corporate bonds or treasury bonds?

[fmjvertigo123]

hey guys, i know it's alot safer getting treasury bonds compared to corporate bonds. but how much safer, there seems to be bigger percentage return, with corporate bonds, i know recession has just hit, but is it very common for a company to go bankrupt, if you do your research of it being a solid company?

 

[Martinghoul]

Dude, you're asking very generic questions to which there are no simple answers.

 

[fmjvertigo123]

sorry, im new ! what im really looking for mart, is a low risk fixed percentage return, to try and get a balanced portfolio! what would you recommend looking at mate?

 

[Martinghoul]

No probs... It's just that it's very difficult to answer a question like this, since there's all sorts of complexities involved. Generally, think about it this way... When you say "low risk, fixed percentage return" there's an infinite range of possibilities. Individual preferences and definitions of risk and return vary wildly. So, for example, you could buy a 2y Greek govt bond that will return you an annual 13.4%, if everything goes well. Alternatively, if you think that's too risky, you could buy a 2y German govt bond that will return you an annual 1.455%, if everything goes well. These are the two extremes, but there's all sorts of combinations of risk/return in between. Moreover, that's just what you can get in the European govt bond mkt. If you widen your scope to corporate debt, equities, EM etc etc, the possibilities become, quite literally, infinite. So first thing you need to decide on are the broad themes that you'd like to explore. Hope this helps.

 

[fmjvertigo123]

So first thing you need to decide on are the broad themes that you'd like to explore. Hope this helps.

thats a great post mart, very helpful indeed! fixed returns is what im interested in TBH. for e.g. with equites they go up and down, and you will lose the value of the money you invested right? (please correct me, if im wrong on this one)
however with bonds, they give you a fixed return, the only risk is the company may go
bust and then you lose your money!

is there a good sight you can compare fixed investements? the only fixed investments
i know of are bonds, corporate and treasuries! how many more are there?

thank you :cheesy:

 

[Martinghoul]

Every asset is fixed and not fixed at the same time. Equities, bonds, it's all the same, apart from some nuances, such as seniority. I don't really know of any particularly good sites for comparing investments like bonds.