Bonds are a relatively safe and conservative investment that provide a predictable stream of stable income.
What Is A Bond? How Do Bonds Work?
Bonds are seldom as sexy as those wild-ride shares, but they’re reliable money-makers. Learn about bonds and how to match them to your personal investing style.
How To Buy Bonds?
Bonds may be lower risk, but they are not risk-free. You should research bonds just as you would stocks before purchasing them. Learn how and where to buy bonds.
The Bond Market
The bond market is where participants can issue new debt or buy and sell debt securities to provide long-term funding for public and private expenditures.
Bond Index
A bond index is a method of measuring the value of a section of the bond market. Investors use it to describe the market and compare the return on investments.
Bond Quotes
A bond quote is the price at which a bond is trading. It’s expressed as a percentage of par value. A bond quote above 100 means the bond is trading above par.
Bond Rates, Yields And Pricing
Many new investors are surprised to learn that a bond’s price fluctuates and changes on a daily basis, just like that of any other publicly-traded security.
Bond Calculators
A bond calculator measures the present value of a bond’s cash flow (its future interest payments), and par value (the bond’s value upon maturity).
Bond Premiums
A bond selling at premium is trading above its par value. It’s considered premium when it offers a coupon rate higher than its prevailing interest rates.
Bond Ratings
Think of a bond rating as a school report card. Companies have ranking for bonds based on the likelihood of the bond defaulting on its invested amount.
Bond Valuation
Bond valuation is a technique for determining the fair price of a bond. The theoretical fair value is the present value of the stream of cash flows it’s expected to generate.
Bond Insurance
Bond insurance is when an insurance company guarantees scheduled payments of interest and principal on a bond in the event of a payment default by the issuer.
Savings Bonds
Savings bonds, one of the safest investments, are debt securities issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to pay for the government’s borrowing needs.
Municipal Bonds
Municipal bonds are issued by states, cities, or other local governments to raise money to fund services or infrastructure projects (road repair, sewers, purchasing land, etc.).
Corporate Bonds
Corporate bonds are a major source of capital for many businesses along with equity and bank loans/lines of credit. They can be quite secure or sometimes risky.
Treasury Bonds
There’s no such thing as a risk-free investment, but if there was it’d be treasury bonds. Interest is paid semi-annually and taxed only at the federal level.
Bond Funds
A bond fund invests in bonds or debt securities. It pays dividends including interest on the fund’s underlying securities plus realized capital appreciation.
Ranking of Top Stock Newsletters Based on Last 3 Years of Stock Picks as of December 27, 2025
We are paid subscribers to dozens of stock and option newsletters. We actively track every recommendation from all of these services, calculate performance, and share our results of the top performing stock newsletters whose subscriptions fees are under $500. The main metric to look for is "Return vs S&P500" which is their return above that of the S&P500. So, based on December 27, 2025 prices:
Best Stock Newsletters Last 3 Years' Performance
| Rank | Stock Newsletter | Picks Return | Return vs S&P500 | Picks w Profit | Max % Return | Current Promotion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  Alpha Picks | 82% | 56% | 76% | 1,583% | January Promotion: Save $50 HERE |
| Summary: 2 picks per month based on Seeking Alpha's Quant Rating; consistently beating the market every year since launch; tells you when to sell and they have sold almost half. See complete details in our full Alpha Picks review. Or get their Premium service to get their QUANT RATINGS on your stocks to better manage your current portfolio--read our Is Seeking Alpha Worth It? article to learn more about their Quant Ratings. | ||||||
| 2. |  Zacks Value Investor | 60% | 40% | 54% | 692% | January Promotion: $1, then $495/yr |
| Summary: 10 stock picks per year on January 1st based on Zacks' Quant Rating; Retail Price is $495/yr and includes 6 different services including those below. Read our Zacks Review. | ||||||
| 3. |  Moby.co | 50% | 16% | 74% | 2,569% | January Promotion: Next pick free! |
| Summary: 60-150 stock picks per year, segmented by industry; consistently beating the market every year; retail price is $199/yr. Read our full Moby Review. | ||||||
| 4. | Zacks Top 10 | 36% | 15% | 71% | 170% | January Promotion: $1, then $495/yr |
| Summary: 10 stock picks per year on January 1st based on Zacks' Quant Rating; Retail Price is $495/yr and includes 6 different services. Read our Zacks Review. | ||||||
| 5. |  TipRanks SmartInvestor | 20% | 9% | 62% | 464% | Current Promotion: Save $180 |
| Summary: About 1 pick/week focusing on short term trades; Lifetime average return of 355% vs S&P500's 149% since 2015. Retail Price is $379/yr. Read our TipRanks Review. | ||||||
| 6. |  Action Alerts Plus | 27% | 5% | 66% | 208% | Current Promotion: None |
| Summary: 100-150 trades per year, lots of buying and selling and short-term trades. Read our Jim Cramer Review. | ||||||
| 7. | Zacks Home Run Investor | 5% | -0.4% | 45% | 241% | January Promotion: $1, then $495/yr |
| Summary: 40-50 stock picks per year based on Zacks' Quant Rating; Retail Price is $495/yr. Read our Zacks Review. | ||||||
| 8. | Dogs of the Dow Strategy | 16% | -1.8% | 43% | 44% | Current Promotion: None |
| Summary: Buy the 10 highest yielding dividends stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on January 1st and sell on Dec 31st each year. | ||||||
| 9. | IBD Leaderboard ETF | 11.4% | -1.8% | n/a | n/a | January Promotion: NONE |
| Summary: Maintains top 50 stocks to invest in based on IBD algorithm; Retail Price is $495/yr. Read our Investors Business Daily Review. | ||||||
| 10. |  Stock Advisor | 34% | -3.9% | 75% | 289% | January Promotion: Get $100 Off |
| Summary: 2 picks/month and 2 Best Buy Stocks lists focusing on high growth potential stocks over 5 years; Retail Price is $199/yr. Read our Motley Fool Review. | ||||||
| 11. | Zacks Under $10 | -0.2% | -4% | -4.3 | 263% | January Promotion: $1, then $495/yr |
| Summary: 40-50 stock picks per year based on Zacks' Quant Rating; Retail Price is $495/yr. Read our Zacks Review. | ||||||
| 12. | Rule Breakers | 34% | -5.1% | 69% | 320% | Current Promotion: Save $200 |
| Summary: Rule Breakers is included with the Fool's Epic Service. Get 5 picks/month focusing on disruptive technology and business models; Lifetime average return of 355% vs S&P500's 149% since 2005; Now part of Motley Fool Epic. Read our Motley Fool Epic Review. | ||||||
| Top Ranking Stock Newsletters based on their last 3 years of stock picks covering 2025, 2024, and 2023 performance as compared to S&P500. S&P500's return is based on average return of S&P500 from date each stock pick is released. NOTE: To get these results you must buy equal dollar amounts of each pick on the date the stock pick is released. Investor Business Daily Top 50 based on performance of FFTY ETF. Performance as of December 27, 2025. | ||||||