Personal Finance and Investing

of how they're issued, the primary differences between the 4 types mentioned in the OP, etc., but you're right, I could make a post that would print out for pages and pages!

Buying individual bonds is not beyond the average person, it's just that you're talking about a thousand dollars per, on average. So it is on a par with buying 100 shares of a ten dollar stock.

There are problems with buying pure bond Mutual Funds which I discussed in this post from the old DU a few years ago.

Bond funds are perfect for some portfolios and not so much for others. It all depends on the individual investor.

Thanks very much for your input, BTW. This is exactly the kind of feedback I'm looking for.