Bond where to buy

There are several categories of bond issuers, from companies on up to federal and state governments. How safe a bond is largely depends on who the bond issuer is. Below is an overview of the usual bond types and issuers on the market:. Companies issue corporate bonds. Companies with excellent to low credit ratings issue investment-grade corporate bonds, which have lower interest rates because of the safety of the investment.

Companies with lesser credit ratings high-yield bonds, or junk bonds. Government-sponsored enterprises like Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac issue agency bonds. However, because the agency bond issuers are guaranteed by the federal government these bonds are generally considered safer than even the safest corporate bonds.

States, cities and local governments issue municipal bonds. You can buy Treasury bonds from us in TreasuryDirect. You also can buy them through a bank or broker. We no longer sell bonds in Legacy Treasury Direct, which we are phasing out. Want e-mail notification of auction results and upcoming auctions? Sign up for our mailing list. Getting started Goals Setting financial goals. Banking Opening a bank account. Alternatives to traditional banks.

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Directly from the U. Limited time offer. Terms apply. Not all bond investments are created equal. Use this three-step process to evaluate whether various bonds fit your portfolio:. With some sleuthing, you can estimate whether the company is able to meet its debt obligations. 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. 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.

This info is available for every U. Securities and Exchange Commission's website. Government bonds. Evaluating government-issued bonds is a bit trickier because governments don't typically carry huge excess revenues that indicate stability.

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