By David Enna, Tipswatch.com
With Wednesday’s release of the March inflation report, the buying equation for U.S. Series I Savings Bonds became a bit clearer. We now know the I Bond’s variable rate will fall from the current 3.94% to 2.96% at the May 1 reset.
That’s a big drop. Does it make I Bonds unattractive? I don’t think so, and the reason is the I Bond’s current fixed rate of 1.3%, the highest in more than 16 years. But the fixed rate will also reset on May 1. So there is the key question: Where will the Treasury reset the fixed rate?
Confused? This is fairly simple. An I Bond is a Treasury security that earns interest based on combining a fixed rate and an inflation rate.
- The fixed rate will never change. So if you bought an I Bond in 2014 with a fixed rate of 0.2%, it will continue to have a 0.2% fixed rate for the life of the bond. Purchases through April 29, 2024, have a permanent fixed rate of 1.3%.
- The inflation-adjusted rate (often called the variable rate) changes each six months to reflect the running rate of inflation. That rate is currently set at 3.94% annualized and will drop to 2.96% after May 1. All I Bonds will eventually get the 2.96% variable rate, with the start date depending on the original month of purchase.
- The composite rate is a combination of these two rates, currently 5.27%, annualized, for a full six months for any bond purchased through April 2024.
Projecting the fixed rate
The following projection results from an inexact science, and in fact is simply a guess based on a decade of observations. The Treasury has never revealed an exact formula for setting the fixed rate, but it has noted that current trends in real yields are a factor. TreasuryDirect provides this cryptic information:
The Secretary of the Treasury, or the Secretary’s designee, determines the fixed rate. The rate is based on market rates that have been adjusted to account for the value of components unique to savings bonds. These include the early redemption put option, tax deferral feature, deferred purchase feature, and Treasury’s administrative costs.
Based partly on feedback from Boglehead geniuses, I have settled on looking at the half-year average of the real yields of 5- and 10-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities as the best indicator of the next fixed rate. I then apply a ratio of 0.65 to the average. In recent years, this has been pretty accurate, as shown in this table:
In most cases, the 0.65 ratio has been on target, especially when applied to 5-year TIPS real yields. The May to October 2017 period is interesting, because the 5-year average was much lower than the 10 year, and the Treasury set the rate lower to match the 5-year average.
The Treasury always sets the fixed rate to a tenth decimal point, and my May 2024 projections are currently at 1.25% and 1.26%, with two weeks of data still to come. My conclusion (OK, guess) is that the Treasury will set the I Bond’s new fixed rate at either 1.2% or 1.3%.
But, as I always say, “The Treasury sometimes does weird things.”
What does this mean?
I Bond purchases are limited to $10,000 per person per year unless you use your tax return to get paper I Bonds (a bit late for that strategy) or add to your holdings through gift-box, trusts, or business-owner strategies.
In my opinion — and I know some readers disagree — April’s higher variable rate (3.94% vs. 2.96%) and the locked-in 1.3% fixed rate make purchasing I Bonds to the limit in April the wiser choice. For that reason, I already purchased to the limit in March and have scheduled a gift-box set for purchase on April 25.
In this chart I have included some potential fixed rate changes, ranging from 1.10% to 1.50%. The most likely results are 1.20% or 1.30%, but anything can happen. By buying in April, you guarantee that your investment will earn 5.27% for six months and 4.27% for six months, or around 4.8% for the year.
Buying in May drops the likely return to 4.17% or 4.27% for the first six months, and then an unknown return for the next six months, depending on inflation from April to September 2024.
If the fixed rate is set at 1.50%, the buyer in May will be the winner in the long run. I personally like the certainty of the April purchase.
If you want to purchase in April, you can go into TreasuryDirect at any time and schedule the transaction. I recommend setting the date at April 25 or 26 to give Treasury time to complete the transaction in April. If you wait until April 30, your I Bond will be issued in May.
The rollover strategy. With the variable rate dropping to 2.96%, I Bonds with a fixed rate of 0.0% will be paying 2.96% for six months. That’s below market, and some investors may want to redeem any I Bonds with 0.0% fixed rates and roll that money over into the 1.3% April version, either through new purchases or the gift-box strategy. I discussed that strategy in a March 31 post.
Or, just hold? I’ve always stressed that the best I Bond strategy is to continue building your stockpile, until you have an amount that would work as a “large” emergency spending resource in retirement, all tax-deferred and inflation protected. If you are in the accumulation phase, just keep the 0.0% I Bonds and add the 1.3% version. And then, someday, use this as a spending account when needed.
Wait until October or November? Some readers have speculated that real yields could continue rising through 2024, making a higher fixed rate likely later in the year. That could happen. It’s iffy. But one advantage of a higher rate reset in November is that the fixed rate would carry over to January 2025, when the purchase limit resets.
Are I Bonds that attractive?
With short-term T-bill and money market rates topping 5%, many investors are shunning I Bonds because of the potentially lower nominal return plus the three-month interest penalty for redemptions within five years. Some thoughts:
- We just went through a phase of inflation hitting 40-year highs, and higher prices seem to be stubbornly hanging on nearly two years later. Inflation protection, for part of your portfolio, looks like a wise choice.
- Eventually, the Federal Reserve would like to start cutting short-term interest rates and then the T-bill and money market returns will begin falling. Some banks have already started lowering rates on high-yield savings accounts.
- I Bonds, if held for 5 years, create an inflation-protected store of cash you can use for future needs, with no penalty for redemption except for federal taxes on the interest.
Is this a short-term investment? I Bonds aren’t a good choice for money you will need in the next one or two years. You can get a 2-year Treasury note paying about 4.9%. That nominal return is likely to beat the return of an I Bond after the three-month interest penalty is applied.
Aren’t TIPS the better choice? There is an auction of a new 5-year TIPS this week and the real yield to maturity looks likely to be close to, or top, 2.0%. It could have a 70- to 80-basis-point advantage over the I Bond with a fixed rate of 1.3%. So yes, I think TIPS with real yields in the 2.0% range are more attractive. But many investors shun TIPS because of the complexity, and I Bonds have advantages of tax-deferred interest, a flexible maturity, and rock-solid deflation protection. I continue to invest in both.
Is inflation really a problem? The risk is there. Investments in TIPS and I Bonds provide insurance against unexpectedly high inflation, such as we saw in June 2022 when annual inflation rose to 9.1%. If inflation suddenly drops off, inflation-protection may slightly under-perform, but investors are still winners because no one wants high inflation.
I welcome your thoughts.
• Confused by I Bonds? Read my Q&A on I Bonds
• Let’s ‘try’ to clarify how an I Bond’s interest is calculated
• Inflation and I Bonds: Track the variable rate changes
• I Bonds: Here’s a simple way to track current value
• I Bond Manifesto: How this investment can work as an emergency fund
* * *
Feel free to post comments or questions below. If it is your first-ever comment, it will have to wait for moderation. After that, your comments will automatically appear.Please stay on topic and avoid political tirades.
David Enna is a financial journalist, not a financial adviser. He is not selling or profiting from any investment discussed. I Bonds and TIPS are not “get rich” investments; they are best used for capital preservation and inflation protection. They can be purchased through the Treasury or other providers without fees, commissions or carrying charges. Please do your own research before investing.
Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities 
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Hard pass. This only makes sense if (1) fixed rate doesn’t go higher and (2) very long term. My savings accounts pay 5%+ and easy to lock 1-2 year CDs at 5-6%. Combine the 3 month penalty plus subpar 4.27% for 6 months and this is a loser.
Thanks to this blog I learned I bonds were a good play 2 years ago, but now only make sense if you think inflation will really spike. This seems unlikely (and if it happens there will be ample opportunity to buy later at higher rate). Fixed rate is nice but not worth the short term hit.
Agree. You are investing for the short term and I Bonds aren’t for you.
I agree 100%. When interest rates were still very low, there was a 7.12%, 9.62% and then a 6.48% APR staring you right in the face. You’d be ignorant to not pounce on it. Add on the compounding interest and the money being safe, and you’re all set. However, the tide has turned and now I-bonds are still “okay” at 5.27% and 4.27% APR (average of 4.77%), but I can get a 4-week bond for 5.33% APR with no penalty and my money is available within 4 weeks. I-bonds are tied up for 12 months. I switched over one set of I-bonds to the 1.3% fixed rate that had a 0% (duh!), but I think my money can work harder elsewhere now.
Of course interest rates and other things will eventually come down and then I just have to look around some more. Like you said, I-bonds are definitely a (good) long-term investment. I’ll still have some, just not as many. I don’t think inflation will skyrocket as much as it did, but it will stay much stickier than a lot people originally thought/hoped (ie six cuts; now maybe none).
Just curious. Any guesses on what will happen to EE bonds? Think the Treasury will reduce the doubling time?
The EE Bond fixed rate is currently 2.7% and the doubling period is 20 years, providing a return of 3.53% if held 20 years. I think there is a good chance the fixed rate will rise to 2.8% or 2.9%, but the doubling period will remain at 20 years. Opinion: It should be lowered to 18 years, providing a guaranteed return of 4% if held for 18 years.
Can someone choose to have taxes withheld on iBonds? Does it make sense to do so and, if possible, how many actually do it?
Unless you need withholding to reach the safe harbor withholding (if you didn’t understand that sentence, you don’t need it), why would you want to do that at the first place?
Yes, you can pay the taxes yearly on the interest, if that’s what you mean, so that you don’t get a big tax bill in the year of maturity. But as I recall, you must do that for all your I bond holdings, not selectively. Many of us perceive that not having to deal with taxes until maturity is an advantage.
Yes, when you redeem I-Bonds, you can have income tax withheld,
You can have taxes withheld on savings bond redemptions and matured treasuries at Treasury Direct. That is something you can elect to set up for your entire Treasury Direct account and can change at any time (unless you have mandatory withholding). But is seems as if you may be referring to withholding on I-Bond interest as it accrues. You cannot do that. You can choose to report the interest on your tax returns and pay your tax annually that way. But, as Ann stated, it’s for all or none. You can’t choose to pay the tax on accruals for only some of the bonds in your name. Also it is left up to you to keep track of it all because the taxable accruals won’t be reported on a 1099 from Treasury Direct until maturity. Really seems like a lot of bother to me.
You can have taxes withheld on interest payments on Treasuries too. I do it and I find it convenient.
Yes, I have my Treasury Direct account set up for optional withholding on all TD payments as well. It helps me stay within the safe harbor withholding range mentioned by another.
I also wonder in the year of redemption ibonds that IRS consider the withholding spread out over the year to avoid quarterly penalties, like RMD withholdings are. That be a kick, you redeem after 30yrs have big ordinary income and then get a big penalty for not doing quarterly withholding.
Great question, and I do not know the answer. But I would suspect there could be a penalty, unless you did it in the 4th quarter and paid estimated taxes that quarter. In this case, doing withholding makes a lot of sense.
The short answer is no the IRS does not consider any withholding spread out over the year. They occur, when they happen. For all the details see Pub 505, the section on “How to figure each payment starting on page 24 in the 2024 revision.
Hopefully I’ll remember that when Im 80 plus years old. Guess It would be better to sell first quarter of maturity and withhold.
That is incorrect. Any withholding is considered withheld evenly over the 4 estimated tax payment dates. (4/15, 6/15, 9/15, and 1/15).
Think I’ll put it in my TurboTax for a test and see if it cares
Here is what TurboTax has to say https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/retirement/discussion/if-i-pay-all-of-my-taxes-out-of-my-ira-in-late-december-is-that-considered-on-time-and-no-penalty/00/3113188
That’s a simplifying assumption that you are allowed to make if you use the “regular installment method” which is allowed only “if your income is basically the same throughout the year.” If you cash in a chunk of I-bonds and pull in bunch of taxable interest in one quarter, you don’t qualify for the “regular installment method” since your income isn’t basically the same throughout the year. Instead, you must use the “annualized income installment method.” Using this method, you have a choice between using one-fourth of your estimated total withholding for the year being considered withheld on the due date of each payment period or you may choose to include your withholding according to the actual dates on which the amounts were withheld. Unless you want some really wonky estimate tax payments the second option is the way to go.
There is also the option to prepay the entire estimated amount on April 15.
Payment Due Dates
You can pay all of your estimated tax by April 15, 2024, or
in four equal amounts by the dates shown below.
1st payment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 15, 2024
2nd payment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 17, 2024
3rd payment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sept. 16, 2024
4th payment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jan. 15, 2025*
2025, if you file your 2024 tax return by January 31, 2025,
and pay the entire balance due with your return.
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf
It is my understanding that the rules for WITHHOLDING v. ESTIMATED TAXES are different.
If you are employed by someone else, you will be having taxes withheld from your employment income. Those withholdings are considered evenly spread throughout the year. So, if you see you are short on your withholding for the tax year, you could make catch up payments before the end of the year and be OK.
For people who do not have income withheld by an employer (or other ways noted below) you need to do estimated taxes. Those need to be commensurate with when the income was received.
NOTE: self-employed need to do estimated taxes (but, if you have a working spouse you could just have them withhold more to cover the taxes) . Retired people often have to do estimated taxes, but Social Security can withhold taxes as can some pensions and some brokerage accounts (BUT, sometimes they will not handle state withholding).
“It is my understanding that the rules for WITHHOLDING v. ESTIMATED TAXES are different.”
That’s a key point and one I didn’t make clear above. If you have enough withholding during the year that you do not need to make estimated tax payments how you treat when the withholding was done doesn’t matter. However, if you have to make estimated tax payments in addition to your withholding, then it how you treat when the withholding was done does.
This got to be a discussion about estimated taxes, one of my most “unfavorite” chores … four times a year, federal and state. The issue of withholding is interesting. Although I have never done it, I assume that you can make a withdrawal from a traditional IRA and then have the entire amount withheld. And you can do this as late as December and it will apply to your entire year of tax liabilities. Anyone have experience doing this?
I am thinking about writing about the procedures I use to pay estimated taxes, but I am certainly not an expert on the subject.
This is exactly what we do. We take our RMDs in December and withhold almost the entire amount for taxes, which allows us to avoid quarterly estimated tax payments and have the funds fully invested for almost the entire year. IRS rules state that any withholding is considered timely payments. We have never had a penalty charged against this strategy, and TurboTax does not calculate a penalty. So at least in our case, it seems to work. But, of course, I am not a tax expert, and everyone should confirm their own plans….
I have done this, no problems so far. If you look at the worksheet for “taxes paid”, estimated taxes are put into dated buckets, but withholding is just summed up for the year. Various “experts” from the financial services (e.g. Kiplinger posts) have pointed out the advantages of this strategy.
Being retired I have IRA RMD withholding to cover my whole tax bill for the year. Of course you have to figure your tax bill in Nov and before the end of December. Also if you have to withdraw more than your RMD, to get enough withholding, you might roll the same amount back into the IRA to prevent extra income.
I think the key to understanding the withholding question is to review Part 1 of Form 2210, Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals, Estates, and Trusts. What it boils down to is having enough withholding during the year so that you are NOT required to pay estimated taxes. If you do that then timing doesn’t matter.
Tax benefits if I bonds are held for 5 years or longer especially for higher tax brackets
If used for education
And the fine print,
You were 24 years old or older before the bonds were issued.
The expenses were for yourself, your spouse, or someone you list as a dependent on your federal income tax return.
This was probably a first attempt at a college fund.
You say “I Bond purchases are limited to $10,000 per person per year”. This is not true. I Bond purchases are limited to $10,000 per taxpayer ID number per year. You, your trust, your business, your corporation, your other trust, etc.
Yes, and this is pointed out in the article.
Yes it is. You are right and I am wrong.
I suspect there is a slightly higher chance of the fixed rate rising to 1.4 percent than falling to 1.2 percent. While the average 5-year real yield since November is tracking 6 basis points lower than it was from May to October 2023, the average 10-year real yield is about 15 basis points higher.
If the Treasury gives more weight to the 10-year yield, it would suggest a possibly higher fixed rate, especially if real yields hover around 2% through the end of April.
That being said, I also prefer the certainty of knowing the I Bond composite rate for the next year, so I will likely still buy my full allocation before the end of the month.
It will be interesting to see what happens early this week in the wake of Iran’s multi-prong attack on Israel. Will there be a flight to safety that causes Treasury yields to fall? But every time I sense something is going to happen, the opposite happens, in this market.
David, just saw you quoted on CNBC. I agree that the possibility of a 1.4% fixed rate is not a reason to delay I Bond purchases at this point.
I calculated it would take about 27 years for I Bonds with a 1.4% fixed rate to surpass the value of bonds purchased before April 30 with the 1.3% fixed rate. This is due to the compounding “head start” investors get from the 5.27% composite rate for the first six months. There would have to be a meaningful chance of the fixed rate rising to 1.5% to consider waiting, which seems fairly unlikely and not worth the gamble.
Hi David,
Thanks for this and the 5-year TIPS posts, most helpful. I am going to buy the 5-year TIPS at the auction and also going to buy $10K each for me and my wife – this early enough before the end of the month. Your site provides the much needed confidence with your honest and excellent analysis.
One question: can I add a beneficiary using your suggested “registration option” to my and my wife’s single owner existing I-Bonds….sorry for being lazy and not checking it myself…thanks!!!!…chander
When you go into TreasuryDirect to make the order (for each account) make sure you create or are using the WITH registration. Spouse 1 WITH Spouse 2 in one account, and then Spouse 2 WITH Spouse 1 in the other account. That may already be your default. … Or, I do think as an alternative you can name a POD beneficiary.
Thanks!!…in a day or two, I will work on it…..we have been buying I-Bonds for the past 20 years or so without adding beneficiaries, I will report back after I have added beneficiaries.
I believe you can go into Treasury Direct and change the registration on all of your I bonds from single owner to a POD or the “with” registration as pointed out above.
Great…thanks!!!
Wonder what a “with” designation means legally is it like, Joint tenancy, Tenants in common, POD? I cannot find a legal definition of “with.
Anyone who finds a definition please post link.
Check out this for info on WITH vs. OR https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/buy-a-bond/register-a-bond/
And here is info on POD
https://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/wills-trusts/how-transfer-us-savings-bonds-after-death.html
Here is some info on WITH vs OR
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/buy-a-bond/register-a-bond/
And some info on POD
https://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/wills-trusts/how-transfer-us-savings-bonds-after-death.html
Thanks, super helpful links!!
The “with” registration is essentially a joint owner with right of survivorship. If one owner dies, the survivor is then the sole owner
I know you can add a beneficiary “after the fact” because I did it fairly recently for all of my I-bonds. However, I think you have to do them one at a time, at least I couldn’t find a more efficient method.
April sure looks like the better option. Thanks for making the decision clearer, David.
David’s column mentioned not waiting until the very end of the month to buy, because doing so could mess up the purchase date of the bond.
I’d like to add my own emphasis to that, with a quote from TreasuryDirect itself.
I know that many people (including me) find it a nice bit of “gravy” that money intended to buy I Bonds can sit in its current location, earning interest there, and then I Bonds also earn from the first day of the month in which they are issued, even if they are bought toward the end of that month. In effect, interest on the same money, in two different places, for up to several weeks.
But in its FAQ section, concerning the issue date of a bond, TreasuryDirect says: “The issue date is the first day of the month in which the Treasury receives funds [emphasis added] for the purchase of the security. . . . Funds must be received prior to Midnight Eastern time to be credited for a particular day. If you make a purchase request at the end of the month, your bond’s issue date may be the following month depending on when the funds are received [emphasis added].
So it really isn’t worth pushing a purchase to the absolute end of the month, in hope of squeezing every last possible day of interest out of an account where the cash has temporarily been sitting, because the slightest delay in Treasury’s receipt of the funds could cause the I Bond’s actual issue date to get postponed into the month after the purchase request.
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/help/treasurydirect-help/faq/
Unless something very odd happens out in the financial world during the next week-and-a-half to change our minds, my wife and I are 99% sure that we’ll buy our entire 2024 I Bond allotments this month.
After so many years of zero fixed rates, 1.3% fixed, plus the current inflation rate for the next six months, still looks quite good. It’s “the bird in the hand”–except that I’m not convinced there are “two in the bush” yet to be revealed.
But even if Treasury does raise the fixed rate to 1.4% or 1.5% or whatever, 1.3% still seems “good enough.” Treasury has never explained how they set the fixed rate, and therefore the definition of what turned out to be “good” vs. “less good” purchase timing can only be known with benefit of hindsight.
And beating up on oneself, just after May 1 or November 1, about “I should have bought earlier/I should have waited” is just not worth spending a lot of psychological energy. Sometimes we’ve guessed right, sometimes not. That’s financial life.
It seems the death of a spouse can cause some very troubled times in trying acquire the Ibond funds. Does this concern you when stockpiling Ibonds over time?
You should be able to address any concerns you have on acquiring I-bonds at the death of your spouse with the registration options that are available. You can register an I-bond with an owner and a beneficiary in which case if the owner dies, instead of the bond going into the person’s estate, the beneficiary automatically becomes the single or sole owner. Or you could register the I-bond with two owners who co-own the bond. If one owner dies, the other becomes the single or sole owner.
A real issue, that has a higher risk when retired, you spend more time together and may be both killed at the same time. So having only two people on the account is a probate issue than. Trust is the only way to be completely foolproof with TD.
I think the general complaint I hear about TreasuryDirect is the time-consuming process of transferring or re-registering I Bonds after the owner’s death. Expect lots of red tape and several months. I have no experience with this and can’t say how well brokerages do with this same process.
The tax implications of IBonds are worse than RMD distributions for me and heirs. No thanks at any price.
No I Bond has ever matured (yet), but I agree that any I Bond you hold for 30 years could present tax issues, which I discussed here: https://tipswatch.com/2024/02/04/long-time-i-bond-investors-face-a-tax-time-bomb/. Any I Bond you purchase this year will mature in 2054. A better way to look at I Bonds is as a savings account you can draw on in the future, before maturity. You decide how much to redeem, and when, and then plan for the taxes owed that year.
gg80108, it all comes down to how you choose to manage them. No one is forcing you to hold them the entire 30 years. You can redeem them (in part or entirely) at any time, preferably after you’ve held them at least 5 years to avoid the early withdraw penalty.
Unless I need the money sooner, my plan is to start looking for tax advantageous times (IE a lower-ish income year) to redeem starting with year 20 of a bond (I’ll be retired,, but not yet at RMD age under current RMD policy when the first of my Ibonds reaches that mark.)
Of course, I also plan on limiting my RMDs but converting as much of my 401k/IRAs to Roths in the years between retiring and first RMD as possible.
But trying to minimize a large tax bill because one has a large amount of income is a nice first world problem to have to deal with IMO
Tax planning is like the stock market. Hindsight is always 20/20. Yes I should of converted that IRA to a ROTH when I was 60 yrs old too etc, etc, etc. ! I have close to a 3% fixed on the ones I own, so it will have a big gain when matures. Who thinks of taxes when you are accumulating a nestegg? If you dont save and invest any significant amount of money, tax planning makes no difference. So here is a tax question when it matures and you withhold taxes, does the IRS treat it as being spread out over the year or do they give you a penalty for not making quarterly payments? Taxes are always a big grey area when retired and harder to ballpark than working.
I was too busy working and accumulating wealth to worry about taxes. Converting IRA to Roth is something I woulda coulda shoulda done15yrs ago but again accumulating wealth is a full time job.
Its hard for me and probably many when the time comes to raise ones own taxes. My Ibonds will be some of the first to mature I’ll be about 83 and probable will not care, if I live that long.
We once had a payout from a deferred comp plan and paid 5 figure income tax, not a good feeling.
My wife always reminds me that paying lots of income taxes is a sign of financial success. Create a strategy to minimize taxes, but accept that taxes will be due and be thankful for the resources that created those taxes.
In my my case, so far, my wife, of lovely 40 years, have zero interest in managing money or getting involved in financial planning. I have not given up on engaging her with the help of documenting accounts, etc. She is not there to counsel me on paying these large tax bills….this year, for example, after all the taxes deducted in W2 etc. I still had to, painfully, write a check for over $26K. When I told her about this, she gawe me a look as to why am I distturbing her in taking care of our first, and only, 2 months old grandchild (daughter’s daughter). I had to learn on my own to appreciate that paying more taxes is better than less while working hard to legally minimize taxes….:)
For some reason it seems harder to pay taxes on unearned income at least for me.
Thank you so much for your analysis this morning! I never make an I-Bond decision without reading your blog. And thank you so much for including the options for trusts and business-owner strategies! “I Bond purchases are limited to $10,000 per person per year unless you use your tax return to get paper I Bonds (a bit late for that strategy) or add to your holdings through gift-box, trusts, or business-owner strategies.”