I used to buy 120K (with 4 SSN and 30K limit) a year i-bond when they allowed purchasing with credit cards. The rational behind the purchase was it yielded higher than CDs if you count in the credit card rebate. At that time, the fixed rate was much higher. I can count many benefits of i-bonds. There are no credit risk, they are 30 year tax deferral and potentially tax free under some circumstances (for example, use for education). The other potential benefit was hedge against inflation (CPI) but in reality, the government controls how CPI is calculated so the data can be massaged. The fixed rate of i-bond is a constant once you purchased them (I think some of the i-bond issued in 2000s has the fixed rate of over 3%), and the float portion is reset every 6 months based on CPI. It is the best to purchase at the end of a month and sell at the beginning of a month because you get the interest of the whole month. I believe you need to hold i-bond for at least 11 months before you can liquidate and further if you have held it for less than 5 years, you lose the last 3 month of interest. Each bond can have a primary holder. secondary holder as well as beneficiary and whoever''s SSN that cashed out the bond ended up with the accrued interest and tax liability. At this moment treasury direct limits purchase electronic i-bond to 10K per ssn. I typically pay extra on my tax return so when they refund the money, you can specify to be refunded in I-bond (max 5K). All above came from the top of my head so double check with treasury direct for the latest. EE-bond you buy at a discount so you get $100 bond for less than $100. I-bond you buy at par and interest accrues monthly.
I used to buy 120K (with 4 SSN and 30K limit) a year i-bond when they allowed purchasing with credit cards. The rational behind the purchase was it yielded higher than CDs if you count in the credit card rebate. At that time, the fixed rate was much higher. I can count many benefits of i-bonds. There are no credit risk, they are 30 year tax deferral and potentially tax free under some circumstances (for example, use for education). The other potential benefit was hedge against inflation (CPI) but in reality, the government controls how CPI is calculated so the data can be massaged. The fixed rate of i-bond is a constant once you purchased them (I think some of the i-bond issued in 2000s has the fixed rate of over 3%), and the float portion is reset every 6 months based on CPI. It is the best to purchase at the end of a month and sell at the beginning of a month because you get the interest of the whole month. I believe you need to hold i-bond for at least 11 months before you can liquidate and further if you have held it for less than 5 years, you lose the last 3 month of interest. Each bond can have a primary holder. secondary holder as well as beneficiary and whoever''s SSN that cashed out the bond ended up with the accrued interest and tax liability. At this moment treasury direct limits purchase electronic i-bond to 10K per ssn. I typically pay extra on my tax return so when they refund the money, you can specify to be refunded in I-bond (max 5K). All above came from the top of my head so double check with treasury direct for the latest. EE-bond you buy at a discount so you get $100 bond for less than $100. I-bond you buy at par and interest accrues monthly.
I used to buy 120K (with 4 SSN and 30K limit) a year i-bond when they allowed purchasing with credit cards. The rational behind the purchase was it yielded higher than CDs if you count in the credit card rebate. At that time, the fixed rate was much higher. I can count many benefits of i-bonds. There are no credit risk, they are 30 year tax deferral and potentially tax free under some circumstances (for example, use for education). The other potential benefit was hedge against inflation (CPI) but in reality, the government controls how CPI is calculated so the data can be massaged. The fixed rate of i-bond is a constant once you purchased them (I think some of the i-bond issued in 2000s has the fixed rate of over 3%), and the float portion is reset every 6 months based on CPI. It is the best to purchase at the end of a month and sell at the beginning of a month because you get the interest of the whole month. I believe you need to hold i-bond for at least 11 months before you can liquidate and further if you have held it for less than 5 years, you lose the last 3 month of interest. Each bond can have a primary holder. secondary holder as well as beneficiary and whoever''s SSN that cashed out the bond ended up with the accrued interest and tax liability. At this moment treasury direct limits purchase electronic i-bond to 10K per ssn. I typically pay extra on my tax return so when they refund the money, you can specify to be refunded in I-bond (max 5K). All above came from the top of my head so double check with treasury direct for the latest. EE-bond you buy at a discount so you get $100 bond for less than $100. I-bond you buy at par and interest accrues monthly.
I bond是每年pay inflation。现在inflation是1.6%，比online savings 0.5%好
另一种EE bond更有趣，20年保证翻倍，3.5%的复合回报。但代价是提前赎回基本只能拿本金加一点点利息（0.1%每年）现在10年国债利率才1%，能拿满20年3.5% tax defer还是很吸引人，而且利息可以抵州税，要交联邦税。就是拿20年，要当retirement fund用了。
现在好像只能在treasury direct的网上买
我们家买过少量ibond，就是在teasury direct网站上买。 这个就是作为应急资金的一部分，虽然流动性稍微差了点。
The fixed rate of i-bond is a constant once you purchased them (I think some of the i-bond issued in 2000s has the fixed rate of over 3%), and the float portion is reset every 6 months based on CPI. It is the best to purchase at the end of a month and sell at the beginning of a month because you get the interest of the whole month. I believe you need to hold i-bond for at least 11 months before you can liquidate and further if you have held it for less than 5 years, you lose the last 3 month of interest. Each bond can have a primary holder. secondary holder as well as beneficiary and whoever''s SSN that cashed out the bond ended up with the accrued interest and tax liability.
At this moment treasury direct limits purchase electronic i-bond to 10K per ssn. I typically pay extra on my tax return so when they refund the money, you can specify to be refunded in I-bond (max 5K).
All above came from the top of my head so double check with treasury direct for the latest.
EE-bond you buy at a discount so you get $100 bond for less than $100. I-bond you buy at par and interest accrues monthly.
That can't be EE bond. EE bond you buy at a discount.
想问一下tax refund to ibond怎么操作？
form 8888. you get paper i-bond. i-bond max denominator is 5K. tax refund is 5K for single and 10K for joint, btw.
Thank you very much. That is helpful.
退税可以退到ibond呀？我都不知道这个。谢啦