How can you You can invest directly in bonds You can put your money into a fund where the fund manager chooses invest in the bonds bonds? There are many different types of bond funds to choose from The different ways you can invest in bonds While it is possible for you to buy bonds yourself, it’s not the easiest thing to do and it tends to be quite expensive. An expert perspective Pooling your money Investors may find that it’s much more straightforward You can pool your money with other investors to buy a fund that invests in bonds. This has two main to buy a range of bonds, diversifying your advantages: investments to reduce exposure to any one government or company. Your money is combined with investments from lots An experienced fund manager invests and manages of other people, which means it can be spread across on your behalf. An active manager typically aims to a range of bonds in a way that you just couldn’t do if outperform other similar bond funds. you were investing on your own. Because of the mix of investments, however, bond funds cannot promise a fixed income over time. Funds are normally managed by professionals who are backed by all the research resources of an investment company. This helps them find the best opportunities and avoid bonds that may have problems down the line; however, there’s no guarantee of course that they will be successful. 11