What is a bond?

Learn what a bond is

When governments and companies want to raise money, they’ll often do so by issuing bonds.

Bonds are effectively promissory notes. In return for buying bonds, investors will receive the money they put in back, plus interest.
Investors usually buy bonds because they promise a fixed return, in the form of interest, that is supposed to be paid back at one or several preset dates.

As the interest rate paid on bonds is usually fixed and pre-set, it’s common for bonds to be referred to as ‘fixed-income’ investments. Today, not all bonds have a fixed interest rate. Many are now issued with variable or floating interest rates, which change over time.

Deep dive: What are bonds and why investors buy them?

More terms

Clean price

The quoted price of a gilt, which excludes accrued interest
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Time Value of Money

The concept that money you have now is more valuable than the same sum in the future.
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UK Treasury bill

A debt instrument issued by the UK government with a maturity of less than one year.
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Year to Date (YTD)

A period of time that starts with the first day of the current calendar year and ends with today.
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W-8BEN Form

Non-US individuals and businesses may have to file this form for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the US tax authority.
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Time-Weighted Rate of Return (TWRR)

A return calculated over the time period invested, that excludes extraneous elements, such as deposits to and withdrawals from the investment accounted.
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Venture Capital

A type of financing that investors provide to startups, who sometimes announce getting said financing in TechCrunch, to big fanfare.
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Costs and Charges

The money you pay when investing.
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Earnings per share

We look at what earnings per share mean and how to calculate it
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