I Bonds, anyone?

[Rukh O'Rorke]

May 23, 2023 8:45:39 GMT -5 seriousthistime said:

I would not reduce my withholding.  I would be more inclined to increase it, but hey, that's just me. 

to get more ibonds? but then the money is in limbo for a year with no interest at all! minnesotapaintlady what say you??

[minnesotapaintlady]

May 23, 2023 16:40:08 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

May 23, 2023 8:45:39 GMT -5 seriousthistime said:

I would not reduce my withholding.  I would be more inclined to increase it, but hey, that's just me. 

to get more ibonds? but then the money is in limbo for a year with no interest at all! minnesotapaintlady what say you??

I don't think I'd be holding back money for I bonds.  The rates could be really low again by next year and the offers on CDs you can get now are pretty high.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Ibond interest continues to dwindle month to month

This years deposits will start being past the 3 months and begin showing interest....but it won't even make up for the great fall from 9%, lol!!

oh well....now will have to weather the great fall from 6%!!!

[Rukh O'Rorke]

well, the monthly interest is more this month than last ! The ibonds purchased in march getting their first month of interest

will have april and may purchases coming on line in July and Aug.....but realizing that I won't see interest to the paper bonds unless i convert them.....

will still be dealing with more coming off of 6.48% to 3.38% throughout next months too....wonder how low the monthly interest will go?

[minnesotapaintlady]

Jul 1, 2023 12:08:42 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

well, the monthly interest is more this month than last ! The ibonds purchased in march getting their first month of interest

will have april and may purchases coming on line in July and Aug.....but realizing that I won't see interest to the paper bonds unless i convert them.....

will still be dealing with more coming off of 6.48% to 3.38% throughout next months too....wonder how low the monthly interest will go?

I track all mine (online and paper), in the calculator.  I save it as an HTML doc and then just hit return to calculator and it updates everything.  Works pretty slick.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Jul 1, 2023 12:23:53 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Jul 1, 2023 12:08:42 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

well, the monthly interest is more this month than last ! The ibonds purchased in march getting their first month of interest

will have april and may purchases coming on line in July and Aug.....but realizing that I won't see interest to the paper bonds unless i convert them.....

will still be dealing with more coming off of 6.48% to 3.38% throughout next months too....wonder how low the monthly interest will go?

I track all mine (online and paper), in the calculator.  I save it as an HTML doc and then just hit return to calculator and it updates everything.  Works pretty slick.

cool! thanks!

[Artemis Angel Kiss]

May 25, 2023 11:29:37 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

May 23, 2023 16:40:08 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

to get more ibonds? but then the money is in limbo for a year with no interest at all! minnesotapaintlady what say you??

I don't think I'd be holding back money for I bonds.  The rates could be really low again by next year and the offers on CDs you can get now are pretty high.

Ugh.  We have a lot of I bonds.  My GF was buying T-bonds on TrDir and said the rates were good.  Variable terms and can be sold.

I'm sure there will be a break point interest rate on I-bonds where cashing in and moving on since I don't have the base rate.

[countrygirl2]

I have enough I bought when I have a fixed rate that they will keep churning along. Maybe not as high but they are doing fine.

We are putting other money in CD's have one maturing end of July so not sure yet where that will go.

[Artemis Angel Kiss]

We procrastinated about checking the EE savings bonds on maturity dates until today.  This was a financial home run with the interest earned.  We rolled them into 11 mo. CDs and got a .10 bump up in the rate since we'd been with the bank so long.  4.85% and we didn't have to get another online bank.

[minnesotapaintlady]

Cashed in my 10K bond from 2021.  It was $11,440 with the interest.  I'm going to use about half of it to dig myself out of the hole I got myself in the past few months as well as pre-buy my LP for the year and roll 5 or 6K into "something" else.  Not sure if I just want to buy more bonds with the .9% fixed rate or throw them into a short-term CD or MM fund for now. 

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Aug 7, 2023 10:47:51 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Cashed in my 10K bond from 2021.  It was $11,440 with the interest.  I'm going to use about half of it to dig myself out of the hole I got myself in the past few months as well as pre-buy my LP for the year and roll 5 or 6K into "something" else.  Not sure if I just want to buy more bonds with the .9% fixed rate or throw them into a short-term CD or MM fund for now. 

shocking development!

I'm trying to think of ibonds like 401k - you put in but don't take out, lol!!


But I also have dug myself into a hole.....now it's like you are giving me permission to break open the ibonds, lol! This is just like teen smoking....

[minnesotapaintlady]

Aug 7, 2023 12:02:53 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Aug 7, 2023 10:47:51 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Cashed in my 10K bond from 2021.  It was $11,440 with the interest.  I'm going to use about half of it to dig myself out of the hole I got myself in the past few months as well as pre-buy my LP for the year and roll 5 or 6K into "something" else.  Not sure if I just want to buy more bonds with the .9% fixed rate or throw them into a short-term CD or MM fund for now. 

shocking development!

I'm trying to think of ibonds like 401k - you put in but don't take out, lol!!


But I also have dug myself into a hole.....now it's like you are giving me permission to break open the ibonds, lol! This is just like teen smoking....

LOL

Well, I was going to take it out regardless even if I didn't raid some of it.  As of 8/1 that bond was 3 months beyond earning 6.48%, so the penalty was just 3 months at 3.38 or whatever it was.  Since I didn't have 9K to fill the remaining space for the year it made sense to cash that one and put right back in to get the 4.30% with the .9% fixed.

[countrygirl2]

I read that the interest rates are likely to be raised a few more times to stop inflation. Going to bump those rates up again if it happens.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

welp, all the interests are down, all of the interests are bad

most at 3.38%, 30 year t bonds are at 4.34%...... idk!

[Rukh O'Rorke]

looks like projection is for 3.54% for variable rate in nov.....still really laggy t bonds....

[countrygirl2]

I'm not cashing mine in. Most have something like 15 years or less to go. They can make a lot of bucks yet.

[souldoubt]

Depending on when you bought eventually they'll be making less than what savings or money market accounts are currently paying.  When that happens to ours I'll sell and move the proceeds to savings. 

[azucena]

That's my plan as well. Very happy with what I've been able to earn from ibonds. Also super pleased with the 5% money market that I opened and the interest it's spinning off each month.

[minnesotapaintlady]

Oct 4, 2023 17:02:20 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

looks like projection is for 3.54% for variable rate in nov.....still really laggy t bonds....

After today's CPU announcement it should be 3.94 variable.  Some are predicting fixed will go up to 1.2% which would be a composite 5.14%

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Oct 12, 2023 9:51:06 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Oct 4, 2023 17:02:20 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

looks like projection is for 3.54% for variable rate in nov.....still really laggy t bonds....

After today's CPU announcement it should be 3.94 variable.  Some are predicting fixed will go up to 1.2% which would be a composite 5.14%

oooo - nice! 

Thanks for the info....lot to ponder....

[Tiny]

Oct 12, 2023 9:51:06 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Oct 4, 2023 17:02:20 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

looks like projection is for 3.54% for variable rate in nov.....still really laggy t bonds....

After today's CPU announcement it should be 3.94 variable.  Some are predicting fixed will go up to 1.2% which would be a composite 5.14%

yeah, this is going to make some of my bond buying decisions a little difficult. 

I did purchase 5K in 2023 with the .9 fixed rate.    I will probably buy 5K more after November 1st - as long as the fixed rate isn't 0%.  

That makes my January 2024 purchase interesting - I could redeem my 00% fixed rate 2021 IBonds and rebuy in 2024 if there's a fixed rate.  Or I could just buy with new money.  

I guess I need to review why I went all in on IBonds.   I know I had a 5 to 10 year horizon on redeeming them when I bought them during the run up in variable rate.  

I have a feeling it doesn't matter all that much - with such a short "horizon"  if the bonds have a 0% fixed rate.    I will just use those first when I redeem them in the future.   

[azucena]

www.investopedia.com/did-you-buy-i-bonds-last-year-nov-2-could-be-your-ideal-time-to-cash-out-8382751

Going to read thru this again after I've had coffee. Seems like they are offering the right strategy to maximize.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Oct 29, 2023 9:45:02 GMT -5 azucena said:

www.investopedia.com/did-you-buy-i-bonds-last-year-nov-2-could-be-your-ideal-time-to-cash-out-8382751

Going to read thru this again after I've had coffee. Seems like they are offering the right strategy to maximize.

I'm not interested in moving mine to CDs - but the 0 and .4 fixed rates - and likely the .9 fixed rate is not going to age well.

I really like the ibonds being locked up, so will have to see how it goes. So selling out some of the 0 fixed rates to buy a new batch in 2024 is one thing on my radar, waiting until the nov 1 announcement of new rates and then see where I am at financially in early 2024 before deciding.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Recapping, more for myself than anyone else!, why I like the ibonds is the no state taxes on interest (mine is 4.95%) and being able to defer the federal interest until I cash out...just saying that - I don't think I'm going to cash out 2021 deposits to make 2024 deposits!

My first purchase was may 1st for 500 in 2021. Interest todate is $73.40. My fed taxes on this would be 24% or $17.62. Leaving 555.78 to puy into something paying say 5% it would take about 2 years to recoup the 17.62 via the increased interest. By then, I'd be about 6 months away from getting the 3 month interest penalty removed for holding for 5 years and then staying put would *maybe* put me ahead. This assumes putting into a new ibond with 5% or other treasury that is exempt from state taxes. At 6%, then the switch would make sense, but the low level of bonus on that would make it hardly worth the paperwork to make the change. And the extra would need to come from a fixed rate increase, because the variable rate would increase the current ones too....so I'm loosely targeting a 2% fixed rate level to make cashing out the 0% worth it, at least until I get to the 3 months of 'bonus' interest at the year 5 mark.

things that would alter this are: going to much lower tax rate due to job loss, or needing the current ibond money for something! the lower interest rate does make it a more attractive target to pull from, unfortunately. Was hoping this was additional retirement savings for me, but you never know what is around the corner!!

But I will defer to the superior number crunching of minnesotapaintlady to gainsay me on this!

[azucena]

Interesting points. Will need to give it some more thought.

[seriousthistime]

I'm also waiting to see what the new rate is, especially the fixed rate, and may buy another $5K in January.  I have 3 kids, and beneficiary designations on all of the ones I currently own, but I need another $5K to make things even amongst the kids. 
I like the "untouchable" aspect of the I bonds.  

But there is a wide disparity between CD rates and I bond rates.   I have a Capital One CD maturing in January, so I may cash that in and put it into one of the high yield CDs if the rates hold out. 

I do have to watch how much interest I have to report on tax returns, and when.  I'm already stuck with an IRMAA for Medicare and I don't want to cross the next highest threshold, which would turn the interest earned into a negative number. 

[Tiny]

From the TreasuryDirect website:

Series I Savings Bonds
5.27%
This includes a fixed rate of 1.30%

For I bonds issued November 1, 2023 to April 30, 2024.


I have purchased 10K for 2023 already (5K with a fixed rate of .4 and 5K with a fixed rate of .9) so the plan is to buy 5K in January and then wait for the predictions in April for the May fixed rate.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Oct 31, 2023 10:07:47 GMT -5 Tiny said:

From the TreasuryDirect website:

Series I Savings Bonds
5.27%
This includes a fixed rate of 1.30%

For I bonds issued November 1, 2023 to April 30, 2024.


I have purchased 10K for 2023 already (5K with a fixed rate of .4 and 5K with a fixed rate of .9) so the plan is to buy 5K in January and then wait for the predictions in April for the May fixed rate.

oh! nice! going to have to start figuring out where to get 2024 money to put into it come Jan. I too have already maxed out for 2023....

[seriousthistime]

Very nice!  Thanks for posting.  Now I should consider whether to cash in some of the older I bonds and buy more with a fixed rate of 1.30%.  I'm maxed for 2023 but if I make an estimated tax payment that covers the extra $5,000 I could even things up among the kids AND sell/buy $10k at the new rate. 

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Oct 29, 2023 15:00:42 GMT -5 seriousthistime said:

I'm also waiting to see what the new rate is, especially the fixed rate, and may buy another $5K in January.  I have 3 kids, and beneficiary designations on all of the ones I currently own, but I need another $5K to make things even amongst the kids. 
I like the "untouchable" aspect of the I bonds.  

But there is a wide disparity between CD rates and I bond rates.   I have a Capital One CD maturing in January, so I may cash that in and put it into one of the high yield CDs if the rates hold out. 

I do have to watch how much interest I have to report on tax returns, and when.  I'm already stuck with an IRMAA for Medicare and I don't want to cross the next highest threshold, which would turn the interest earned into a negative number. 

that is what I love about ibonds! I don't even have to think about the taxes until I want to use them. Unlike CDs where you have to report the interest yearly and pay taxes......and adding IRMAA in there, would make me much more inclined to keep the ibonds.

the 1.3% fixed rate is getting kind of close to my 2.0% threshold. I'm hoping to keep my current ones and add to them in January, but things are weird in my world right now, so who knows!

the variable rate for all will be adjusting to 3.97%, so not too bad comparatively. Not ideal of course in an environment where 5% or more seems the most likely interest for other vehicles. but it doesn't make it a nobrainer like a 2% interest rate would.