Bond Book: Everything Investors Need to Know about Treasuries, Municipals, GNMAs, Corporates, Zeros, Bond Funds, Money Market Funds, and More, Second Edition. US: McGraw-Hill Education, 2001.

The Bond Book: Everything Investors Need to Know about Treasuries, Municipals, GNMAs, Corporates, Zeros, Bond Funds, Money Market Funds, and More, Second Edition

Authors: Annette Thau

Published:  2001

ISBN: 9780071378949 0071358625
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  • Contents
  • Preface
  • Acknowledgments
  • PART ONE THE BASIC BASICS
  • Chapter 1 The Life of a Bond
  • First, What Is a Bond?
  • How Bonds Are Issued and Trade
  • Key Terms for Bonds
  • Chapter 2 Buying and Selling Bonds
  • The Bond Market: An Overview
  • Bond Pricing and Commissions
  • Terms Used in Buying, Selling, and Discussing Bonds
  • Bonds and the Internet
  • Chapter 3 Volatility: Why Bond Prices Go Up and Down
  • Interest Rate Risk, or a Tale of Principal Risk
  • Credit Ratings: How Credit Quality Affects the Value of Your Bonds
  • A Short History of Interest Rates
  • Summary
  • Chapter 4 Many Happy Returns, or Fundamentals of Bond Math
  • Bond Cash Flows
  • Yield
  • Total Return
  • Duration and Bond Price Volatility
  • Summary
  • Chapter 5 A Guide for the Perplexed: How to Read the Financial Pages of Your Newspaper
  • Interpreting the Table of Treasury Bills, Bonds, and Notes
  • The Yield Curve and What It Can Tell You
  • Pricing Information on the Web
  • Additional References
  • PART TWO INDIVIDUAL SECURITIES
  • Chapter 6 Treasuries, Savings Bonds, and Federal Agency Paper
  • What Is Unique About Treasuries
  • Treasury Bills, Notes, and Bonds
  • Inflation-Indexed Securities
  • Buying Treasuries
  • Zero Coupon Bonds
  • U.S. Savings Bonds
  • Federal Agencies
  • Summary
  • Summary: Questions to Ask When Buying Treasuries
  • Chapter 7 Municipal Bonds
  • What Is Unique About Municipal Bonds?
  • Should I Buy Munis? (or, Taxable-Equivalent Yield)
  • Credit Quality: General Obligation vs. Revenue Bonds
  • Municipal Bond Insurance and Other Credit Enhancements
  • Municipal Bonds with Special Features
  • Municipal Bond Pricing
  • Buying Municipal Bonds
  • Selecting Municipal Bonds
  • Summary: Questions to Ask Before Buying Municipal Bonds
  • Additional References
  • Appendix: The New York City Default
  • Chapter 8 Mortgage-Backed Securities
  • Why GNMAs Are Unique: GNMA Cash Flows
  • The Vocabulary of GNMA Returns
  • CMOs and Other Sons of GNMA
  • Restructured Cash Flows: Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (CMOs)
  • Buying Mortgage-Backed Securities
  • Summary
  • Summary: Questions to Ask Before Purchasing a Pass-Through
  • Additional References
  • Chapter 9 Corporate Bonds
  • What Is Unique About Corporate Bonds?
  • Risk Factors of Corporate Bonds
  • Corporate Bonds with Special Features
  • Junk Bonds
  • Buying Corporates
  • Conclusion
  • Summary: Questions to Ask Before Buying Corporate Bonds
  • Additional References
  • Chapter 10 International Bonds
  • Currency Risk
  • Categories of International Bonds
  • Emerging Markets Debt: Brady Bonds
  • Is There a Case for Investing in International Bonds?
  • Obtaining Information on International Bonds
  • Conclusion and Summary
  • Additional References
  • PART THREE INVESTING THROUGH FUNDS
  • Chapter 11 Bond Mutual Funds: An Overview
  • What Is a Fixed-Income Fund?
  • Measures of Bond Fund Returns
  • The Costs of Investing in Bond Funds
  • Why the NAV of Your Fund Will Go Up and Down
  • Selecting, Buying, and Monitoring Bond Funds
  • Taxes and Mutual Funds
  • Summary: Questions to Ask Before Buying a Bond Fund
  • Chapter l2 Varieties of Bond Funds
  • Money Market Funds
  • Funds Whose Price Goes Up and Down
  • "Plain Vanilla" Municipal Bond Funds
  • "Plain Vanilla" Taxable Bond Funds
  • Specialty Funds: GNMA; Zero Coupon Bond Funds
  • More Speculative Funds: Junk and Multi-sector Funds; Bonds Funds Investing in Foreign Bonds
  • Miscellaneous Funds: Index Funds; Loan Participation Funds
  • Conclusion and Summary
  • Chapter 13 Closed-End Bond Funds and Unit Investment Trusts (UITs)
  • Closed-End Bond Funds
  • Summary: Questions to Ask Before Buying a Closed-End Fund
  • Additional References
  • Unit Investment Trusts
  • Summary: Questions to Ask Before Buying a UIT
  • PART FOUR PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
  • Chapter 14 Asset Allocation
  • A Game Plan for Investing
  • A Model Portfolio for the Defensive Investor
  • Additional References
  • Chapter 15 Management of Bond Portfolios
  • How Should You Structure Your Portfolio?
  • Taking Advantage of Changes in the Levels of Interest Rates
  • Managing a Bond Portfolio for Total Return
  • Conclusion
  • Index