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

I'm now considering putting some bonds into my portfolio. But, I never invest in anything I don't truly understand. I bought 5 books on bonds. This is the only one which starts by giving a solid foundation and then building on it. The author understands what the none finance major needs to know to make good decisions. Bonds are more complicated than stocks or stock mutual funds. This book will take some effort to read but will be well worth the time.

Just finished reading "The Bond Book", and in my opinion is unequivocally the most comprehensive book on bond investing that I've read. Annette Thau brings a wealth of knowledge to the topic, in an easy to understand manner. Not only are all types of bonds explained, but a valuable perspective on what type(s) of bonds are best suitable for each individual investment style and objective. I found her explanation on bond funds vs individual bonds to be particularly insightful. I would love to see an updated version of the book after 2022, which was the worst year for bonds in nearly a century.

This book covers a wide range of introductory topics to bonds and does a decent job explaining how to select bonds in their respective categories. However, I found the more important concepts to be lacking, especially when math is involved. Thau seems to avoid incorporating formulas in this book, which makes it harder for me to grasp the intuition between how bonds are priced, their relation to interest rates, and other concepts such as zero coupon bonds. For example, Thau completely skips the math behind Yield to Maturity and just incorporates the qualitative factors behind it. By talking only about the effects of the math and not the math itself, Thau forces you to memorize the relationships between various aspects of the bonds, which can become convoluted. However, for the non-math oriented investors, this book is very helpful and offers a great deal of insight into bond selection.

I read what I believe was the first edition of this book quite a few years ago. Oddly, I don't know what ever became of it. I just finished reading the Kindle version of the current edition which served as a refresher of everything I've learned about fixed-income investing over the years. While the book probably isn't for the "professional", it will serve as a valuable tool for the beginning investor or anyone who wants to learn more about fixed-income investing. This is not some "rah, rah, rah, everything is fine" book written by someone with a vested interest in getting investors to line up to buy the latest product. Instead, it provides a very factual and candid explanation of just about every fixed income product an investor would want to buy....and many that they should stay far away from. This revised edition was written just after the 2008 "financial crisis" and gives quite a bit of background information as to its causes. It should serve as a warning that what many always thought of as safe investments (like money market funds and funds of U.S. Treasuries/agencies) have their own set of risks and aren't a guaranteed investment by any means. Anyone interested in adding fixed income investments to their portfolios (and that should include every investor) should consider this "required reading".

The book clearly illustrated everything you need to know about almost all kinds of bonds. Perfect for me as a business students and as a supplement for my bond classes. The good thing is, this book not only contains technical parts such as some calculations and equations, but it also has some "street knowledge" about buying and selling a bond, like how the dealer will charge you a higher price and how you can avoid being charged extra by being informed. The only thing I think it can improve is, the book kind of goes over some concepts fast, so if you don't have any finance class before you will need some extra search online or ask someone if you want to keep 100% pace with this book. But so long as you have some preliminary finance class you won't have any problem reading. Enjoyable read.

This is my first review on Amazon. I picked up this book as part of my study program for the Series 65 Exam. This book ranks right up there with Ben Graham's "Securities Analysis"; "Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits" by Phillip Fisher; "A History of Interest Rates" by Sidney Homer; and Bernard Baumohl's "The Secrets of Economic Indicators". Thau's book contains some historical perspective comparing bonds to stocks, and various classes of bonds: Treasuries, Muni's, and Corporates. The author also gives her two cents with regards to rating agencies and how they are compensated by the issuer creating a "conflict of interest environment" and contributed to the 2008 meltdown. And some of us know that a similar scenerio played out during the mid 1990's, where compensation was tied to research analysts and investment banking clients during the "Internet Bubble" in the area of equities. After the "Interent Bubble" burst in 2000, and the decline in the NASDAQ, followed by the accounting scandals involving Enron and WorldComm to name a few that came to the foreground, did research analysis and compensation become seperated from investment banking and the fees generated by such deals. The book's importance is that the bond market is 3x the size of the stock market as indicated by the author - so this area of investing and its impact is too big to ignore. For those investors out there that do not own this book: BUY IT! Even if you don't invest in bonds. THE BOND BOOK by Annette Thau is simply a must read for anyone interested in the Financial Markets.

I learned a good amount about bonds. The book is fairly well written, not overly technical. I'd recommend it. The only thing is that there seems to be some sloppy editing especially toward the later chapters. Or no editing at all, more likely. The author seems to have just taken a prior version, made a few hasty tweaks, and sent it off to the presses. That part of it is annoying, but generally you should read it. I learned things about bonds that apparently everybody else already knows, or so it seems sometimes when I read other investment material.

While bond investing is not an "edge of the seat" topic, this book has been a very valuable addition to my Kindle library. It is far more than a general overview into the bond market, plus gives you great direction to other resources. After reading it cover to cover, I now find myself constantly referring back to it. There is so much misinformation in the media lately regarding the bond market - the content in this book will give you the firm foundation you need to weed through it all. This book has prevented me from making some big mistakes - and I have to echo all the strong recommendations. If you need to buy one book on the bond market - buy this one. The book is surprisingly readable and is very well organized for later use as a reference.

Bem bom

Het is een goed en duidelijk boek maar deze versie dateerde van meer dan 10 jaar geleden en terwijl de principes niet verandered, had het interessant geweest om meer te lezen over the veranderingen in de laatste 10 jaar. Ondanks dit, nog een aanraader

Great ready, dry but interesting

Very professional, very useful.

Best book on Bonds.