STRIPS 

Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal of Securities. The Treasury Department?s program under which eligible securities are authorized to be separated into principal and interest components, and transferred separately. These components are maintained in book-entry accounts and transferred in TRADES (Treasury/Reserve Automated Debt Entry System).

Remarks: Bond funds including mutual funds (open-end and closed-end, actively managed and indexed), exchange-traded funds and unit investment trusts offer a convenient and affordable way to invest in a diversified portfolio of bonds, but a bond fund investment can differ from a bond investment in ways that are important to understand.