We founded Bondsavvy to empower individual investors. We take the guesswork out of bond investing by presenting actionable, easy-to-understand bond recommendations during The Bondcast. The alternative is spending hundreds of hours researching bonds on your own or relying on bond ratings, which don't speak to whether a bond is a good investment, ignore interest rate risk, and often mis-rate corporate bonds.
This June 5, 2020 edition of The Bondcast included five bonds, of which four have already been sold. Three of the four bonds we have sold outperformed the benchmark iShares HYG and LQD corporate bond ETFs. The sold bonds include:
Figure 1: Performance of Recommended Bonds from June 5, 2020 Bondcast We Have Sold
| Bond | CUSIP | Date Sold | Total Return | iShares HYG/LQD Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirby Corp. 4.20% 3/1/28 | 497266AC0 | 3/25/21 | 16.12% | 2.05% |
| RPM Int'l 4.550% 3/1/29 | 749685AX1 | 3/25/21 | 5.41% | 2.05% |
| TransAlta 4.500% 11/15/22 | 89346DAF4 | 3/25/21 | 5.42% | 9.25% |
| TransAlta 6.50% 3/15/40 | 89346DAE7 | 3/7/24 | 27.15% | 12.37% |
Investment holding periods
Our goal is to maximize the total return for each recommendation over the time we recommend holding a particular bond. In this case, the Kirby '28, RPM '29, and TransAlta '22 bonds were anomalies for their short holding periods.
We recommended the Kirby '29 bond June 5, 2020 at a price of 96.75 and recommended selling it March 25, 2021 at a price of 108.97. The price increase was driven, in part, by the rally in US Treasurys, which we believed was not going to continue forever. After the US Treasury market tanked in 2022 due to the Fed's rapid interest rate increases, the Kirby '29 bond price had fallen to the high 80s in October 2022.
Locking in capital gain to maximize total returns is a big part of our fixed income investment strategy; however, you will see in our corporate bond returns page that short-term holding periods such as the one with Kirby '29 are an exception.
View our corporate bond returns page to see the holding periods and investment performance of all previous Bondsavvy corporate bond recommendations. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
For Informational Use Only
This sample edition of The Bondcast is provided for informational purposes only so that you can see the level of investment analysis BondSavvy presents in connection with its corporate bond investment recommendations. Based on this information and other information contained on the Bondsavvy website, you can decide whether a BondSavvy subscription makes sense for you. Please click slide 3 for our full disclaimer.
Once Bondsavvy recommends a corporate bond, we follow the performance of the bond and the issuing company. We then update subscribers on whether we recommend continuing to hold previously recommended bonds, to buy more, or to sell the bond. Since we presented this edition of The Bondcast on June 5, 2020, it is no longer current.
Important Note Regarding Slides 4 and 5
On slides four and five of the June 5, 2020 edition of The Bondcast, you will see a summary of the industry diversification of our recommendations. Please note that, when we issue new recommendations, they are at the bond, or CUSIP, level. Therefore, when it shows, on slides four and five, we recommended the bonds of a particular issuer, we have not recommended all bonds but typically only one or two of the corporate bonds of that issuer. In addition, we may have sold a portion of the bonds shown on these slides to lock in capital appreciation and to maximize our total return. You can see the bonds we have sold on our corporate bond returns page.
Table of Contents
Click on a summary topic to navigate through the video.We founded Bondsavvy to empower individual investors. We take the guesswork out of bond investing by presenting actionable, easy-to-understand bond recommendations during The Bondcast. The alternative is spending hundreds of hours researching bonds on your own or relying on bond ratings, which don't speak to whether a bond is a good investment, ignore interest rate risk, and often mis-rate corporate bonds.
This March 8, 2018 edition of The Bondcast included four bonds, of which all have already been sold. All four of the recommended bonds outperformed the benchmark iShares HYG and LQD corporate bond ETFs. The sold bonds include:
Figure 1: Performance of Recommended Bonds from March 8, 2018 Bondcast We Have Sold
| Bond | CUSIP | Date Sold | Total Return | iShares HYG/LQD Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lennar 4.750% 5/30/25 | 526057BV5 | 11/24/20 | 27.18% | 15.67% |
| AECOM 5.125% 3/15/27 | 00774CAB3 | 6/3/21 | 36.44% | 19.84% |
| Alphabet 1.998% 8/15/26 | 02079KAC1 | 4/1/19 | 5.66% | 5.58% |
| Expedia 3.800% 2/15/28 | 30212PAP0 | 6/19/20 | 13.85% | 8.82% |
Investment holding periods
Our goal is to maximize the total return for each recommendation over the time we recommend holding a particular bond.
Locking in capital gain to maximize total returns is a big part of our fixed income investment strategy; however, you will see in our corporate bond returns page that short-term holding periods such as the one with Alphabet '26 are an exception.
View our corporate bond returns page to see the holding periods and investment performance of all previous Bondsavvy corporate bond recommendations. Also, please read our Key Considerations When Selling Bonds Before Maturity blog post. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
For Informational Use Only
This sample edition of The Bondcast is provided for informational purposes only so that you can see the level of investment analysis Bondsavvy presents in connection with its corporate bond investment recommendations. Based on this information and other information contained on the Bondsavvy website, you can decide whether a Bondsavvy subscription makes sense for you. Please click slide 3 for our full disclaimer.
Once Bondsavvy recommends a corporate bond, we follow the performance of the bond and the issuing company. Each quarter, we then update subscribers on whether we recommend continuing to hold previously recommended bonds, to buy more, or to sell the bond. Since we presented this edition of The Bondcast on March 8, 2018, it is no longer current.
Table of Contents
Click on a summary topic to navigate through the video.Become a Better Bond Investor
Watch our two free editions of The Bondcast and learn:
- How we identify corporate bond investments that can beat bond funds and ETFs
- What made bonds of Alphabet, Expedia, Lennar, AECOM, Kirby, TransAlta, and RPM Int'l buys
- When it is time to sell a bond
- The macro factors that impacted our bond picks
