I-Bonds Redux

Investing Strategies Retirement Investing
21

Hi SG,

I’m a little slow with my reply, but welcome to the I-bond club! Honestly, it is a pretty boring club to be in but one thing is sure: As long as you hold the bonds for the minimum required, you’ll never lose money, and they will keep up with inflation. This is true even in periods of deflation. I-bonds supplement my “liability matching portfolio” which consists of Social Security, pensions and rental income. This is my portfolio that will meet my basic standard of living requirements for the rest of my life, so these funds need to be in what I consider ultra-safe securities. After the above obligations are met, I invest my remaining liquid assets into primarily stock and/or other more volatile securities to be used for luxuries and bequests. This is what I call my “risk portfolio”. I got this approach from William J. Bernstein – I haven’t read any of his books in quite a while, but back when I was building my financial plan, I liked his style. Here’s a link to his “efficient frontier” website.

http://www.efficientfrontier.com

Best,

DT,
TXT, ANSS Ticker Guide
Owner of I-bonds and TIPS
Click on my board name to see a list of my stock holdings

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22

I have paper from when I set up a bond ladder as my emergency fund about 20 years ago. I’ve actually been more nervous about keeping up with the paper.

Having said that, if one were to lose their info for some reason, on maturity the bond would become MUD (mature unclaimed debt) and the Treasury Direct website has a “Treasure Hunt” page for that.

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