@john adrian, that will be part of our later articles on bond investing. But in gist, one way for you to invest in bonds is to visit a bank and ask them about the bond offerings. They should know those things. If they don’t, you need to contact directly the Trust Division of your bank, they’re normally located in the headquarters.

@Millionaire Acts, correct. Bonds really are an alternative if investors don’t want huge amount of risks. But, of course, as you said, the returns are also not that high.

@Jay, of course, there is no 100% assurance that companies (or governments) will return the money owed to bond investors. But as bond issuers, they are obligated to pay. One way to look at the risk associated with bonds is to look at the credit rating of that bond. Those with high credit ratings are supposedly “safe” investments while those with lower ratings are “risky” investments. However, as what we’ve seen during the subprime mortgage mess, even those companies with high credit rating can default on their loans. Generally, however, bonds are still relatively safer compared to stocks.