How to Buy Bonds: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners - NerdWallet (2024)

Bond investments are one way to invest, by lending a company or government money rather than buying a stake (like stocks).

Many financial planners advocate investing a portion of your portfolio in bonds because of their lower volatility and relative safety compared with stocks. A quick way to get exposure is with bond funds, either mutual funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which investors can purchase through most major brokerages.

Where to buy bonds

Buying bonds can prove a little trickier than buying stocks, because of the initial amount required to begin investing. While the face value of most bonds is $1,000, there are ways to buy bonds for less. The easiest ways to buy bonds are through a broker, an ETF or directly from the U.S. government in increments of $100.

A broker

You can buy bonds from an online broker — learn how to open a brokerage account to get started. Through this approach, you’ll be buying bonds from other investors looking to sell. You may also be able to receive a discount off the bond’s face value by buying a bond directly from the underwriting investment bank in an initial bond offering.

An ETF

An ETF typically buys bonds from many different companies, and some funds are focused on short-, medium-, and long-term bonds, or provide exposure to certain industries or markets. A fund is a great option for individual investors because it provides immediate diversification and you don’t have to buy in large increments.

A bond’s term refers to the length of time until the bond matures. One important difference between short- and long-term bonds is that longer-term bonds tend to offer higher interest rates due to their greater interest rate risk. In other words, it’s more likely that long-term bonds will be exposed and sensitive to interest rate changes over a longer time period.

Directly from the U.S. government

The federal government has set up a program on the Treasury Direct website so investors can buy government bonds directly without having to pay a fee to a broker or other middleman.

What to watch for when you buy bonds

There are two ways to earn income when investing in bonds. One strategy is to buy and hold the bond until it matures, and then collect the principal and interest.

If the bond price appreciates from when you purchased it, however, another strategy is to sell it early and make a profit. A bond’s price can go up if the borrower’s credit rating improves or if the interest rates fall. Bond prices have an inverse relationship to interest rates, meaning when interest rates rise, bond prices fall, and visa versa.

Not all bond investments are created equal. Use this three-step process to evaluate whether various bonds fit your portfolio:

1. Can the borrower pay its bonds?

The answer to this question is paramount, because if a company can’t pay its bonds — its promise to pay back money lent, with interest — there’s no reason for the average investor to consider buying them. With some sleuthing, you can estimate whether the company is able to meet its debt obligations.

Bonds are rated by ratings agencies, with three big ones dominating the industry: Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch. They estimate creditworthiness, assigning credit ratings to companies and governments and the bonds they issue. The higher the rating — AAA is the highest, and it goes down from there, like school grades — the greater the likelihood the company will honor its obligations and the lower the interest rates it will have to pay.

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Corporate bonds. Beyond ratings, the quickest way to determine the safety of a company-issued bond is by looking at how much interest a company pays relative to its income. Corporate bonds generally pay higher interest than government bonds because they have a relatively higher risk of default. Like a homeowner paying off a mortgage every month, if the company doesn’t have the income to support its payments, there will be trouble eventually.

Start with the company’s most recent annual operating income and interest expense, which can be found on a company's income statement. This info is available for every U.S. publicly traded company in a 10-K filing, available on a company's website or in the EDGAR database on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's website. Operating income differs from net income, because it factors out interest payments (which are tax-deductible) and taxes, and is the best measure of a company’s ability to pay its debts.

Government bonds. Evaluating government-issued bonds is a bit trickier because governments don't typically carry huge excess revenues that indicate stability. The good news? Government bonds generally are safer for investment, with those issued by the U.S. federal government deemed the world's safest and rated AAA.

U.S. government bonds are often referred to as Treasury Bonds or T-bonds, and are considered so safe that investors refer to the government's interest rate as the "risk-free rate." As a result, government bonds do not usually offer higher interest rates given the low risk of default. Two exceptions are Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) and I bonds, whose interest rates are adjusted regularly based on inflation. I bonds are offering historic rates of nearly 7% as of Nov. 8, 2022.

Municipal bonds. Bonds issued by cities, states and municipalities, though they've also been safe historically, are not quite so rock solid. You can investigate these bonds further on the Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA) site, which provides a bond's official prospectus, an issuer's audited financial statements and ongoing financial disclosures, including payment delinquencies and defaults.

A government's credit rating is a good first guide to its creditworthiness, and you can follow up to see if there are any recent defaults or other financial issues that might cause a future default or delinquency. Another benefit: Income from municipal bonds is generally tax free at the federal level, and sometimes even at the state level, if you purchase them in the state where you reside.

Zero-coupon bonds are bonds that do not pay interest, and are also known as “deep discount” bonds. They are sold at a reduced price compared to their face value, and a profit is made when the bond is held to maturity. Treasury or T bills are an example of a zero-coupon bond.

2. Is now the right time to buy bonds?

Once a bond’s interest rate is set and made available to investors, the bond trades in what’s called the debt market. Then the moves of prevailing interest rates dictate how the bond’s price fluctuates.

Bond prices tend to move countercyclically. As the economy heats up, interest rates rise, depressing bond prices. As the economy cools, interest rates fall, lifting bond prices. You might think that bonds are a great buy during boom times (when prices are lowest) and a sell when the economy starts to recover. But it’s not that simple.

Investors try to predict whether rates will go higher or lower. But waiting to buy bonds can amount to trying to time the market, which is not considered a good idea.

To manage this uncertainty, many bond investors “ladder” their bond exposure. Investors buy numerous bonds that mature across a period of years. As bonds mature, the principal is reinvested and the ladder grows. Laddering effectively diversifies interest-rate risk, though it may come at the cost of lower yield.

3. Which bonds are right for my portfolio?

The type of bonds that might be right for you depend on several factors, including your risk tolerance, tax situation and time horizon, as well as when you need income from these bonds, if ever.

A good bond allocation might include each type -- corporate, federal and municipal bonds -- which will help diversify the portfolio and reduce principal risk. Investors can also stagger the maturities to reduce interest-rate risk.

Diversifying a bond portfolio can be difficult because bonds typically are sold in $1,000 increments, so it can take a lot of cash to build a diversified portfolio.

Instead, it’s much easier to buy bond ETFs. These funds can provide diversified exposure to the bond types you want, and you can mix and match bond ETFs even if you can’t invest a large amount at once. Broadening your exposure also provides the benefit of decreasing the risk you face by not placing all your eggs in one basket.

Invest in bonds: next steps