The Bond Book, Third Edition: Everything Investors Need to Know About Treasuries, Municipals, GNMAs, Corporates, Zeros, Bond Funds, Money Market Funds, and More 3rd Edition

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 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".

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.

The bond market is complex but bonds should be a part of anyones investing strategy. Annette Thau's book is an excellent comprehensive introduction to bond investing. It will really help you make decisions about your bond investing and understand the historical context of current market movements - which turns out to be very important in the bond market! If you read any book read this one. Don't be scared off by the 428 page size - it is set up so that you can read whatever parts are useful to you. Its organized in a clear and concise manner with clear detailed explanations of complex ideas. The first hundred pages is the basics and is excellent. The second hundred and sixty pages is about the individual types of bonds. Then a section on bond funds followed by portfolio construction and asset allocation. If there is any criticism I found this last section weak but this information can be better gained elsewhere.

I picked up this book because, as an LO the mortgage industry, bonds were a bit confusing to me. This book really explains every facet of the bond market in intricate and easy-to-understand detail. A must read for anyone in the home financing industry.

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.