How to find best muni bond prices?

There is more to the process of investing in municipal bonds than just examining the prices. If you are seriously considering investing in muni bonds, you will first need to do some research. The homework is important because this is your money you are investing and you want to ensure that you will be accomplishing both the most reliable as well as the best muni bond prices.

Municipal bonds have long been the darlings of long term investors because they represented less risk than stocks. Changes in the market place for muni bonds have added a bit more risk but knowing those risks and investing wisely is a priority for the best yield.

First step will be to look at your portfolio and decide if you want to invest in a balanced mode (some conservative and some higher risk) or if you have the finances to counter balance with higher or lower risk as a majority of the investment. While some muni bonds once demonstrated a long term positive yield, there are new companies in the green field and technology that are here to stay and might be a good choice for the best price.

Second step will be to make a list of any muni bonds that you currently might be interested in. You will be using this as a guideline as you do the research and crossing off any that don't measure up.

Third step will be to use real-time on-line tools for price, ticker and relevant economic indicators. InvestingInBonds is one resource that can get you started. The sources you use should include the ratings of the companies, including S&P, Fitch and Long Term Bond Ratings. Other resources can include Forbes, Lipper and Morningstar.

Fourth step will be to examine your list and divide those into high and low risk, along with the better advantages of tax free and insured. The concept of tax-free can be ambiguous, so you will need to do a bit of investigating to ensure that it truly is tax free. The IRS does examine the investments of a company and can deem the bond as unqualified. In the past, there were a plethora of insurance companies that backed municipal bonds. This number is dwindling, as state and local governments experience financial problems.

While you are going through your steps, you should be adjusting your list to those that fit your needs. Now it's time to look at the best muni bond prices.

Depending upon your risk level, you can decide on your low and high risk investments using the credit rating, duration (number of years), assets, yield, minimum investment amounts and the gap between triple A and triple B ratings..

Use multiple on-line resources to finalize your list based on your particular investment needs. If you are unsure, seek out the advice of an investment counselor to do a review of your list. Investment counselors often have their fingers on the pulse of investing information and trends that you may not be aware of.

The information supplied in this article is not to be considered as medical advice and is for educational purposes only.