For example, JP Morgan (JPM) or Bank of America (BAC) took in Spanish bonds as collateral that MF Global had just purchased and made a loan that matured concurrently with the bond maturity date.

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He recommends investors look at long-term bonds with 10 years or more between the bond's call date and maturity date.

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Like a bond, convertibles usually have a maturity date and pay a regular coupon, which should appeal to income-minded investors.

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All else being equal, as a bond moves closer and closer to its maturity date, its yield moves closer and closer to zero.

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This leads me to the other advantage of bonds over bond funds: you can pick the maturity date and know with a high degree of certainty when you are going to get your money back.

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One, the yield to the worst call date is much better than yield to maturity of a non-callable bond (aka, bullet bond).

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The fact that early bonds had no fixed maturity date ensured that any change in interest rate was fully reflected in the capital value of the bond.

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