Junk bonds as a name can be confusing because in dictionary it means anything that is regarded as worthless but in finance it can be defined as a high yield bond that is rated below investment grade at the time of purchase and considered as speculative grade. These bonds have an elevated risk of default but these bonds usually pay higher yields than better quality or investment grade bonds in order to make them attractive to investors. Given below are some of the advantages of junk or high yielding bonds –
Advantages of Junk Bonds
Helpful during Financial Crisis
Many good companies face financial crisis at various stages of their existence which causes a company’s debt obligations to be downgraded to a level below investment grade and hence it is not that only below par company’s issue junk bonds, good companies during their financial crisis also issue junk bonds.
Good Investment Option
From the investor’s viewpoint, junk bonds provide both income as well as potential for capital gains, also they can be a good source for diversification for the investors because of their high yield.
Higher Yields
Junk bonds do not correlate exactly with either investment-grade bonds or stocks. Since their yields are higher than investment-grade bonds, they’re less susceptible to interest rate change which is not the case with investment grade bonds.
Liquidity
These bonds are traded actively in secondary market and hence any investor can sell these bonds in the open market whenever he or she wants which results in junk bonds bringing liquidity to the investors who are investing in these bonds.
However before investing in junk bonds of any company investors should look into detail about various risks associated with such bonds like interest rate risk, credit risk, inflationary risk, currency risk, liquidity risk, default risk, maturity risk and market risk.