ay a fixed amount of principal at the date of maturity (Gitman, Joehnk, & Pinches, 1995).
Another important characteristic of bonds is the term-to-maturity, or the life of debt instrument. The short-term segment the public debt market involves instruments with maturities of one year or less. The intermediate segment involves issues with maturities in excess of one year but less than seven-to-ten years. The long-term segment is the bonds market where the maturities of the debt instruments are in excess of seven-to-ten years (Gitman, Joehnk, & Pinches, 1995).
The term-to-maturity characteristic of bonds constantly change, however, as an instrument moves closer to its maturity date. These changes in the term-to-maturity characteristic of a bond are important because the prevailing maturity of the issue, among other fac
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