CDs and Savings Bonds Update

New Series I Savings Bond rate is 5.27%

SERIES I & EE SAVINGS BONDS

On November 1st Treasury updated the Series I and EE savings bond rates. The new rate for I bonds purchased between November 2023 and April 2024 is 5.27%. This rate consists of a 1.3% fixed rate (up from 0.9%) that will not change during the life of the bond, and a 1.97% semiannual inflation rate for the initial six months of ownership. The 1.3% fixed rate is now at the highest level since 2007. The example below from the TreasuryDirect.gov website details the current I bond rate calculation:

If you have purchased Series I bonds in the past, the table below shows how those older I bond composite rates will change using the new 1.97% semiannual inflation rate adjustment:

The new Series EE Savings bond rate is 2.7% for bonds purchased between November 2023 and April 2024. We do not find that rate attractive, despite the phantom rate of 3.52% attributed to Treasury’s guarantee that EE Bonds will double in value in 20 years.

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U.S. TREASURIES

Treasury has the following auctions scheduled.

Going into these auctions, below is a table of the current yields:

Conservative investors can build a laddered portfolio of treasuries with maturities ranging from 1-month to 2-years generating a total portfolio yield over 5%. Additionally, investors can earn over 5.4% compound yield on their cash reserves in the Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund (Symbol: VMFXX). Schwab offers the Value Advantage Money Fund (Symbol: SWVXX) with a yield of 5.3% and Fidelity offers the Fidelity Money Market Fund (Symbol: SPRXX) with a yield of 5.1%.

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CD RATES

Below are some of the best CD rates (annual percentage yield - APY) available nationwide today, sorted by maturities from three months to five years. You can click here to check if a bank is FDIC insured. In addition, you can click on the institution name in the CD list below to go directly to the bank’s website for more information regarding CD purchase minimums, etc. We always recommend individual CD purchases are within the $250,000 FDIC insurance limit.

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3-months:

• TotalDirectBank 5.66%

• Home Loan Investment Bank 5.50%

• iGoBanking 5.35%

6-months:

• TotalDirectBank 5.76%

• Popular Direct 5.55%

• Synchrony Bank (9-month) 5.50%

12-months:

• Popular Direct 5.67%

• TotalDirectBank 5.65%

• LendingClub 5.65%

18-months:

• The Federal Savings Bank 5.65%

• Popular Direct 5.50%

• Merrick Bank 5.45%

2-years:

• Crescent Bank 5.35%

• PopularDirect 5.30%

• The Federal Savings Bank 5.25%

3-years:

• BMO Alto 5.10%

• PopularDirect 5.00%

• MySavingsDirect 5.00%

4-years:

• BMO Alto 5.20%

• First National Bank of America 4.80%

• iGoBanking 4.75%

5-years:

• BMO Alto 5.25%

• First National Bank of America 4.75%

• PopularDirect 4.65%