harllee; said:My mother has some paper I bonds and has had difficulty cashing them at her bank. It seems a lot of trouble to go to when you can only invest $10,000 per year.
But, while my experience with it has been ok, Treasury Direct is a real PITA and if you have something that you have to call them on you can be on hold for hours.
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. The stupid thing is while you can set up a bank account online when you set up an account, you can't later add a bank account online, you have to do it via a paper form that requires Medallion signature... stupid.
I'm very surprised that my 89-yo aunt has persevered on all this and didn't just give up... I think that I would have.
My mother has some paper I bonds and has had difficulty cashing them at her bank. It seems a lot of trouble to go to when you can only invest $10,000 per year.
I'm very surprised that my 89-yo aunt has persevered on all this and didn't just give up... I think that I would have.
Because I Bond limit is only 10K/yr so there is nothing much to talk about. It's not really an investment. Having said that... every investor is surely buying it... I did
Honestly, too much effort for a minimal investment of $10 or $20k a year with ~$2k return does not make a dent or make it worth the effort. If it were $100 or $500k then I would do it.
The young wife and I bought $100k of I-bonds over 5 months starting in December 2021. In total, I doubt it took more than 30 minutes of my time, and the majority of that was setting up the account the first time. The cash was otherwise idle, earning 0.01% in my checking account. I think it was worth the effort to earn $8541 over one year.
How if there is a 10k per year per person limit? Not a lot of point in stating this without mentioning how?
With today's inflation rates, they seem like a great option for medium-term investing, as a hedge against inflation. Yet it seems like they're not getting much attention.
Do many of the iBond owners here have the older paper ones? My 90 year old mother has a bunch of paper iBonds and EE bonds that she periodically cashes in for living expenses. Until this year her bank Wells Fargo would cash them for her but they will no longer cash them. I know she can mail them in to get them cashed but I have read that it takes months to get your money. For those of you who have paper bonds and want to cash them in how are you doing so?
DW has been cashing her treasury bonds at her bank. Maybe your DM needs to use another bank to cash them ? Can you take her to your bank ?
Maybe a different Wells Fargo branch ?
The strategy was discussed at length in the other, very long I-Bond thread here https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/the-i-bond-thread-113668.html
But I'll recap:
In Dec 2021, the young wife and I each purchased $10k for our own account.
In Jan 2022, we each purchased $10k for our own account
In Feb 2022, we each purchased $10k as a gift for each other, to be delivered on 1/1/23.
In Mar 2022, we each purchased another $10k gift to be delivered on 1/1/24
In Apr 2022, we each purchased yet another $10k gift to be delivered on 1/1/25.
So a total of $100k for the two of us. For the first six months, each of those bonds will earn at a rate of 7.12%, for the next six months at a rate of 9.62%, for an annual return of 8.54% the first year. Yes, one must consider the 3 month early redemption penalty and the annual limits that cause the last of the gifts to be tied up until 1/1/25, but all-in-all, it is a very substantial return for minimal effort.