I am a big fan of Larry Swedroe's books, and his postings on the Diehards dot Org website (Amazon does not allow links or web site addresses in these reviews).

I used this book to contrast and compare Larry's asset class recommendations to Rick Ferri, and great author of many books.

I was a little surprised that Larry does not like Vanguard's Total Bond fund (VBMFX) because it contains 33% Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS). Larry would recommend other Vanguard short term bond funds which do not include any MBS like the Short Term Bond Index fund (VBISX) and the Intermediate Term Bond Index fund (VBIIX).

I already knew Larry was an advocate of including commodities in the form of PCRIX in your portfolio. Rick Ferri contends that commodities should not be included in your portfolio because they lower your portfolio return.

Larry also disagrees with two other Ferri recommendations, high yield (junk) bonds like Vanguard's High Yield fund (VWEHX) and emerging market bonds like Payden's PYEMX. Larry contends the rewards of junk bonds are not worth the risk and emerging market bonds behave too much like stocks.

Larry's book does a great job of teaching how to use bonds in a passive index approach to investing.

Index Mutual Funds: How to Simplify Your Financial Life and Beat the Pro's
The Richest Man in Babylon
Bogle on Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor
The Millionaire Next Door
The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio
A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing, Ninth Edition
The Coffeehouse Investor: How to Build Wealth, Ignore Wall Street, and Get On With Your Life
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing

Great first book to learn about bonds and similar financial products... what they should and should not be used for, what to buy for what, and what not to buy, and of course, the soundest advice that you should get a professional to review your individual situation to find the best strategy to preserve capital.

Like all of Larry's books this one is a gem. You will never find an author as skilled in explaining difficult subjects as Larry can. One would think he was simply a skilled language mechanic. Not so Larry is a skill investor too. He has written several book on investing and I have and read them all. For many years I was a bond investor and thought I had mastered the subject, Wrong I learned much from his book and you will too. Larry believes in passive investing tecgniques. Books on the subject are a little too complex for the average investor. I can offer a solution to this problem. I want to recommend for you a book titled How to Make Money in the Stock Market-Buy 2,500 different stocks for $1000 - Pay no Commission This book is a must for those wanting to find out about indexing (passive investing) and why it is the superior method for the small investor (and big one too). This book is an outstanding guide to personal investing. It will be useful to all investors from novices to highly the highly experienced. This book prepares the reader to approach investing from the standpoint of the underlying science. It is the antithesis of a 'get rich quick scheme'.

All aspects of Modern Portfolio Theory and passive (index) investing are explained in a through and easily understood manner. The aspect I like most is that as well as a solid theoretical foundation the book is very practical and shows the reader how to create (and more importantly) and manage over time a successful portfolio. This is a great book- for the beginning investor, it's a great place to start and for the experienced investor there are many valuable suggestions.

It's a shame to think of how much money investors have lost "investing" in the stock market over the years. I wish I had read this little book years ago. The chapter on automatic investing recommends a number of portfolios that follow modern portfolio theory and adjust risk as you age without any effort on the part of the reader at all. Had this book been written years ago and had I followed its directions I would be rich today of that I am certain. Nevertheless I will pursue one of the portfolios recommended and stick to my chosen asset plan.
How to Make Money in the Stock Market-Buy 2,500 Different Stocks-Pay no Commission

Like all of Larry's books this one is a gem. You will never find an author as skilled in explaining difficult subjects as Larry can. One would think he was simply a skilled language mechanic. Not so Larry is a skill investor too. He has written several book on investing and I have and read them all. For many years I was a bond investor and thought I had mastered the subject, Wrong I learned much from his book and you will too. Larry believes in passive investing tecgniques. Books on the subject are a little too complex for the average investor. I can offer a solution to this problem. I want to recommend for you a book titled How to Make Money in the Stock Market-Buy 2,500 different stocks for $1000 - Pay no Commission This book is a must for those wanting to find out about indexing (passive investing) and why it is the superior method for the small investor (and big one too). This book is an outstanding guide to personal investing. It will be useful to all investors from novices to highly the highly experienced. This book prepares the reader to approach investing from the standpoint of the underlying science. It is the antithesis of a 'get rich quick scheme'.

All aspects of Modern Portfolio Theory and passive (index) investing are explained in a through and easily understood manner. The aspect I like most is that as well as a solid theoretical foundation the book is very practical and shows the reader how to create (and more importantly) and manage over time a successful portfolio. This is a great book- for the beginning investor, it's a great place to start and for the experienced investor there are many valuable suggestions.

It's a shame to think of how much money investors have lost "investing" in the stock market over the years. I wish I had read this little book years ago. The chapter on automatic investing recommends a number of portfolios that follow modern portfolio theory and adjust risk as you age without any effort on the part of the reader at all. Had this book been written years ago and had I followed its directions I would be rich today of that I am certain. Nevertheless I will pursue one of the portfolios recommended and stick to my chosen asset plan.

Larry Swedroe and Joseph Hempen explain the misunderstood asset class of fixed income most clearly and advise the implementation of bonds into your investment portfolio in accordance with your objectives. Clearly and concisely, the authors tell you the pros and cons of various security types and familiarize you with "bondspeak", the insider language of the bond market. Read and digest this book. Then you'll know what to do with fixed income securities in your investment strategy just like a pro.

Joel

Larry Swedroe and Joseph Hempen explain the misunderstood asset class of fixed income most clearly and advise the implementation of bonds into your investment portfolio in accordance with your objectives. Clearly and concisely, the authors tell you the pros and cons of various security types and familiarize you with "bondspeak", the insider language of the bond market. Read and digest this book. Then you'll know what to do with fixed income securities in your investment strategy just like a pro.

Joel

This is a must read for anyone who wants to know about bonds and fixed income investing in general.

I wish I had read this earlier but that happens with most of us. I am glad that I ordered this now and have almost finished it reading.

There is some useful information for the average investment duffer. But the information to word ratio is way too small. Swedroe is a smart guy. His prolixity problem doesn't even approach that of David Swenson---a small consolation for the reader. Next time he should hire a ghost writer.

It was worth buying and reading. You should be able to achieve your goals and target your objectives properly with this book.

I've read book after book about equities, but there isn't much information about fixed-income asset investing. This book covers more than enough information to teach you about a winning bond strategy. If you are even trying to create a portfolio and wondering which funds to choice and why for your fixed-income selection, I would recommend this book. This book has taught me things I wish I would have known years ago.

I've read book after book about equities, but there isn't much information about fixed-income asset investing. This book covers more than enough information to teach you about a winning bond strategy. If you are even trying to create a portfolio and wondering which funds to choice and why for your fixed-income selection, I would recommend this book. This book has taught me things I wish I would have known years ago.

I find this book on bonds very unique. It goes over the traditional material on bonds, but what makes it unique is that it looks at bond investments from a Modern porfolio Theory, i.e., you cannot time the market, build a bond portfolio that works under any future interest rate conditions. For those that believe in MPT, it is a great book.

As difficult as it is to understand stocks and equity investing, bonds are more complicated and it seems less information is available. "The Only Guide to a Winning Bond Strategy You'll Ever Need" is just that, a helpful and concise guide written so that the novice investor will come to understand bonds and investing alternatives. From this practical information one can structure his own portfolio in an intelligent and informed manner. I appreciate the investment tools and strategies this guide has given me and am using the knowledge I have acquired in my current financial planning. For the bond investor I highly recommend this book.

This is an excellent book for the novice investor, but it also goes into enough detail on the quantitative underpinnings of the recommended strategies to satisfy a more sophisticated audience. I had read Thau's book and had slogged through various articles on inflation-indexed bonds (including those compiled in Brynjolesson & Fabozzi's book) before I found this book.

Mr. Swedroe's descriptions of the market are straightforward and I really appreciated his efforts to reduce complicated theory into a workable strategy for individual investors. (Appendix B which outlines a strategy for investing in TIPS was particularly interesting). I was also pleasantly surprised that the author quickly responded to a clarification question I sent via e-mail. Mr. Swedroe appears sincerely committed to investors' getting the best information.

That was really refreshing!

I always thought that investing in bonds would be a pretty basic activity... You see an interest rate, you buy the bond, you get the payments. Wrong! I've been set straight by the book The Only Guide to a Winning Bond Strategy You'll Ever Need : The Way Smart Money Preserves Wealth Today by Larry E. Swedroe and Joseph H. Hempen.

Contents: Introduction; Bondspeak; The Risks of Fixed-Income Investing; The Buying and Selling of Individual Bonds; How the Fixed-Income Markets Really Work; The Securities of the U.S. Treasury, Government Agencies, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises; The World of Short-Term Fixed-Income Securities; The World of Corporate Fixed-Income Securities; The World of International Fixed-Income Securities; The World of Mortgage-Backed Securities; The World of Municipal Bonds; How to Design and Construct Your Fixed-Income Portfolio; Summary; Afterword; Appendices; Notes; Glossary; Acknowledgments; Index

While not an expert investor by any means, I thought I understood the basics about bonds. I figured that buying a bond meant that you looked at the rating on how strong the company is, chose something that was investment grade, and then buy the security that provides the interest rate that you want to achieve. The reality is far, far different. I didn't realize there's really eight risks you have to manage when buying bonds: interest rate risks, credit risk, reinvestment risk, inflation risk, event risk, tax risk, liquidity risk, and agency risk. I didn't understand that the lack of transparency in the broker market means that you can get severely burned on a bond purchase and end up losing your stated interest rate *and* your principal. And of course, there are a myriad number of products, each with benefits and risks, and you can easily end up buying something that was designed to be "sold", not designed to be "invested". Swedroe and Hempen do a great job in outlining these things and many more in a relatively clear way. I say "relatively" because there is a fair amount of math and financial concepts presented here that you *do* need to understand and think about. This book would never be mistaken for a "Bonds for Dummies" title, but for serious investors looking to thoroughly understand the subject matter without delving into all the minutiae of formulas and calculations, you'd have a hard time topping this offering.

I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who is serious in their financial investments and takes personal responsibility for them. While you may be at the stage of life where equities are more important to you than bonds, there's information here that will allow you to round out your financial education and acumen, and it's a purchase that will pay for itself many times over.

Very well-written and thorough. Swedroe offers a very level-headed, articulate approach to bond investing. He offers a perspective which is hard to argue with, and ushers the reader through the whys and hows. If you read the book, it's unlikely you'll make any significant mistakes, and you'll actually enjoy the process. This is a book I can't imagine NOT having in the library. Before you purchase anything other than treasuries at auction, read it.

The strength of this book is in combining thorough coverage of the published research with practical, easily applicable advice. The authors know all the academic studies, explain them in a way that we nonspecialists can understand, and digest them into a clear, very usable strategy. Both authors have years of real-world, top-level bond trading experience, which also makes their advice especially useful; but the coverage of research, for me, is what sets the book apart. If you know nothing at all about bonds, I wouldn't necessarily start with it (I think it assumes you are not an absolute beginner); but once you have a sense of the basics, this book is essential reading, on the shortest short list.

This book strikes an unusually nice balance between comprehensive treatment of the subject and a style understandable by the average investor. Swedroe and Hempen's explanation of the pitfalls of the secondary bond market is particularly valuable, and the advice on Treasury Inflation Protected Securities more than paid for my copy. It's a great complement to Swedroe's first book ("The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You'll Ever Need"), which lays out Modern Portfolio Theory, but does not go into different types of bonds or the mechanics of the bond market in any depth. While Swedroe's advocacy of Modern Portfolio Theory comes across, I doubt that any reader would understand this theory from the book on bonds. The book ends with short, informative appendices on callable bonds and TIPS, plus a glossary that's particularly valuable because of the arcane terminology used in the bond market.

I have read many books about bonds. Most are highly technical and beyond comprehension by ordinary investors.

"The Only Guide to a Winning Bond Stratey You'll Ever Need," by Larry Swedroe and Joseph Hampen, is just what the title implies--a book that gives its reader, in understandable language, all the information he or she needs to select the fixed income investments required in a well diversified portfolio.

I recommend this book highly for anyone who wants to know more about bonds and other fixed income securities.

Taylor Larimore
Miami, Florida

'The Only Guide To A Winning Bond Strategy' and 'The Only Guide To A Winning Investment Stragegy You'll Ever Need' make some good and invaluable points. HOWEVER, you can't help but wonder if the information contained in both the books could have been condensed to a lengthy article. The basic point of both books is that the market is efficient and it is a waste of money to buy actively traded mutual funds or to try and actively trade securities yourself. I found it more than a little irritating that the same examples and quotes were used OVER and OVER again in 'Investment Strategy', so imagine my dismay when I bought 'Bond Strategy' and discovered that a good third of the book explains the same things as 'Investment Strategy' did (e.g., Efficient Market Theory) and uses the same quotes and examples. Seriously, I could have done without the antedotes regarding Copernicus and Galileo again. Similarly, each chapter is prefaced with half a page of quotes. Remember those kids in grade school (and University!) that tried to beef up their scanty reports with long quotes, appendixes, title pages and a nice looking report cover? Unfortunately, some of that is going on here. It is really obvious the publishers and authors of these books stretched their information so that it reached 'book length'. In 'Investment Strategy' you are paying for 85 pages of appendices and indexes, and probably another 100 of quotes and antedotes. That is over half fluff and filler. Don't get me wrong. There some valid points in this book. But maybe you should just go to your local library or Borders and take notes from Chapters 7 and 8 in 'Investment Strategy' and kind of skim the rest. I don't mind paying for books, but I feel a little duped by all the fluff in these books. Good points, but low bit rate.

Mr. Swedroe and Hempen's book continues Mr. Swedroe's aim to educate and empower the average person in the area of investing by making financial markets more understandable. Detailed expalanations of bond types like TIPS, corporate, municipals, etc.reveal to the patient reader the strengths and weaknesses of each.This detailed information is not easily available in typical financial magazines. Guidelines are provided to readers who create a recommended bond Investment Policy Statement allowing them to structure a personal bond plan while avoiding excessive expenses.

A great read. Discusses a difficult and murky subject in layman friendly terms. A must have book for any buyer in the market for fixed income securities.

Larry and Joe have joined forces to produce a much-needed reader-friendly bond book. When your asset allocation calls for bonds and/or bond funds, you need to understand what you're buying, and this book takes the mystery out of bonds and bond funds. I predict that this will become THE bond book for the majority of investors. It's definitely a winner!