Treasury Bills 4 To 52 Wk Up To 5.5%

Janicefr48 | Aug 9, 2023 | 40 posts since 2022

"U.S. Treasury: Short Term Treasury Bills (4-Week-52-Week Maturity) Up to

5.50% Interest"

I just got this email form Treasury Direct. I am new to these so don't really know how they work. Is this a good deal?

I did buy $10K I-bonds last year but am totally confused about them also,

Post an answer

Answers

alan1 | Aug 9, 2023 | 876 posts since 2015

You wrote: "I just got this email form Treasury Direct."

I don't think whether Treasury bills are a "good deal" should be your main concern at this moment,

I suggest that you carefully review the e-mail address of whoever sent the email. I doubt that it was sent by TreasuryDirect. It might have been sent by a financial information source; it might have been sent by scammers. Unlikely that it was sent by TreasuryDirect.

Confused1 | Aug 10, 2023 | 87 posts since 2018

I seriously doubt that came from Treasury Direct, so I hope you did not click on any links.
T-Bills are sold at auction and you can buy them on the Treasury Direct site or through your brokerage account. Here is a good video that explains the process and Jennifer has tons of other great free informative videos including I-Bonds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFuiC-UNeMc&list=PLsv_4H5rP97FNVjjEOvf4rf5ceQ29T_Uw

MAKNYC | Aug 10, 2023 | 323 posts since 2015

The headline of this post is suspiciously similar to the ‘deal post’ on Slickdeals.com. While I have no first hand knowledge of any treasurydirect.com originated emails, it does seem unorthodox for them to solicit interest this way.

https://slickdeals.net/f/16843289-treasury-bond-offers-5-4-interest-for-3-4-6-12-months?src=frontpag...
More to the point of your actual question, yes, t-bills should be considered as a viable alternative to banks and/or money market funds. But if one has a brokerage account there is little benefit to transacting in these via treasurydirect. I assume all brokerage firms at this point, and certainly all the discounters, will allow fee-free purchase of these in standard brokerage accounts without the added complication of funding each purchase via ACH transfer from an external account like treasurydirect does. And you gain the ability to sell them in the secondary market prior to maturity if you choose to via the brokerage option.

Janicefr48 | Aug 13, 2023 | 40 posts since 2022

CLARIFICATION: The email was not "from" treasury direct but about them. I am sorry I wasn't more careful in how I stated it. Thank you for your concern and warnings. I try to be VERY careful about going to any links or websites without checking as thoroughly as possible if it is legit. My new virus/security software works a little too well in protecting me from opening any and blocks many very legit sites:-) But I am not complaining....that is better than the other extreme. I did verify that technically the ad was correct but for some reason I was thinking it was 52months not weeks which is more what I am looking for. Right now I am trying to decide between 5 yr cd at 5.37% or a fixed 7 or 10 yr annuity around the same rate to put move IRA funds into. Also considering putting part of it in fixed indexed annuities.

The financial institution, product, and APY (Annual Percentage Yield) data displayed on this website is gathered from various sources and may not reflect all of the offers available in your region. Although we strive to provide the most accurate data possible, we cannot guarantee its accuracy. The content displayed is for general information purposes only; always verify account details and availability with the financial institution before opening an account. Contact [email protected] to report inaccurate info or to request offers be included in this website. We are not affiliated with the financial institutions included in this website.