Bonds: The Unbeaten Path to Secure Investment Growth

This is a great book to learn about the different types of bonds and to perhaps open peoples eyes that only want to invest in Real Estate or Equities. Yet, I didn't make it very far to see just how many flaws it contains:1)Within the first two chapters there is a constant referral to the year 2009. This year is conveniently picked because it comes after the Great Recession and hence when stocks were down bad. Of course stocks are going to look bad if you use that year. Let me give you a lot of other years to use and let's look at the data again.In addition, statements like "From 2000 to 2009 yields a flat market" doesn't really prove anything. It's easy to cherry pick times and dates to prove almost anything. I think if you are going to cherry pick then you need MULTIPLE points. That was not presented really.Statements like "1900 to 2000 stocks and bonds returned about the same" doesn't mean much either. People don't tend to invest for a 100 years. Regardless, I wasn't able to verify the truth of this statement as no source with data was given.2)The Bob example on page 22 is just horrendous. He has the man withdrawing 10% the first year of retirement and then over 10% the second year. It's over 10% because you are now using less than a million dollars to arrive at the percentage. Someone needs to inform the authors that people don't take out over 20% of their retirement in the first two years. More like 8%. There have been lots of studies on proper withdrawal rates. I would dare say, that bonds aren't going to allow someone to continue withdrawing 10% every year into retirement either.He does have a point in that what if the market is down bad and you need to withdraw? Well, that's where dividend and income investing come in to play. Bonds share a part in that but so do equities.3)He says the yield on stocks will be less after taxes and fees. You only pay a fee on a stock when you buy and sell. Given the compounded increase over many years, this will be a very small portion of the pie. You shouldn't be killing all of your retirement earnings with commissions like a swing trader.Even Mutual funds and ETF's have very low expense ratios these days. Tax wise-All of these can be held in an IRA or better yet Roth IRA and tax effect is reduced further. Bonds aren't completely free from taxes either. Their estimations of reducing historical yields of over 9% down to 2-3% due to fees and taxes is just nonsense.4)Another argument they have against Stocks is the risk of bad timing. This is why so many investors Dollar Cost average these days. As the old saying goes, you can't time the market. The dividend/income investor is less concerned about this as well.On the other hand, they do have a very good point. Timing can make or break you with equities. I think it's more accurate to say if you Dollar cost average over many decades you can cut down on the risks of bad timing.5)They said they were not chasing returns but cash flow and risk management. Meanwhile, they spent so much time talking about returns??I do believe the book possesses value. They do accurately point out many of the flaws with equities. It's just that their arguments for the all bond or even a mostly bond profile aren't good enough. I would have liked to seen more data over a variety of years. Too much referencing one event in time (2009).Statements they made I agree with-the longer you hold stocks the more risk you have that a major correction will come. They are correct, too many people believe that past bull runs will continue to repeat. They are correct in that the market may return very little for an extended period of time.I personally like my bond funds, especially in this environment. They even expressed displeasure with those.I must say I AM glad someone is still arguing for bonds. I think my generation is in for a rude awakening thinking the market is going to make them rich or set them for retirement. I do think they aren't doing proper risk management.However, I don't think running an all bond portfolio makes any sense at all unless you are a 100 years old.....

If you're looking for a book that is more than the simple this is what a coupon is and bonds are debt instruments and other basic information you can get from investopedia, this is the book for you. This book perfectly fills the gap between very basic bonds 101 and the full on textbooks that are writen by Frank Fabozzi. I don't know of any other book that fits so well in that gap, and I've looked. It's completely approachable if you have no bond knowledge, but it goes deep enough into investment strategy to be helpful.When I moved from being a stock broker to a bond broker my boss recommended I start with reading this book in addition to the in house training. I already had a financial background and understood all of the bonds 101 information. This book quickly got me up to speed on the bond market and various trading strategies.While a good portion of the book is preaching the all bond portfolio, you don't have to buy into that belief to get an extreme value from this book. It is definitely worth the money. I highly recommend it.

This is the best book on bonds I've found so far. The authors clearly are deep believers in the power of predictable payments from bonds. If you want the most bullet proof portfolio possible to avoid losses of any kind, then this book will show you how to build it.Although I'm not sold on the need to make an all bond portfolio, that doesn't mean I can't use the techniques in here to build the bond portion of my account. It seems to gloss over the price of inflation in their case studies section. It's fine and dandy to show a 1,000,000 portfolio making 5% in bonds for the next 15 years till maturity, but when you take 2% inflation into account then you're really only able to spend 3% a year, or 30k off of a $1mil account or lose purchasing power every year. I think that's overly conservative.Use this book to figure out how to make a bond ladder to plan out your next 5-7 years of withdrawals from your retirement account. then let the rest run in S&P index funds so you don't need to have any fear of how you'll pay your bills if we encounter a stock market correction and you'll be all set.

There is no other book like this for its comprehensiveness. it will take you through every question you can anticipate about which bonds to buy, when to buy them, when to sell them what are the mechanics for buying and selling, how do you calculate price, how do you balance different types of bonds, and what types of bonds are best for your particular lifestyle situation. it's missing just a few new developments, obviously since it's been a few years since its publication date, but I would not let that deter you!

Some repeats along the way, I guess to drive home the point. The information is a little dated. Outside of that the book is a very useful read. Gives a strong point of view with a lot of great details on setting up your portfolio using bonds. Author believes in an all bond investment. However there is recognition of other possibilities than just totally bonds. As for me I like the idea of such safety. Also does talk about inflation and gives advice and ideas on dealing with it. You just need to keep an open mind to what is being communicated and the ideas behind it.

I am finally free of the stock market casino. Built a CD ladder before buying this book and this book explains why that was smart and how I can improve my ladder. Invested through 1987, 2000 and 2008 stock market downturns and realized I cannot handle the volatility when I see my hard earned savings evaporate. If you want to gamble, go to a real casino and have fun. I now can plan for cash flow for real expenses, not hope and pray. I swear the Richelsons wrote the book just for me. I can handle the fixed income risks way easier than the stock market. Buy this book and start investing with peace of money.