A yield is the return you get on your invested capital over a set period of time. It includes the interest earned or the dividends paid to investors. It is typically expressed as a percentage of the initial investment, current market value, or face value.
It is worth noting that a bond yield is very different from a bond price. In fact, both share an inverse relationship. Review the following sections to understand how yield works and how you can calculate it.
Understanding Yields
There are a lot of safe investments where the value of the instrument does not change the way its price does. Such investments offer investors a consistent and reliable source of income. For instance, investors get interest in bonds through the asset’s life and get its face value upon maturity. One can buy bonds for more than their face value at a premium or less, which will be more than the discount. Whichever way you buy your investment will change the yield you get from it. The following points are important to understand yields:
- Stocks: Dividend yield is the total annual share of a company’s profit returned to its shareholders.
- Bonds: Yield is the interest paid to bondholders for their investment.
- Mutual funds: Yield is the net income of the fund.
So, the yield is the return received by the investor. It has a few more concepts, including the following:
- Current Yield: The current yield depends on your investment’s price and its interest payment or coupon. It changes if the price of the investment alters.
- Coupon Yield: The coupon yield is the annual interest rate established during a bond’s issue. It remains the same for the bond’s lifetime.
Calculating Yield
One of the simplest ways of calculating the yield is through the following formula:
Yield = (Coupon / Market Price of Bond) × 100
For instance,
Let’s assume that the market price of the bond is Rs. 7,000 and the coupon is Rs. 300.
In that case, the yield will be the following:
Yield = (300/7000) × 100 = 4.28%
If the bond’s market price decreases by Rs. 500, then the yield will be the following:
Yield = (300/6500) × 100 = 4.61%
Whereas, if the bond’s market prices increased by Rs. 500 again, then the yield will be the following:
Yield = (300/7500) × 100 = 4%
Therefore, the bond’s price decreases with an increase in the yield, and the bond’s price increases with a decrease in the yield.
Wrapping Up!
A yield is a simple concept that can be calculated easily. However, one must understand what role it plays in one’s investment journey. It also shares a relation with the investment’s price since the increase in price will reduce the yield and vice versa. And the price can be affected by economic changes.
FAQs About What is a Yield?
1. What is the relationship between the price and yield?
Both the price and the yield are inversely proportional. The increase in one leads to a decrease in another, and then the opposite occurs as well. Several economic factors lead to the changes.
2. How are the bonds rated?
The bonds are rated based on their investment grade, where the highest rating is AAA and the lowest is D. The lowest is for junk bonds or bonds in default that have the highest risk.
3. How is yield different from coupon rate?
The coupon rate is the interest rate paid by fixed-interest securities like bonds. The bond issuing company pays this as an annual payment to the bondholder for the face value of a bond. The yield is the effective interest rate on bonds. It varies with the bond’s market price.
