The World Wide Web has hundreds of sites devoted to the trading of stocks. But That's not the case for fixed income, another significant branch of investing is under-represented and often overlooked.
A new site, however, developed and published by Mark Prosser of NYC is aiming to remedy the situation.
"LearnBonds.com is an educational site dedicated to fixed income. Certificates of deposit, bonds and even saving bonds are what we're all about," said Mr. Prosser in an RTTNews interview. Most of site is devoted to bonds.
The site may be accessed at WWW.LearnBonds.com.
Prosser, who is also publisher of the highly successful foreign exchange informational site DailyFX.com says the need for a fixed income site was glaringly apparent.
"There are hundreds of websites providing analysis and education on the stock market. But it's difficult to find any quality sites devoted to fixed income," says Mr. Prosser "The site was developed to satisfy a need in the marketplace."
Prosser admits the level of public knowledge about bond trading, especially government bonds, pales in comparison to general stocks.
What the public doesn't know, he says, can be detrimental. "For starters, bonds are traded over the counter, not on exchanges. So it' especially important to have a good broker," he says. "Brokers can have a significant influence on the price or premium paid for bonds."
Mr. Prosser notes that LearnBonds.com includes sections showing bond price mark-ups from brokers and the varying maturities for bonds.
He adds that municipal bonds are among the most-overlooked options available, despite offering significant advantages to investors.
Municipal bonds are bonds issued by local governments or agencies operating within states. They are very popular among investors for three reasons, says Mr. Prosser.
"First, they are free of federal, state and local taxes, which means savings on interest income could approach 50-percent."
A second reason, he says, is safety. He points to a report from Moody's Investor Service showing the default rate on municipal bonds at just 0.1 percent between 1970 and 2010.
The third reason, says mr. Prosser is the high yields. "Even thought municipal bonds are slightly more risky than government bonds from the U.S. Treasury, their yield are usually 10-15 percent higher."
A section of the LearnBonds site specifically devoted to municipal bonds may be accessed at www.learnbonds.com/municipal-bonds
Mr. Prosser is also quick to point out the benefits of bond funds. "Trading in individual bonds may not be what many investors want, but bond funds bring specific benefits."
He notes that the availability of individual bonds is not as constant as it is for stocks, and adds that bond funds help the individual investor gain a pricing advantage of 1 to 1.5 percent usually reserved for institutional investors buying individual bonds.
by RTT Staff Writer
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