Income investing today : safety and high income through diversification

The why and how of fixed income -- Why consider fixed income -- Growth versus income (stocks versus bonds) -- What kind of investor are you? -- Investment strategies -- Asset allocation -- The right allocation for you -- Diversification -- Retirement planning -- What's exciting about 6 percent returns? -- What you need to know about risk and uncertainty -- Subjective risks -- Objective risks -- Uncertainty -- Understanding interest rates : general features -- Compound interest -- When interest rates rise -- Comparative yields explained -- What to pay : fair value pricing -- When to sell -- Using leverage and margin -- Credit ratings -- Below-investment -grade ratings -- How to read the ratings -- Credit ratings drift : an ongoing problem -- The Federal Reserve Bank -- Security dealers and brokers -- Information sources and how to use them -- Investment advice via the media -- Prospectuses -- Misuse of the English language -- Getting railroaded by China -- When to worry about the accounting -- Financial statements -- Balance sheet -- Income statement -- Statement of cash flow -- Shareholders' equity statement -- Defining earnings -- More important than the numbers -- Summary -- Bonds -- Basic features -- U.S. treasuries -- Corporate bonds -- Equipment trust certificates -- Direct access notes -- Junk bonds -- Step-up and pay-in-kind bonds -- Zero-coupon bonds -- Put bonds -- Insured municipal bonds -- Lower rated muni bonds -- Conduit bonds -- Taxable munis -- Unrated munis -- Buying municipal bonds -- Municipal bond defaults -- Miscellaneous topics -- The bond indenture and trustee -- Call provisions -- Put provisions -- Money market accounts and funds -- Certificates of deposit -- Duration -- Questions to ask when buying a corporate bond -- Questions to ask when buying a muni -- Preferreds and hybrids -- General features -- Hybrids : bonds/indirect bonds -- Preferred equity traded (PET) bonds -- Trust preferreds -- Third-party trust preferreds -- Foreign preferreds -- Partnerships -- Perpetual preferred stock -- Buying preferreds -- Convertibles and adjustable-rate debt -- Convertible bonds -- Convertible preferreds -- Adjustable-rate debt -- Income stocks -- Overview -- Canadian energy and royalty trusts -- Other Canadian trusts -- Real estate investment trusts (REITs) -- Other common stocks -- Mutual funds -- Overview -- Bond funds -- Junk bond funds -- Municipal bond funds -- International bond funds -- Exchange-traded funds (ETF) -- Closed-end funds (CEFs) -- Closed-end bond funds -- Closed-end preferred funds -- Buy-write funds -- Securities and other investments to avoid -- Unit investment trusts (UIT) -- Derivatives -- SEQUINS and ELKS -- PARRS -- Hedge funds -- Commercial paper, bankers acceptances, and repos -- Collateralized debt -- Other topics of interest -- Bankruptcy -- Endgame strategies -- Tax strategies -- Dividend strategies -- Taxation and mandatory convertible preferreds -- Tax reporting -- Original issue discount -- Summing up -- A long-term strategy for income investing -- Appendix : Internet investment information sources -- Glossary.