[...] may not be very exciting to some, but to me, it's provides an easy and cheap way to setup a bond ladder without buying the bonds [...]

[...] Money Matter and More Musings has hosted this weeks Carnival of Personal Finance.  As per usual, a lot of quality finance articles were posted.  I submitted my article on How Bond/GIC Ladders work. [...]

[...] How Bond/GIC Ladders Work by Frugal Trader @ Million Dollar Journey. [...]

[...] How Bond/GIC Ladders Work by Frugal Trader @ Million Dollar Journey. Instead of all your capital being stuck in one term, it allows you to diversify your interest rates/exposure as the term/maturity comes due. [...]

I know some Bond traders who make a good long term rate over 10% annualized in bonds – and they do some simple (but sexy) stuff. If you are well tuned to the interest rate movements and can analyze economic data – you can probably make good money with much less volatility trading bonds.

Convertible bonds offer some arbitrage opportunities as well if you can be bothered to monitor both the bond and the underlying common…

You also have split shares whereby a dividend paying stock is split into a capital share and a preferred share. So if a stock is $100 with a dividend of $4 (or 4%), then it can be bought and split by an intermediary for a capital share worth $50 with no dividend (but if the underlying common increases from $100 to $110, your capital share increases from $50 to $60) and a preferred share of $50 with the dividend of $4 (8% yield). Since it is taxed preferentially it’s like getting a 11% bond.