Quarterly Investment Roundup: New Moves in the Bond Market

At the end of every quarter, I like to take a good, hard look at my investments — track returns, check what’s working, and figure out what’s not. This time around, I noticed something interesting: I had more portfolio cash on hand than I intended. Since I’m also funneling savings into my fund this month (and this happens to be the last month I’ll be doing so for a while), I decided to put that extra cash to work in a new way.

Enter: my shiny new trading account—dedicated to bonds.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking: “Bonds? Really? Aren’t stocks the only way to go?” Sure, equities get the spotlight, but honestly, I’m just curious about how bonds work. Plus, this is spare cash I wasn’t planning to use to buy more stocks anyway. So why not give bonds a try?

I’m focusing mostly on corporate bonds and potentially some bond funds like PIMCO if I find the right fit down the road. Bonus: I already have some income bonds maturing next year, so setting up a bond account now helps me get ahead and smoothly move capital around.

So, what did I buy? I picked up 430 Co-operative Bonds. Including accrued interest (£25.01) and a £6 trading fee, my total investment was £473.91. This is my first real dip into the bond market, but I’m not too worried. Interest rates aren’t expected to climb much higher soon, and since this is all tucked away in my ISA, there’s no tax drag either.

Even if things don’t skyrocket, I’m okay with that — after all, bonds are about stability and steady income. Consider this my experiment, and maybe the start of a new chapter in my portfolio.