Lebenthal on Munis

Jim Lebenthal

• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Year: 2014
• Topic: Business
• eBook ISBN:
  9781497631120
• Subtopic: Bonds
• Index: Business

IF YOU KNEW WHAT I KNOW... Would you buy a municipal bond for the subways in New York City that's rated AA-, or only A? Would you care what a bond is for as long, as it's a general obligation backed by the issuer's full faith, credit, and taxing power? Would you pay 109 for a bond, a premium of $90 for every $1,000 face value, knowing you're going to get back only $1,000 at the end??Would it be crazy to buy a 30-year bond at age 80? Would you read "these bonds are not a debt of the state" as a fair warning, Buyer Beware??Tax free municipal bonds. Would you buy them at all? STRAIGHT TALK FROM THE MAN WHO PUT MUNIS ON THE MAP FOR THE INDIVIDUAL INVESTOR. Would telling you the whole story about investing in municipal bonds, and making sure you know the risks involved, kill the sale? "I'll take my chances," says Jim (Municipal Bonds Are My Babies) Lebenthal. For 45 years, Jim Lebenthal wrote and starred in the Lebenthal family's municipal bond business commercials - information nuggets that educated the public and turned munis into a household word, wherever his face and voice were seen and heard. Outraged by what Wall Street had done to the financial markets with reckless abandon, and Bernie Madoff with malice aforethought, Jim gives equal time in Lebenthal On Munis…Deciding, "Yes…" or "No!" to the Whys and Why Nots for investing in his "babies." "Balancing the heady appeal of tax exemption with the payment record of municipal bonds in the Depression and the volatility of resale prices during the inflation tortured '70s and '80s, isn't optional for a broker," says Lebenthal. "Full Disclosure is the law." In Lebenthal on Munis, Jim carries out that law, even if Full Disclosure means turning Jim and his babies, thumbs down. DECIDING, "YES…" OR "NO!"

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface. Because Disclosure Isn’t an Option. It’s the Law.
• 1. “Second in Safety Only to U.S. Treasuries, Son.” Verily! Verily!
• 2. Income, and No Tax: How Long Can a Good Thing Last?
• 3. In Pursuit of a Knowable, Quotable Fixed Rate of Return:Yield to Maturity
• 4. Never All Short, Never All Long, Never All Wrong
• 5. Degrees of Sincerity in the Commitment to Pay
• 6. How Much Is That in Dollars?
• 7. When the Flag Touches the Ground
• 8. Matching One You with a Million and a Half Possibilities
• 9. The MuniProfiler A Model of Lebenthal in a Bottle
• 10. Triple-A Insured 1971–2008
• 11. Auction Rate Securities: the Risk that Wouldn’t Go Away
• 12. “By Their Deeds You Shall Know Them.”
• 13. Who Reads the Prospectus, Anyway? (Hey, It’s Only Your Money!)
• 14. How to Slow Down a Fast-Talking Bond Salesman
• 15. To the New Kid in Sales (and Talking to Investors Over the New Kid’s Shoulder)
• 16. Munis Doing Just Swimmingly in Waste-Water Treatment Plant Cleaning Up Our Rivers and Streams
• Epilogue. Build America Bonds Go To War
• The Entertaining and Highly Informative Lebenthal Glossary
• Copyright