Bonds

You don't. Usually that's institutional investors who buy bonds, as the whole bond market operates via telephone.

>>2386604
Is it usually $1000?

So basically I buy a bond and don't know what it's worth untill the cash out date?
Seems irresponsible...

>>2386639
I'd guess not, I can buy my (very stable) gvts bonds for about 140 a piece

unsure about govt bonds anon. Red pill me why you want some

I'd actually like to know the answer to this too, would've expected it to be simpler

>bonds

Do those even beat inflation at this point?

>>2386893
No, bonds are usually quoted in % of par.
100% of par = full face value, usually 1000 USD.

If you see gvt bonds trading at 140% of a par, that means they trade at 1400 USD per 1000 USD of face value. Why is it higher than the face value? Coupons. Not only you get 1000 USD at maturity, but you get some coupon payments every 6 months.
Basically 140% of a par is a net present value of all the cash flows of a bond.

Read this and you'll be fine:
http://www.investopedia.com/university/bonds/

>>2387051
If you're a bond trader it's not about beating the inflation in the long term, it's all about betting on duration and credit spreads.
Bonds are in a bull market since early 80s'

Also good luck with being a bond trader as an individual.

>>2387051
If you have like $5m mill lying around https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/rates-bonds/government-bonds/us

look at the 30 year treasury coupon rate 3.00 (which I'm assuming is %), that's 150k a year guaranteed (or 75k semi-annual). That's pretty good, regardless of inflation imo.

>>2387058
Ahh yeah, that makes sense