Pros/Cons of I-Bonds

I'll tell you what I know.


1. 10k limit per person per fiscal year.

Sidenotes:
You can buy 10k gifts for anyone you want (spouse, etc) but it will be their money. So you could buy 10k, wife could buy 10k, and you could each buy each other a 10k gift for 40k total.

2. You can't cash out for a year after purchase. If you cash out before 5 years you lose the last three months of interest earned.

3. It will earn at the rate you purchase for 6 months and then will switch to the new rate. Rates come out first of Nov and May, so it's getting ready to change.
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I bought 40k earlier this year. If I was you I would buy before Nov.



ETA: if you buy gifts you can't deliver the gift until the next year if they purchased 10k themselves. But it will earn the same sitting as a gift. Then they can wait and not buy 10k the year when the rate falls below their liking and you can deliver it and they can cash out immediately as long as it's been a year since the gift was purchased.

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You can cash out, you just won't receive any interest.

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Can anyone confirm this? I thought there was no liquidity in the first 12 months. I can’t find anything to suggest otherwise.

Yeah, the website isn't the best for sure.

Make sure you write down pw AND security questions exactly. Getting locked out is a SOB and a pain to get back in.

On your point 1, you can actually exceed the $10k limit per person.

You can buy up to $10k in electronic bonds, and in addition, you can buy up to $5k in paper bonds using your federal income tax refund (if you have one).

LINK

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Biggest con by far is dealing with the antiquated Treasury website and 0 phone support unless you want to sit hours on hold. If you could still get paper bonds I'd be buying them.

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We couldn't get my wife account without signature guarantee. Customer Service so frustrating that it freaked me out putting more money in my account. Once rates normalize will pull back to savings

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0 phone support unless you want to sit hours on hold.

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I was told five hour wait!

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My question is you get the rate stated for 6 months, then the rate will change the two set times a year?

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You'll get the rate you purchase at, and then it will change after 6 months to whatever the current rate is. Then it will stay that rate for 6 months.

So if you buy right now it will be 9.62 until the end of March. Then it will change to whatever the rate is that comes out in Nov and be that rate until the end of next September and change to the rate the comes out in May. And so on and so forth.

YW, I learned about them on here as well.

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You can go farther than that. I bought 20k for my wife this year, and 20k for myself. I'd buy more if I had the funds.

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How were you able to do that? All of the info I've seen sets the limit at $15k per person per calendar year.

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How were you able to do that? All of the info I've seen sets the limit at $15k per person per calendar year.

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Buying the gift doesn’t count against anyone’s yearly number - it’s the delivering of the gift that matters. You can essentially front load gifts and deliver them in future years as the $10k limit.