Nicole Lapin

Sometimes those two things are the exact same thing, and sometimes they're a little different.

To invest in gold, you can buy the physical asset, but that's kind of an unhinged move.

I would not recommend it.

There are much easier ways to do that, and I have talked about this on the show before.

I've linked that episode in the show notes.

All right, so let me put a full bow on this, a beautiful, beautiful gold bow.

Today, I covered three tools.

I-bonds for medium-term savings that need automatic inflation protection, earning 4.26% today with the rate adjusting as inflation moves.

We talked about tips for long-term money where you want real return above inflation baked in structurally.

And we've talked about gold for long-term wealth preservation as insurance against currency debasement and the kind of compounding inflation that makes $100 feel like $60 a decade from now.

These are not the sexiest investments, I know that.

I-bonds are not going to make you a millionaire.

But while everyone else is watching their savings account yield 0.5% while inflation runs at 3.8%, you could be staying even or better.

And you know what?

In the wealth building game, over time, not losing ground is sometimes the most underrated move you can make.

For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank.

If you're buying I-bonds, consider what's called a gift box strategy to effectively double your annual purchase limit.

Here's basically how it works.

You can purchase I-bonds as a gift for your spouse or vice versa and hold them in a Treasury Direct gift box without actually delivering them until the following calendar year.

That means in one calendar year, you and your partner can each buy $10,000 in I-bonds for yourself, plus buy a $10,000 gift bond for the other person, potentially stacking $40,000 in I-bond purchases in a single 12-month window.