Individual corporate bonds' fixed coupon payments enable investors to lock in today's high bond yields for the long term, something investors cannot do with bond funds or money market funds. But how do investors select from the 11,000 corporate bonds available on online bond trading platforms such as Fidelity.com?
Luckily, there is The Bondcast, Bondsavvy's exclusive financial webinar where it presents new corporate bond recommendations to its subscribers. This fixed income blog post provides answers to FAQs for The Bondcast and the Bondsavvy investment service.
New Corporate Bond Recommendations Coming May 29
Bondsavvy presents new bond recommendations each quarter during The Bondcast. Our next edition of The Bondcast will be May 29, 2025 at 5:00pm EDT. We make new recommendations each quarter so we can incorporate issuing companies' latest quarterly financials. By May 29, 2025, all companies with December 31 yearends will have filed their Q1 quarterly financials, so we will have each company's most up-to-date financials to inform our investment recommendations.
Why Own Individual Bonds vs. Bond Funds and Stocks
One of the biggest weaknesses with bond funds their distributions vary monthly, so investors cannot lock in high long-term income the way investors can with individual corporate bonds. The 10- and 20-year US Treasury yields have risen 33 and 49 basis points, respectively, from March 3 to May 19, 2025. Many corporate bond yields have also been trending higher, which is providing investors compelling opportunities to lock in high corporate bond yields.
One of the world's largest bond funds, the $343 billion Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund (VBTLX), has an annual portfolio turnover of about 40%. This means that, over one year, nearly half of the portfolio has changed from what it was at the beginning of the year. Therefore, investors in these mega bond funds have no idea what long-term income they can expect from such investments.
For stocks, the S&P 500 dividend yield on May 19, 2025 was a paltry 1.28%, and dividend payments can be slashed or discontinued overnight when companies hit a rough patch.
The income offered by individual corporate bonds is contractual and lasts until a bond's maturity date.
Overview of The Bondcast
We founded Bondsavvy to empower individual investors to benefit from the income, capital growth, and relative safety individual corporate bonds can provide. The Bondcast simplifies the 11,000-bond corporate bond universe to a select number of easy-to-understand investment recommendations. It puts individual investors in control of their fixed income portfolios.
1. Why own individual corporate bonds now?
We strongly advocate investors build bond portfolios over time; however, as of this February 4, 2025 update, there are several factors making now a compelling time to invest in individual corporate bonds:
- The S&P 500 now trades near a 28x price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio compared to approximately 19x ten years ago, according to multpl.com.
- The S&P 500 dividend yield was 1.28% on May 19, 2025, a low level not seen since the dot-com bubble reached its peak in early 2000, according to Gurufocus.com
- Since bottoming out on September 16, 2024, 10- and 20-year US Treasury yields have increased over 83 and 94 basis points to 4.46% and 4.95%, respectively, on May 20, 2025. This has caused many investment-grade corporate bonds to fall several points, providing compelling buying opportunities.
- Money market 7-day yields have fallen about one percentage point since the US Federal Reserve began cutting rates in September 2024, to approximately 4.23%. We would expect money market yields to fall into the 3s should the Fed cut rates further per the March 2025 Fed dot plot.
- Income distributions for bond funds and ETFs vary monthly and do not enable investors to lock in long-term income, as can be done with individual corporate bonds.
- Since bond funds and ETFs do not trade relative to par value and lack underlying financial metrics, investors cannot assess whether bond funds or ETFs are trading at compelling values.
No. While there is always excitement around new bond recommendations, as of May 20, 2025, Bondsavvy had 35 corporate bonds rated 'buy' in addition to 26 rated 'hold.' We have as much conviction in previous recommendations rated 'buy' as we do in brand-new picks.
We update all buy/sell/hold ratings from previous recommendations each quarter based on the latest issuer financials and bond pricing and yield metrics. We provide additional email updates in the case of mergers, tender and exchange offers, and other material events impacting our bond issuers.
In addition, before attending their first edition of The Bondcast, subscribers would be well served to review our prior recommendations. They may decide to purchase some of these recommendations in advance of our May 29 edition of The Bondcast.
3. Why should I attend The Bondcast financial webinar?
Once investors understand the benefits of owning individual bonds vs. bond funds, they need to decide which among the 11,000
available corporate bonds to add to their portfolios. Without Bondsavvy, this is a daunting task.
Without Bondsavvy, investors must sift through thousands of bonds and rely on corporate bond ratings for financial
analysis. The problem with this approach is that bond rating methodologies are flawed, often underrating high yield bonds and overrating investment grade bonds. In addition, bond ratings do not speak to whether a bond is a compelling investment, as they ignore a bond's price, YTM, credit spread, and interest rate risk.
Bondsavvy's corporate bond
research evaluates over 15 investment
considerations when we make new bond recommendations. Not only do we evaluate the creditworthiness of a bond
issuer, but we seek to understand whether a prospective bond investment represents a good value. Our goal is
to identify bonds that pay high yields relative to their risk and offer compelling total return opportunities.
Read our fixed income investing
strategy post to learn more.
Bondsavvy simplifies bond investing by taking a large universe of bonds and narrowing it down to a select list of recommendations we believe can outperform the leading bond funds and ETFs. Bondsavvy subscribers use our bond recommendations to buy bonds online and build bond portfolios.
4. Is The Bondcast a live event? How will I gain access?
Yes, The Bondcast is a live subscriber event we host on Zoom. Shortly before the live event, we will email Zoom details for The Bondcast. Should you not be available at 5:00pm EDT on May 29, you can access a recording of the live event several hours after it is finished. Upon subscribing, you will see details for all current 60+ buy/hold recommendations as well as the presentations supporting each recommendation.
The Bondcast is
interactive, as our subscribers post questions that our founder Steve Shaw
answers throughout the webcast.
We kick off each edition of The Bondcast with a brief discussion of overarching investment themes.
These themes help us narrow down the bond universe to certain sectors, credit quality, and maturity dates. Figure 1b shows a slide where we discussed key investment themes during a previous edition of The Bondcast.
Figure 1b: Sample Slide from Previous Edition of The Bondcast
You'll notice a table of contents to the right of the slide. Once we post a recording of The Bondcast in our subscriber area, we append a table of contents so subscribers can click on the slides of greatest interest.
5. If I subscribe to Bondsavvy, do I gain access to prior Bondsavvy bond recommendations?
Yes. From our first set of bond recommendations made September 26, 2017, Bondsavvy has made 137 corporate bond recommendations. We currently have 35 bonds on our 'buy' list and another 25+ corporate bonds rated hold. As a Bondsavvy subscriber, you gain access to our existing bond recommendations, as well as all new bond picks for as long as you are a Bondsavvy subscriber. View our corporate bond returns page to see the performance of previously recommended bonds, including the bond names and CUSIPs for bond recommendations we have exited.
Click here to get four prior bond pick updates.
6. How long is The Bondcast and what's the agenda?
The Bondcast is a 60-minute presentation, which consists of i) Overarching investment themes and market
conditions; ii) Pricing and financial ratios of our recommended bonds and bond issuers; iii) Historical bond prices
and call provisions; and iv) Analysis of each bond issuer's business, growth, risks, capital allocation, capital
structure, and recent financial performance.
Based on the investment analysis presented during The Bondcast, subscribers will be able to decide which bonds
they want to add to their investment portfolios. Click to view a sample edition of The Bondcast.
7. How many corporate bond
recommendations will you make at each edition of The Bondcast?
We typically make four new bond recommendations during each edition of The Bondcast. Our corporate bond recommendations are at the individual bond, or CUSIP or ISIN, level.
8. How are Bondsavvy recommendations split between investment-grade and
high-yield corporate bonds?
Historically, we have had a fairly even split; however,
based on market conditions, at certain editions of The Bondcast, it may skew slightly
toward either investment-grade or high-yield corporate bonds. Of our last 45 corporate bond recommendations through March 2025, we have recommended 23 high yield bonds and 22 investment grade bonds.
View our corporate bond returns page
to see a breakdown of our investment
grade and high yield bond recommendations.
9. Am I going to have to do a bunch of work to make corporate bond investments?
No.
Bondsavvy does the heavy lifting for you. During The Bondcast, we will
provide you key pieces of information on each company and corporate bond we are recommending, boiling down each
recommendation to two to three PowerPoint slides.
Along with additional color provided during
The Bondcast, you will have the information you need to make an investment. All you'll need to do
is copy and paste your selected bond CUSIPs (or ISINs for non-US investors) to execute trades through online bond
trading platforms such as
Fidelity.com, E*TRADE, Schwab, Vanguard, and Interactive Brokers, or whichever brokerage you use.
That said, investors must understand that
investing in individual corporate bonds is not a "set it and forget it" investment strategy in the way bond index
funds are. It is incumbent upon Bondsavvy subscribers to view our new recommendations and recommendation
updates so they can make investment decisions.
International subscribers should look into which online brokerages support corporate bond trading in their areas.
10. What happens if a bond recommendation changes?
Bondsavvy updates its bond recommendations each quarter
during The
Super Bondcast financial webinar. During The Super Bondcast, we review each issuing
company's updated financials, as well as each bond's update price, yield to maturity, and credit
spread. We then discuss the rationale for each updated buy/sell/hold
recommendation.
We complement The Super Bondcast with written recommendation updates we email subscribers and post in the Bondsavvy subscriber
area.
Click here to get four prior bond pick updates.
11. Can I view prior editions of The Bondcast?
Yes, for as long as you subscribe to Bondsavvy,
you have access to recordings of all Bondsavvy financial
webinars, including The Bondcast and Super Bondcast.
12. Is Bondsavvy an SEC-registered trading
platform, broker-dealer, investment adviser, or asset manager?
None of the above. Bondsavvy is not registered as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act
of 1940, or the securities laws of any state
or other jurisdiction, nor is such registration contemplated. Bondsavvy makes recommendations on
individual corporate bond investments and charges
a fee to customers. We do not hold customer assets, and we do not execute trades on behalf of
customers.
13. Are Bondsavvy's corporate bond investment recommendations specific to my portfolio?
As Bondsavvy operates under the publishers' exemption of the
Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the investments discussed during The Bondcast do not
take into account an investor's particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs. In making an
investment decision, each investor must rely on his or her own examination of the investment, including the merits
and risks involved. Please
read the Bondsavvy general disclaimer.
While Bondsavvy does not provide
personalized advice, we have published the How
To Build a Bond Portfolio blog post, which provides some key considerations for investors
constructing bond portfolios.
We hope to welcome you as a new Bondsavvy subscriber and that we'll see you on The Bondcast.
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