I Bonds: Why One of the Highest-Return Investments Around Will Fade
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Here's your money briefing for Friday, October 14th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. You may have heard of government-issued I-bonds.
What are I Bonds and why are they considered a safe inflation-linked investment?
They're known for paying out significantly high interest and are considered by many to be one of the safest places to put savings.
Unlike a regular savings bond, an I-bond will give you an additional return when inflation is high as it is now. So right now, as we sit here in mid-October, the rate on an I-bond is 9.62% for the next six months, which is crazy high. I mean, that is a super, super high number.
But even as inflation remains high, those crazy high interest rates are expected to fall by a lot next month. Coming up, Wall Street Journal financial editor Charles Farrell will join us for a little I-bonds 101. and talk about how you can get in on the action before rates go lower. That's after the break.
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Americans have pumped billions of dollars into government I-bonds to capitalize on interest rates that have reached nearly 10%. But those rates are about to come back down to earth. So can you still score some of the highest returns around? Let's bring in Wall Street Journal financial editor Charles Farrell to talk about it. Charles, thank you very much for being with us.
How great to be here.
So Charles, with all the market volatility these days, we hear a lot about bonds. But just to catch everybody up, what are I-bonds and why are they often seen as a safe investment?
An I-bond is a kind of savings bond issued by the U.S. Treasury. And like all savings bonds, they are bonds that are intended in relatively small denominations to be used by individuals to save. These are not things that you trade through your broker or buy in the outside world. You buy them directly from the Treasury. And they're savings bonds meant to do exactly what they say, which is to help American families save. And the special nature of I-bonds is in the letter I. I is for inflation. And I-bonds are indexed for inflation.
How high are I Bond interest rates right now and why did they spike in 2022?
So an I-bond, unlike a regular savings bond, an I-bond will give you an additional return when inflation is high as it is now. Part of the reason that I bonds have become incredibly popular in the last year or so is that with inflation soaring, the rates on I bonds have zoomed. So right now, as we sit here in mid-October, the rate on an I bond is nine point six two percent for the next six months, which is crazy high. I mean, that is a super, super high number for any kind of bond and certainly for one that is issued by the U.S. Treasury and is, for all intents and purposes, without any risk at all.
Sounds like a pretty good deal.
A lot of people think so. There have been tons of sales, about $20 billion in sales so far this year. Again, these are small products generally for individuals, and so you would often see years where well under a billion in sales, but they've really boomed in popularity this year.
But is this too good to be true? You know, is there a catch here?
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