You pay accrued interest, when you buy. That is the interest that has accumulated since the last coupon payment. When the coupon comes due, you get the full interest payment, so you get that money back at that time. On the other side of the trade, the seller gets that accrued interest for the time he has held the bond since the last interest payment.
The 11/15 Bond pays in May 15 and Nov 15, so right now there is not much accrued interest.
When I value my bond and note holdings, I add in the accrued interest, since that would be what I would receive if I sold them.
ZedThou wrote: I've given up on the idea of trading treasury bonds in my Scottrade Roth IRA and have transferred the assets to a Fidelity Roth IRA. I'm about to sell TLT and buy bonds, and just wanted to make sure there was no reason to avoid the just-issued 11/15/2041 maturity treasury bonds - CUSIP 912810QT8. For the purposes of the Permanent Portfolio, they are just fine?