It seems to me you will need to do some work and learning to make any sort of return.
There are corporate bonds paying around 11% for companies which are making a profit currently. That works out to around $91 a month, but they pay coupons twice a year typically.
And there are corporate bonds paying a higher interest rate, but many of these companies are losing money! And how will they pay off their bond (loan) if they are not making any money?
With an account at a brokerage like ETrade, they offer bonds which are below investment grade, and which have higher interest rates. BUT all bonds look alike, so you need to first investigate the companies to see if they are making money or not. (Read their financial statements.) [work!]
And then as the bonds pay off, if you want to re-invest the money, you would need to find additional bonds to purchase. [work!]
Safer are "investment grade" bonds, but those companies could be losing money as well. So best to check their financial statements too.
Quite a bit to learn about bonds. Best to read a book on the basics first. [Learning.] And note some bonds called "zero coupon" bonds do not pay coupons.
Anyway when buying bonds, you are in the "money lending business". And you can make a lot of money just like all those credit companies out there. The only thing is you want to make darn sure the company you are lending money to can make the payments and pay you back! (Just like the banks do.)
And then there are full service brokers who will invest the money for you, but they want a commission. So you will lose money at the get go! But then no work or learning required. And they might only offer investment grade bonds and around 7% return.
If you want to learn about bonds, I would recommend the following book which I feel is the best. The best because it is written in "English" as opposed to accountant/math/CPA incomprehensible language. Easy to understand and very complete.
The Bond Book, Third Edition: Everything Investors Need to Know About Treasuries, Municipals, GNMAs, Corporates, Zeros, Bond Funds, Money Market Funds, and More by Annette Thau...
Amazon.com: the bond book thau: Books
