Why Aren't I-Bonds Getting More Attention?

[Gumby]

The spouse reciprocal gifting thing is interesting, so I wondered about expanding it to a parent. Would there be any issues with doing that?

Just a possible gift tax return if you purchase more than $16k in a year for him or her. Gift tax doesn't apply at all to inter-spousal gifts.

 

[Mulligan]

The spouse reciprocal gifting thing is interesting, so I wondered about expanding it to a parent. Would there be any issues with doing that?

My GF and I are doing it. Just remember the more gifts you have coming your way, the more years it will take to unwind them all.

 

[harllee]

Is there any way to purchase I bonds inside a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA?

 

[Dash man]

Is there any way to purchase I bonds inside a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA?

No.
But you can buy TIPS in IRAs.

 

[Paulz]

I helped my aunt and uncle set up their accounts and didn't know that Navy Federal, where they have their savings account, doesn't play well with Treasury Direct, so their first purchase was rejected.

I've heard that from a few people, but I have NFCU and had no problems with mine. I wonder if people are trying to do external transfer from their savings instead of their checking?

 

[MissMolly]

Is there any way to purchase I bonds inside a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA?

No. The can only be purchased from Treasury Direct.

 

[Dash man]

I've heard that from a few people, but I have NFCU and had no problems with mine. I wonder if people are trying to do external transfer from their savings instead of their checking?

That’s usually the problem. Navy only allows transfers from checking.

 

[bookman51]

Gifts don't have years attached to them so you are ok. Your gift will sit in your gift box with your wife's name on it until you deliver it to her. It uses up her $10k allowance when delivered, NOT when purchased. So if you wait until 2023 to deliver the gift to her it will count against her 2023 allowance.

And yeah, the website is pretty primitive and not at all intuitive, but that's the US government for you.

I thought it did it the same way each time, but it appears maybe only one went through as planned. I did purchases in $5,000 increments. This morning I got messages that my wife and I had exceeded our series limits, and it would take 8 to 10 weeks for the money to be refunded to our accounts. Interesting how they can take money out of the account almost immediately but months to return it. I tried calling but the message is there is more than a two hour wait. So, I logged into each of our accounts and send a e-mails.

 

[Happyras]

I thought it did it the same way each time, but it appears maybe only one went through as planned. I did purchases in $5,000 increments. This morning I got messages that my wife and I had exceeded our series limits, and it would take 8 to 10 weeks for the money to be refunded to our accounts. Interesting how they can take money out of the account almost immediately but months to return it. I tried calling but the message is there is more than a two hour wait. So, I logged into each of our accounts and send a e-mails.

This happened to a friend of mine, but not us. I am curious how you registered the gifts. Did you set them up as a gift to each other, with you as beneficiary or as WITH? I did ours each as gift with POD and had no issues.

 

[Gumby]

Once again, simplicity is your friend. We just bought them as a gift for each other, no beneficiary specified. That can be added later, after the gift has been delivered.

 

[bookman51]

This happened to a friend of mine, but not us. I am curious how you registered the gifts. Did you set them up as a gift to each other, with you as beneficiary or as WITH? I did ours each as gift with POD and had no issues.

I thought I set them as gifts to each other, but obviously something is wrong. How long did it take for your friend to get his money back?

 

[pb4uski]

This happened to a friend of mine, but not us. I am curious how you registered the gifts. Did you set them up as a gift to each other, with you as beneficiary or as WITH? I did ours each as gift with POD and had no issues.

+1 POD and no issues.

 

[sengsational]

Treasury Direct and Fidelity

If you want to connect a new Treasury Direct account to Fidelity, do you need to have a "cash management account" set-up there, or can you just use the default brokerage cash "core position"?

ETA: I asked the chatbot on Fidelity and got the routing number and the account number, so I presume that will work, but we know Treasury Direct is persnickety. Fidelity gives two account numbers to try, one shorter one with a letter, and one longer one with only numbers. I wonder if anyone has experience with which to use at TD.

 

[calmloki]

I thought I set them as gifts to each other, but obviously something is wrong. How long did it take for your friend to get his money back?

I screwed up a purchase back on 3/18/22. Was informed that I had over-purchased in my attempt to buy cross-gifts betwixt wife and I and that money would be refunded. Still haven't seen it, but it shows in TD as being there and earning 7.2%.

My current working theory is that TD shows purchases made during the month as being made and earning interest as of the first, but redemptions made before 5 years incur a 3 month interest penalty. So if they charged a penalty for early redemption of March, April, and May they could return exactly $20k to us on June 1st. Or maybe they decided to just keep the borrowed money for a while. Eager to see what the first of June reveals.

 

[Happyras]

If you want to connect a new Treasury Direct account to Fidelity, do you need to have a "cash management account" set-up there, or can you just use the default brokerage cash "core position"?

ETA: I asked the chatbot on Fidelity and got the routing number and the account number, so I presume that will work, but we know Treasury Direct is persnickety. Fidelity gives two account numbers to try, one shorter one with a letter, and one longer one with only numbers. I wonder if anyone has experience with which to use at TD.

We set up our Fidelity Cash Management Account using the UMB Bank Routing and account number off our checks. I would be very cautious using anything that Chat bot says.....It would only take a minute to set up a cash account at Fido and I would recommend you do so.

An earlier question....how long to get money back from TD? Well my friend started calling their Senators office to get it resolved so I think it took a while....

 

[Dash man]

An earlier question....how long to get money back from TD? Well my friend started calling their Senators office to get it resolved so I think it took a while....

Last November it only took about ten days for us to have our money returned.

 

[Archman]

Since I have quite a bit of money in my savings account that pays only 0.01% in interest, buying I-Bonds at 9.62% is a no-brainer. Earlier this month, I set up my account through TreasuryDirect with my wife as co-owner and set up her account with me as a co-owner. $10000 went into each account.

 

[braumeister]

Last November it only took about ten days for us to have our money returned.

TD now says it can be 8-10 weeks to return your money, so I wouldn't look for it earlier.

 

[bookman51]

Last November it only took about ten days for us to have our money returned.

Thanks, I wrote them via my account and my wife's account explaining out intent. We will see what happens. No holding my breath on anything.

 

[braumeister]

If you want to connect a new Treasury Direct account to Fidelity, do you need to have a "cash management account" set-up there, or can you just use the default brokerage cash "core position"?

ETA: I asked the chatbot on Fidelity and got the routing number and the account number, so I presume that will work, but we know Treasury Direct is persnickety. Fidelity gives two account numbers to try, one shorter one with a letter, and one longer one with only numbers. I wonder if anyone has experience with which to use at TD.

Mine is with my cash mgmt account, so I don't know, but I think if you can use your brokerage account you would need to use the number with all numbers.

 

[sengsational]

Mine is with my cash mgmt account, so I don't know, but I think if you can use your brokerage account you would need to use the number with all numbers.

I gave that a try. We'll see how it works (or doesn't).

 

[tulak]

I connected my Fidelity Brokerage account to TD with no issues.

I use a brokerage account (instead of the cash account) for all cash management and have never run into any issues.

 

[ncbill]

So when you buy $10,000 today as a gift you plan to send to a person in January 2023 does interest start accruing from today?

Or when you deliver the gift?

 

[Gumby]

So when you buy $10,000 today as a gift you plan to send to a person in January 2023 does interest start accruing from today?

Or when you deliver the gift?

Today.

 

[Happyras]

So when you buy $10,000 today as a gift you plan to send to a person in January 2023 does interest start accruing from today?

Or when you deliver the gift?

That is the point of buying to gift later, you start the clock on both interest AND ability to redeem.