Most investors buy plain-vanilla bonds, and often the biggest wrinkle is that they are callable.

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Looking to diversify away from plain-vanilla stocks and bonds?

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For a long time, universities invested in a plain-vanilla mix of stocks and bonds.

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Stocks and bonds are in, while plain vanilla instruments like annuities and insurance are definitely out.

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If, instead, he had taken the dividends in cash, paid the taxes, and invested the rest in plain vanilla Series E U.S. Savings Bonds that were popular at the time which guaranteed a minimum annual interest of 4 percent, compounded semi-annually, tax-free the end result would have much different.

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