Government Bonds?

I was told that Government Bonds are a really good investment. I've done a search and can't find any useful info. Could someone please tell me if they are good, what interest rate I could expect, and how do you make this investment. Serious answers only please.
Additional Details
I live in UK.....

A government bond is a bond issued by a national government denominated in the country's own currency. Bonds issued by national governments in foreign currencies are normally referred to as sovereign bonds.
Government bonds are usually referred to as risk-free bonds, because the government can raise taxes or simply print more money to redeem the bond at maturity. Some counterexamples do exist where a government has defaulted on its domestic currency debt, such as Russia in 1998- the "rouble crisis" , though this is very rare.
An example of somewhat risky bonds issued by a government can be given with countries that have less than perfect capabilities of conducting financial policies. Such an example is Bulgaria due to its being dependent on the world economy and economic institutions much more than, say, the US. Some of this country's bonds were only given an A-scale rating after 2004. As of February 2006 Standard & Poor's rates Bulgaria's long-term debt denominated in domestic currency at BBB+. And this rating is the result of almost a decade of constantly decreasing risk (and increasing ratings). We should also note that this country's short-term debt is in fact currently rated A.

If you're talking about the Series EE bonds, they have a really bad rate of return, like less than a passbook savings account, but your investment is safe as long as there's a government. You're better off getting a CD or a money market account if you're into safe, liquid investments, or even investing in gold, but if you go that route, make sure you find a reputable dealer.

i have bonds and have found them really useful. you can get them from the post office so ask for some info from them. there is no interest rate, basically you buy some bonds and you can take out the same amount of money whenever you want. every month your bonds will get entered into a draw and you can win anything from Â£50 to a million - its a bit like a lottery.

In general government bonds are not a real good investment. The problem is that the interest rate is currently very low. U S 10 year bonds pay about 4.6%. There are government bonds that are indexed to inflation. In general the pay the inflation rate plus about 2%. They come in two different varieties. TIPS which are marketable and I bonds which are not marketable. The main problem is that you have to pay taxes on both the interest rate and the inflation rate. With TIPS you do not get the inflation amount until the bonds are cashed, but you have to pay taxes on it every year. However, if they are bought within a Roth IRA, that is a different story since no taxes are ever paid on Roth IRA earnings. U S government bonds do have another advantage. The interest is free from state and local taxes. They can be purchased directly from the government or through a stock broker. Here is a link to the U S government site.

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/indiv.htm

One Government instrument is a good investment. T-bills. Because they are short term investments 90 days or 180 days and sometimes even shorted periods. Currently the interest rate is about 5%.

Another type of government bonds are munciple bonds. These have the advantage of being free from federal tax and in many cases also local tax. They currently pay about 5%. The best way for a small investor to buy them is through a bond fund. But they can also be bought individually through a broker.

BTA currently pays 5.6% interest and sells at a net asset discount of 1.2%. The bonds that it holds are not high grade however.

The reason the bonds are not generally good investments is that inflation is continually eroding their return and if interest rates increase, it will cause a large drop is the value of the bonds 25% drop is not uncommon. When you are getting a return of 5% a year, a 25% drop in bond values can be devastating.

However, bonds as part of a larger portfolio holding can be used to reduce risk and increase the overall return of the portfolio because of their very low beta.

But in general returns on equity investments will far outpace returns on bond investments over the long term. Generally by 5 to 7% annually.

Government of India and State Governments issue issue Treasury Bonds and Development Bonds periodically. These are traded at the Stock Exchanges and can be purchased through authoriseed Stock Brokers. Ask your Bank to do the Investment for you. Give them specific written Instructions that the money
( indicate the Amount or maximum limit upto which you want to invest) should go only to Government Bonds or Credit papers. They will charge for the service but you will be more secure this way than when dealing with agents.

www.usbonds.gov

That's the only place I go for the info.

Doug

Government bonds are the most secure investment you can make. As long as the USA exists, you will get your money at a guaranteed rate. These rates however tend to be very low, 1-4%, much lower than rates that can be made in the open market 6-15%. If you are older and need the lowest risk investment possible, bonds will work, if you are young and want growth, bonds rarely are a good choice.

I strongly suggest you to avoid Government Bonds like the Black Plague.

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