Safe as cash investment
- Thread starter john7722
- Start date
Cash is not a safe investment.
What is safer then cash ?
Let say you are planning to buy something in the near future.
What you would invest in if you can't loose it.
with 7% inflation, if you keep it in cash you will lose 7% in a year in terms of purchasing power, IOW, your money will buy 7% less. But if you buy bonds that don’t mature when you need the cash, you may sell the bonds at a loss. And if you buy short term bonds (government is safest) you won’t get close to 7% (or even 3% ) interest so you will still lose purchasing power.
if you really need the money soon, and don’t know what you’re doing, which it seems like you don’t, just leave it in cash. Maybe short term CD at a bank.
Bonds are safe but the valuation moves up/down like any investment.
If you hold them till maturity you get your money back plus the interest rate when you opened.
If you want to sell them prior to maturity, the value could be higher/lower than purchase so you could lose money cashing out early.
***STIP is a short term (0-5 years) TIPS bond ETF. Entire 2021 movement was ~3% from high to low so not very volatile.
***Bond valuations will generally drop as interest rates rise.
***Chart below is a bond ETF (TLT) showing price movement. TLT is currently yielding ~1.6%.
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Treasury direct i Bonds pays 7.12-percent! go to treasuredirect.gov
As a day trader it is smart to park your cash there, $50 minimum deposit online.
$10,000 max per year.
What interest does an I bond earn? How do I bonds earn interest?
Is it taxable?
Federal income tax: Yes
State and local income tax: No
Tax Considerations for I bonds
Using the money for higher education may keep you from paying federal income tax on your interest. See "Education Planning."
Paper or electronic?
Both. (You can buy a paper I bond only when filing a federal income tax return.)
Minimum purchase
Electronic: $25
Paper: $50
Maximum purchase
Electronic: $10,000, total, each calendar year
Paper: $5,000, total, each calendar year
Available bonds
Electronic: Any amount, to the penny, from $25 to $10,000.
Paper: $50, $100, $200, $500, $1,000
How long must I keep an I bond?
I bonds earn interest for 30 years unless you cash them first. You can cash them after one year. But if you cash them before five years, you lose the previous three months of interest. (For example, if you cash an I bond after 18 months, you get the first 15 months of interest.)
How do I buy an I bond?
Electronic: Online in TreasuryDirect (including through payroll direct deposit)
Paper: By mail when you file your federal tax return
As a day trader it is smart to park your cash there, $50 minimum deposit online.
$10,000 max per year.
What interest does an I bond earn? How do I bonds earn interest?
Is it taxable?
Federal income tax: Yes
State and local income tax: No
Tax Considerations for I bonds
Using the money for higher education may keep you from paying federal income tax on your interest. See "Education Planning."
Paper or electronic?
Both. (You can buy a paper I bond only when filing a federal income tax return.)
Minimum purchase
Electronic: $25
Paper: $50
Maximum purchase
Electronic: $10,000, total, each calendar year
Paper: $5,000, total, each calendar year
Available bonds
Electronic: Any amount, to the penny, from $25 to $10,000.
Paper: $50, $100, $200, $500, $1,000
How long must I keep an I bond?
I bonds earn interest for 30 years unless you cash them first. You can cash them after one year. But if you cash them before five years, you lose the previous three months of interest. (For example, if you cash an I bond after 18 months, you get the first 15 months of interest.)
How do I buy an I bond?
Electronic: Online in TreasuryDirect (including through payroll direct deposit)
Paper: By mail when you file your federal tax return
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It's funny, I asked my manager the other day if he had his money at play in anything. He replied, "No way man I took all my cash out of the market right now with this inflation." I was shocked with confusion as I tried to explain to him he was doing the very opposite of what he should be doing, to which I could not seem to get through to him.
What he means, and the question you're really trying to ask, is you are looking to put your money into something that is safe while staying ahead of inflation, something just keeping it in cash cannot do. The problem right now is that true inflation is currently at 40 year highs up close to 15%, while the historical inflation average is around 2%.
So if you want something that is going to keep it completely safe, while also hedging against current inflation you will need to put it in something like a longer term CD. It will be a low ROI, like 3-5%, but it will average out for when inflation is brought back under control.
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