I bought some I Bonds

[Thrif-t]

I debated if I should bother but when the new rate set at 7.12%, I jumped in and bought 10k. I figure that money is sitting in the bank making zero point nothing why not put it in I bonds. It part of my emergency fund. I debated because it's another site and another set of directions I'll have to leave for my financially illiterate family, but I did it!

Back in the 90's I bought Series EE savings bonds through a payroll deduction plan, they are turning 30 years old and I've been taking the paper bonds to the bank and cashing them (I never digitalized them) so I'll turn those into I bonds going forward. Those old series ee were paying 4% & 5% interest.

I'm still thinking if I should have my young adult kids set up accounts and put some of their emergency savings in them??

[Jluke]

From treasury direct website you can still add 5k more in paper i bonds through a tax return

• up to $10,000 in electronic I bonds in TreasuryDirect
• up to $5,000 in paper I bonds using your federal income tax refund

Two points:

• The limits apply separately, meaning you could acquire up to $15,000 in I bonds in a calendar year

[kork13]

Nice! I bought $10k in May, so those ones are already getting the >7% on it.... But also means I can't easily but another batch until after the new year. I really just wish they'd raise the fixed rate component above zero... But with the fed funds rate at essentially zero, I doubt that will change anytime too soon.

[Thrif-t]

So kork13 since you already hold ibonds explain to me about the holding period. You can't cash for a year then if you do between 2 & 5 years you lose 3 mos interest. So does that mean we have to actually hold for 15 mos to get the full years interest? I mean it seems logical to me that's how it goes? I'm just thinking about if I have my kids set up accounts, they might want to take it in a year but I should hold them off for 15 mos?

[kork13]

How they actually do it is that they simply don't show that you earn interest for the first 3 months, then otherwise it's normal. You can still cash out 12mo from purchase, but you'll only get 9 months of interest. To get 12 months of interest, yes, you need to hold it for 15 months. Note, however, that only the first 6 months of ownership are guaranteed at this rate... At that point, they'll switch to whatever the next rate is.

After 5 years of ownership pass, they basically credit you with the "missing" 3mo of interest, at which point you can cash out and there's no penalty.

[corn18]

If you are married, you can get $30k of electronic ibonds. Individual account at treasury direct for you, for spouse and a joint account.