Should you buy a John Lewis bond?

Department store giant John Lewis, often viewed as a bellwether for the British economy, is launching a corporate bond aimed at the retail market. But should you invest? Tim Bennett investigates.

Big household names are after your cash more specifically, they'd like to borrow money from you. The latest is department store giant John Lewis. Often viewed as a bellwether for the British economy, it is launching a corporate bond aimed at the retail market, with the goal of raising £50m. But should you invest?

Throughout the five-year life of the bonds (which are being sold on a first-come, first-served basis to John Lewis staff and customers who hold a partnership credit card or John Lewis account card), the interest rate will be 4.5%. That's based on what's called the bond's nominal value. So if you sign up for, say, £1,000 worth (the minimum investment), you'll receive annual interest before tax of £45. On top of that, John Lewis is offering an extra 2%, but this comes as vouchers that can be redeemed in its stores or at Waitrose. So, again on an initial investment of, say, £1,000, that's another £20. At the end of five years, the bond will be "redeemed at par".

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Tim graduated with a history degree from Cambridge University in 1989 and, after a year of travelling, joined the financial services firm Ernst and Young in 1990, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1994.

He then moved into financial markets training, designing and running a variety of courses at graduate level and beyond for a range of organisations including the Securities and Investment Institute and UBS. He joined MoneyWeek in 2007.