Sunday, August 4, 2013

WSJ: Coupon Clipping Explained

By SIMON CONSTABLE
When you hear people talk about coupon clipping—that is, in an investment context—they typically mean they are collecting the interest payments from bonds.

These days bond interest payments are handled electronically, so there is no need for anyone to actually get the scissors out.Coupon clipping refers back to a time when these fixed-income securities came printed with coupons on them. To receive the interest payments, the bondholder would clip off each coupon as its payment came due and redeem it for cash. See original story here.