Bond Basics: A Fixed-Income Primer

Bonds are an essential portfolio building block, but they can also be difficult to understand. With interest rates near all-time lows, it’s a great time to take a deeper dive into how bonds work and learn about their risks, their benefits and the role they can play in a long-term investor’s portfolio.

Our Bond Basics special report lays out key facts on fixed-income investing, including:

• Comparing bonds and bond funds
• Explaining the relationship between price and yield
• Assessing credit, interest-rate and inflation risk
• Defining common terms and describing types of bonds

When stocks are surging or interest rates are low, investors tend to overlook the value bonds bring to a portfolio. But bonds serve an important role for long-term investors year in and year out. To help you gain a better understanding of fixed-income investing and provide a foundation for future conversations, let’s go over some of the basics.