I-bonds are the best place to put your cash right now — and that should worry you
The conditions that turned I-bonds into a [phenomenon in 2022] — with record sales for returns that topped out at the equivalent of 9.62% for a risk-free investment — might be swinging back around, signaling even worse times ahead.“It shows that inflation can be unpredictable,” said Ken Tumin, co-founder of [Deposit, who has long been an I-bond watcher and buyer. “It makes sense to hedge bets, and then you could get a surprise on the upside in the future.”
If you’re thinking about buckling up for safety, now would be a good time to jump into I-bonds, especially if you were late to buy them before and missed the big upswing.
The latest [I-bond rate reset] on May 1 has a fixed component of 0.9% and a half-year inflation part of 1.67%, which combines for an annualized return of 4.26%. You are locked into an I-bond for a year, have a purchase limit of $10,000 per individual per calendar year and lose the last three months of interest if you cash out before five years.
Even with the restrictions, that deal is currently better than a 1-year Treasury bond or a bank CD, which come in at around 3.75% to 4%, and better than many money-market and high-yield savings accounts, which are hovering around 4%, with some special deals that can push them higher but have conditions.
TIPS, the other inflation-protected investment offered by the U.S. government, have five-year (and 10- and 30-year) terms , so they aren’t directly comparable, but they sell on the secondary market and via exchange-traded funds, so you can get daily pricing. Comparing I-bonds with TIPS, [Matt McKay] of Briaud Financial Advisors said that I-bonds come out ahead right now for their simplicity and for their potential pricing after a year.
Too bad you can only put so little into it, but hey, take what you can get.