what about the fixed rate? With 2+% on money markets, there has to be a decent fixed rate soon, right?
Tipswatch is predicting an increase in the fixed rate portion based on recent 5- and 10-year TIPS yielding.
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I-Bond’s fixed rate rises to 0.50%
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Can’t find some of my paper bonds and they need to know the month I bought them… I know I bought them during the last hurrah on FWF when we could get CC points and high interest, right before interest rates crashed.
Why Can’t they look up via just SS #?
Any updates here?
The new rate is coming up. What should we expect based on CPI numbers ?
Final March CPI will be released on Wed April 10 at 830am, then you might know something.
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From Deposit Accounts: https://www.depositaccounts.com/blog/inflation-treasury-series-i-savings-bonds/
I will be backing up the truck to buy at this 0.50% rate. It is a fair rate and I may look at liquidating some of the 0% fixed rate I Bonds I bought five or more years ago once they roll into the next, lower earning period and turning them into muni bonds.
What do you need a truck for? 10K worth of dollar coins? 
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I wouldn’t sell it. If inflation picks up in the next few years, you i-bond will grow handsomely.
My fixed income allocation - which basically are the I Bonds and the portion in the balanced fund in my 457 - is starting to get too high though. I’ll probably keep it for now but the 0% fixed rate is not appealing.
Hey government, it is time to announce!
It is disappointing but expected. For the next 6 month my Ally will do better =)
This is a good article on EE bonds vs 20yr treasuries, taking advantage of their guaranteed doubling feature.
So here is the ONLY way to invest in an EE Bond: Buy it today. Hold it 20 years. Double your money. Immediately redeem it.
What’s not to like? It’s not the headline 0.1% interest rate, but…
- Nearly 2% better risk free yield over (exactly) 20 year holding period
- Tax deferral, and possibly tax free if used for education
- Optionality to sell early and reinvest if rates rise early in the 20 year period
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Yeah I’m not sure what to make of the fact that my 30-year mortgage is now at 3.5% and I can also buy Series EE bonds. If I ever think it’s a good idea to pay down extra mortgage principal, should I put that cash into Series EE bonds instead?
That would depend on if you’re able to deduct all of your mortgage interest or some or none, and your tax rate, etc. if the after-tax rates are the same, you can go either way. Since the EE bonds are taxable, just tax deferred, their effective after tax rate would be somewhere between your marginal rate and zero (unless you think it’s likely you could use them for education tax free).
Broadly, if the mortgage is more expensive, you pay it unless you want to pay a spread to keep the cash flexibility to make some other investment move instead. If the mortgage is less expensive than your investment returns (especially a low risk investment), just invest unless you’re very risk averse.
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While there’s no risk of principal loss, the 0.1% interest rate for taking out before the 20 years are up is a huge barrier for me. Over 20 years the stock market will beat 3.6% nominal interest (maybe 4.2% when state income tax and tax drag from dividends are considered) nine times out of ten. But then again I have a pension coming. For those who don’t, a guaranteed $20,000 a year (nominal) in retirement, in addition to Social Security and whatever the market delivers, might work to provide a floor.
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I Bond fixed rate is 0.20% (down from 0.50%), EE Bond fixed rate still at 0.10%
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so what’s the total rate right now? I need to convert these to digital.
Bought them during the FWF thread for manufactured spending. Miss those ez cash equivalent cc purchase days. no more mint, us bonds
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From what I have read, if you are going to buy ibonds, best to buy them in April. Any comments?