Bought First Muni Bonds

I recently bought my first bonds.  Not a bond fund, but actual bonds!  I had been investigating getting some for a while now, but always hesitated because I know so little about the whole process.  Bonds have a primary (initial offering like an IPO) and a secondary market.  In the primary, you buy directly from the issuer.  In the secondary, you buy from whoever is offering to sell their shares.  I wanted to go for the primary because the yields looked better and there was no commission to purchase.

After looking for quite a while (and getting the daily list of new offerings from a broker), I decided to take the plunge and buy some Municipal Bonds.  Since I live in New York City and pay such high local and state taxes (and am in the 33% tax bracket) I did the math and figured that muni bonds were the best bet.   The biggest reason for buying these bonds is for tax free income.  I don't have too much of my portfolio in bonds and I'm reluctant to buy bond funds that are volatile (we've already seen most bond funds drop in the current market).  

I figured that an actual bond would suit me just right if:

a) I was comfortable with the yield

b) I was willing to hold it until maturity

After that, it wouldn't matter if the price went up or down since at the end I would get the face value back (and all the interest over its life).

I ended up getting form the offering:

• 50 New York St Thruway Authority - General Highway and Bridge Trust Fund with a 4% coupon that matures in 4/01/2016
• 50 New York St Thruway Authority - General Highway and Bridge Trust Fund with a 4.4% coupon that matures in 4/01/2019
  

I was able to get them under par (less than the offer price of $100) at $99.22 and $99.72, respectively.  During an offering, like an IPO, the final price is determined on the day of issuance.  The value has already gone up (ignore what I said above about not mattering :) ) to about $102 each.  Can't argue with that!

I'l see how this goes and when I get more comfortable I look to purchase some more.