Author/Editor
Steve McDonald
Publisher
Oxford Club
Description
Newsletter focusing on corporate bonds — usually investment grade or nearly, and relatively short term. Follows same strategy as his previous letter from another publisher, The Bond Trader.
Overall Rating
Rating: 3.3/5. From 15 votes.
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3.1
Rating from 76 votes
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Investment Performance
Rating from 28 votes
Rating: 2.7/5. From 28 votes.
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Quality Of Writing/Analysis
Rating from 17 votes
Rating: 3.9/5. From 17 votes.
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Value For Price
Rating from 16 votes
Rating: 2.8/5. From 16 votes.
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Customer Service
Rating from 15 votes
Rating: 3.3/5. From 15 votes.
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23 Comments on "Oxford Bond Advantage"
I like the Oxford Bond Advantage and Steve McDonald’s picks. The interest payments on the bonds are a welcome site when they hit your portfolio. The only problems I had was loading up too much on the cheap coal bonds. Lost a bunch on those. Keep purchases small and follow the percentages recommended for each rating and you will do ok with low risk.
PLEASE END MY SUBSCRIPTION to this service! Where do I return the DOCUMENTS you mailed to me? I am 87 years old, almost deaf and cannot perform as I would need to for this service.
At eTrade also sometimes one can get 1 or 2 bonds. A lot of 5 is commonly available, 10 almost always. If the offer requires buying too many bonds, you can solicit a bid for the number you want. It takes about 10 minutes and the offer appears. There has been no need for me to open a special account just to buy Steve’s recommendations.
I’ve noticed it usually happens within a year or two. Any corporate bond is going to return capital gains if bought at a discount to par, but those types of large double digit gains are usually from rebounding after a market or industry selloff or the company calling (buying out) the bonds. So it works like this… if you buy bonds when everything is frothy you’ll get the yield income; if you buy after the a serious correction, you’ll rack up the capital gains in addition to the yield. The trick is to avoid the garbage.
I have been a subscriber since 2013. He started out well, however his picks in the Coal and Energy industries have mostly turned out to be duds. 6 of his picks have all gone bankrupt. Losing 100% of your money on 6 recommendations, when the other 20 or so recommendations pay you roughly 7% ….means you need about 5 years …just to break even! So I am not that happy with the service.
No Michael,
I did not try and get my money back. I also did not do my own research, but I did blindly follow Steve’s advice. I also probably overloaded a bit on the coal sector (Peabody, Arch Coal, Walter Energy…) and did not diversify as much as Steve recommended. Even though, I did not expect so many companies to go bankrupt….
Beware of guarantees. Seems self-evident but really, beware!! New to bonds I believed the professorially delivered advice that “the MEAR is guaranteed.” Unfortunately, neither the MEAR nor the bond is guaranteed when you buy junk. A single bond default can quickly negate any amount of 5% yields. So, for my 3 – 4 year committment to Mr McDonald I have a net 0% yield. Bonds my *ss.
I like Steve McDonald and I like his newsletter. Just do as he says and buy small positions and you’ll do well. For stocks I like James Stack’s Investech for getting me through all the scary times. He has called all the major trend changes and he helps me ride the rough patches that amount to nothing more than corrections. For stock picks I subscribe to The Dividend Machine and I am making money with this. I believe these are the only three newsletters any investor needs.
Hey Oxford Club employee (read TROLL), I mean bvigorda,
Is moneypenny your alter ego? By the way, small positions = small money. Bonds don’t pay much to begin with. That’s why they’re safer than stocks. If Mr. McDonald’s recommendations were all as successful as you suggest they are, provide proof, if you can. Sorry, but your comment doesn’t pass the smell test.
Hey, moneypenny: Are you really bragging about 8%? Seriously? Wow! I can beat that wth an index fund. And, it didn’t cost me $125 yearly to find out how to do it, either.
how does an index fund work?
You hit the nail on the head.