Question on the new high interest rate I Bonds

Factual Questions
21

Sorry, I think it’s just bad communication on my part (or perhaps some confusion with the OP’s question). I think OP’s husband was concerned that the 9% rate is total over 5 years, so thus only about a ~2.2% effective rate. This certainly isn’t the case.

I didn’t mean to present any scenario or example of the rate resetting at exactly 9.6% every 6 months over the next 5 years. If it did, then your math works.

Everyone should keep in mind that no one wants the rate to stay that high (unless you have alot more invested than you spend). The $10k-$15k that I expect to invest in I-bonds annually will only alleviate some of the pain of inflation reducing the purchasing power of my pension and 401k balances during retirement.

ETA: the other benefit to these bonds is that they use CPI as their baseline, and CPI tends to over-state actual inflation. So that can be a big plus.

22

I have $40k that I just moved into these I-bonds.

Even if it resets in 6 months back to 2%, I can cash out in 1 year and will have made over 5% yield on my money, which is significantly better than what my money market account pays, (even considered the quarter of lost interest).

23

The limit is $10k per person per year (and up to $5k more if you direct your tax return proceeds to them) and you can only buy through Treasury Direct. I’m assuming you didn’t set up 4 different accounts for 4 different people, but nevermind if you did.

24

Yes, myself, my wife, my trust and her trust. All legal and above board.

25

Nice, just wanted to make sure you didn’t get the wrong ones, as the website isn’t the easiest to navigate. I had to help my parents through it.