| | Preface | p. xiii |
| | Acknowledgments | p. xvii |
| | The Basic Basics | p. 1 |
| | The Life of a Bond | p. 3 |
| | First, What Is a Bond? | p. 3 |
| | How Bonds Are Issued and Traded | p. 3 |
| | Key Terms for Bonds | p. 4 |
| | The Bond Market: An Overview | p. 7 |
| | The Bond Market: An Overview | p. 7 |
| | Bond Pricing: Markups and Commissions | p. 8 |
| | How Bonds Are Sold: Dealers, Brokers, and Electronic Platforms | p. 11 |
| | Terms Used in Buying, Selling, and Discussing Bonds | p. 17 |
| | Volatility: Why Bond Prices Go Up and Down | p. 25 |
| | Interest Rate Risk, or a Tale of Principal Risk | p. 25 |
| | Credit Ratings: How Credit Quality Affects the Value of Your Bonds | p. 31 |
| | A Short History of Interest Rates | p. 43 |
| | The Federal Reserve and Interest Rates | p. 48 |
| | Summary | p. 50 |
| | How Much Will I Earn, or Basic Bond Math | p. 51 |
| | Bond Cash Flows | p. 51 |
| | The Many Meanings of Yield | p. 55 |
| | Total Return | p. 62 |
| | Duration and Bond Price Volatility | p. 65 |
| | Summary | p. 71 |
| | What You Need to Know before Buying Bonds | p. 73 |
| | The Bond Market in the Financial Press and on the Internet | p. 73 |
| | The Treasury Market | p. 74 |
| | "Yield Spreads" and Benchmarks | p. 81 |
| | Investinginbonds.com, FINRA.org/marketdata and EMMA.msrb.org | p. 85 |
| | Summary | p. 94 |
| | Individual Securities | p. 97 |
| | Treasuries, Savings Bonds, and Federal Agency Paper | p. 99 |
| | What Is Unique about Treasuries? | p. 100 |
| | Treasury Bills, Notes, and Bonds | p. 102 |
| | Inflation-Indexed Securities | p. 105 |
| | Buying Treasuries: Treasury Direct | p. 110 |
| | Zero Coupon Bonds | p. 112 |
| | U.S. Savings Bonds | p. 117 |
| | Federal Agencies | p. 124 |
| | Summary | p. 126 |
| | Municipal Bonds | p. 129 |
| | What Is Unique about Municipal Bonds? | p. 129 |
| | Should I Buy Munis? (or, Taxable-Equivalent Yield) | p. 130 |
| | Credit Quality: General Obligation versus Revenue Bonds | p. 133 |
| | The Rise and Fall of Bond Insurance | p. 136 |
| | "Recalibrations" of Municipal Bond Ratings | p. 139 |
| | Municipal Bond Pricing | p. 147 |
| | Shopping for Municipal Bonds Using the Internet | p. 149 |
| | Selecting Municipal Bonds | p. 165 |
| | Summary | p. 169 |
| | Additional References | p. 170 |
| | Appendix: The New York City Default | p. 170 |
| | Corporate Bonds | p. 173 |
| | What Is Unique about Corporate Bonds? | p. 173 |
| | Risk Factors of Corporate Bonds | p. 175 |
| | Corporate Bonds with Special Features | p. 178 |
| | Junk Bonds | p. 181 |
| | Shopping for Corporate Bonds Using the Internet | p. 186 |
| | Summary | p. 202 |
| | Mortgage-Backed Securities | p. 205 |
| | Why GNMAs Are Unique | p. 206 |
| | How Prepayments Affect GNMA Cash Flows | p. 211 |
| | The Vocabulary of GNMA Returns | p. 213 |
| | CMOs and Other Sons of GNMA | p. 224 |
| | Agency Backing of Mortgage-Backed Securities: Ginnie, Fannie, and Freddie | p. 229 |
| | Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) and Collateralized Debt Swaps (CDSs) | p. 232 |
| | The Financial Crisis: 2007-2008 | p. 235 |
| | Current State of the Mortgage-Backed and Asset-Backed Securities Market | p. 236 |
| | Summary | p. 239 |
| | Additional References | p. 241 |
| | International Bonds | p. 243 |
| | The International Bond Market: An Overview | p. 244 |
| | Currency Risk | p. 248 |
| | Emerging Markets Debt: Brady Bonds | p. 250 |
| | Buying Individual International Bonds | p. 254 |
| | Is There a Case for Investing in International Bonds? | p. 260 |
| | Obtaining Information on International Bonds | p. 261 |
| | Summary | p. 262 |
| | Investing Through Funds | p. 263 |
| | Bond Mutual Funds: An Overview | p. 265 |
| | Differences between Bond Funds and Individual Bonds | p. 265 |
| | How Much Will I Earn? | p. 267 |
| | The Costs of Investing in Bond Funds | p. 273 |
| | Why the NAV of Your Fund Will Go Up and Down | p. 277 |
| | Selecting, Buying, and Monitoring Bond Funds | p. 285 |
| | Sources of Information Concerning Bond Funds | p. 288 |
| | Taxes and Bond Funds | p. 297 |
| | Summary | p. 299 |
| | Money Market Funds and Tax-Exempt Bond Funds | p. 301 |
| | Money Market Funds | p. 301 |
| | Bond Funds Whose Price Goes Up and Down: "Plain Vanilla" and More Speculative Funds | p. 310 |
| | Municipal Bond Funds | p. 314 |
| | Summary | p. 324 |
| | Taxable Bond Funds | p. 327 |
| | Domestic "Plain Vanilla" Taxable Bond Funds | p. 328 |
| | Treasury Inflation Protected Securities Funds | p. 336 |
| | GNMA (and Other Mortgage) Funds | p. 339 |
| | More Speculative Funds | p. 341 |
| | Miscellaneous Funds | p. 354 |
| | Summary | p. 358 |
| | Closed-End Bond Funds, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), and Unit Investment Trusts | p. 361 |
| | Closed-End Bond Funds | p. 361 |
| | Summary: Closed-End Funds | p. 372 |
| | Sources of Information on CEFs | p. 373 |
| | Exchange-Traded Funds | p. 374 |
| | Advantages and Disadvantages of Bond ETFs | p. 385 |
| | Summary: Exchange-Traded Funds | p. 390 |
| | Unit Investment Trusts | p. 392 |
| | Summary: Unit Investment Trusts | p. 394 |
| | Management of Bond Portfolios and Asset Allocation | p. 395 |
| | Management of Bond Portfolios | p. 397 |
| | When Will I Need the Money? | p. 398 |
| | Portfolio Structures | p. 399 |
| | Finding Attractive Buy Points | p. 401 |
| | Swaps | p. 405 |
| | Managing a Bond Portfolio for Total Return | p. 407 |
| | Portfolio Allocation | p. 411 |
| | Portfolio Allocation | p. 411 |
| | Asset Allocation | p. 413 |
| | The Case for Bonds Revisited | p. 414 |
| | The Current Environment and the Bond Market | p. 415 |
| | Conclusion | p. 419 |
| | Index | p. 421 |