Revdex

“Bonds…municipal bonds,” we say as we look over our options while sipping on a martini (shaken, not stirred).

Why are we talking to ourselves about municipal bonds in our 007 voice? Because we’re looking into diversifying our investment portfolio, and we’re thinking municipal bonds might just be the way to go. But before we pull the trigger, we want to check out some estimates on what those puppies might yield over their 30-year maturity period. How do we do this? Why, we check out the Revdex, of course.

“Revdex” is a bond index that shows us exactly what we want to see: it looks at 25 high-grade, 30-year municipal bonds in a bunch of different industries, and estimates how much they’ll yield, according to current market conditions. Its official name is the “Bond Buyer’s Revenue Bond Index,” which is a mouthful, so its nickname is just Revdex (a combination of “revenue” and “index"). If we look at the Revdex and its BFF, the BBI (Bond Buyer’s Index), then we’ll get a nice, well-rounded picture of the overall bond market, and how it’s performing. Then we’ll probably have a much better idea of whether we should add some bonds to our portfolio, or spend the money on some flame-throwing bagpipes instead.