Where do you keep your small money?

[Henro]

In a recent thread somewhere at OTT I mentioned that I was fortunate to have invested in US Treasury I Bond savings bonds years ago. Me and the wife that is...

Anyway, they are paying quite good interest at the present time.

There are limitations with them, such as you cannot cash them in for 12 months, and if you do cash them in before 5 years, you lose the last three months of interest. And the maximum purchase per SSN is $10K per year.

Still, comparing to what I was getting for over a year, which was essentially 0% ( after cashing in an unneeded life insurance policy) it is a pretty good deal with essentially no risk.

Without getting into details, I got in under the wire at the end of April, and will get 7.2% for six months, and 9.6 percent for the following six months. This is real money. It never decreases, unlike the stock market where you only really know you made money when you cash out. This was money that was sitting in a bank account earning nothing basically. I plan on using it after 12 months, whenever I need some extra cash.

If purchased today, the first six months will pay 9.6%, and the second six months will be determined later, according to inflation.

The I Bonds we bought back in 2000 and 2001 are paying 11.9% for 2022, but they were an exceptionally lucky purchase with a fixed rate on average of 3.5% which is added to the inflation adjustment.

Just wondering how you guys are handling extra cash on hand that you do not need at the moment...

By the way, I also have a stash the wife doesn't know about in my workshop where I keep some other small money...LOL Her mistake was mentioning to me once that her dad had a secret stash himself. Quick learner here sometimes...LOL

Here is a link to the treasury department if any one is interested:

Home — TreasuryDirect

www.treasurydirect.gov

 

[MOOTS]

I keep my money in mason jars...

 

[lynnmor]

I messed up and bought some inflation protected bond funds, what a joke. They should have done well and countered some of the stock downturn, but they did .25% over the past year.

 

[D2Cat]

All my small money I keep in a small container!

 

[hagrid]

Discretionary Fund overages get invested into center fire ammunition.

 

[OrangeKrush]

If my money wasn't so small I would have a larger tractor!

 

[mike0000]

Very interesting Henro, thank you for posting the information. My wife and I used to ladder CDs but returns have been terrible for some time. This looks like something we would be interested in, definitely something i will read up on.

Mike

 

[fruitcakesa]

I found out about the I series bonds last year and am now buying them as is my wife.
Sure beats the .60% rate I am getting at the bank.
I think it is a win win; high interest and totally secure principal.

 

[Henro]

Very interesting Henro, thank you for posting the information. My wife and I used to ladder CDs but returns have been terrible for some time. This looks like something we would be interested in, definitely something i will read up on.

Mike

This guy’s site is a good place to start:

I Bond Manifesto

Why inflation-linked savings bonds can work as part of your emergency fund Professor Zvi Bodie, a long-time advocate of inflation-protected investments, is on a mission: To persuade the Consumer Fi…

tipswatch.com

 

[Biker1mike]

Small cash is kept on hand / in bank for fast and easy access. Yes, crap for interest. More than enough to leave the country in a hurry.
401K average earnings for the past 10 years is a conservative 8.5 % and can be tapped with a 5 - 10 day waiting period for the check. True , I can not add to this account but I can always withdraw less which has the same affect.
I will pass the I bond idea on to the kids.

 

[Freeheeler]

Thanks for the heads up, I'll be checking into the I bonds.

 

[lugbolt]

I bonds are ok for a new investor. Say, you have kids, and you want them to understand how investments are supposed to work. Invest $10, and let them look at how it's doing year after year. Teach them to leave it alone for a long time until it's time to pull it out, then it'll be worth more than when it was when ya put it in.

My daddy never taught us to invest. Had to learn on my own and I haven't really done very well cause I ain't got no clue what I'm doing, no guidance whatsoever. I run into a guy at the lake a while back by the name of jackie (all I know) and we were discussing some things while floating around trying to chase crappies.

A big issue with is that they're run by the US treasury. I don't trust them based on my past dealings with the government. Their ways of doing things are totally backwards and in my case, "here to help" meant they're there to help themselves. And, if you ever have to call them for anything....be prepared to be on hold for HOURS. I was on hold 6 hours and 13 minutes last week trying to reset a password for their TD website.

Small money? What small money? Inflation has many of us cash strapped-myself included. Sitting in a dark warm house right now, trying to keep the bill down as much as possible. I don't go nowhere other'n work. I don't eat out at ALL. You get the idea. I'm being really frugal but ain't got no choice.

 

[mikester]

I put it into a bank "savings" account until the services fees wipe out the account balance. If I don't add external money to the account then the bank locks it "due to inactivity" after 6 months.

 

[Henro]

I bonds are ok for a new investor. Say, you have kids, and you want them to understand how investments are supposed to work. Invest $10, and let them look at how it's doing year after year. Teach them to leave it alone for a long time until it's time to pull it out, then it'll be worth more than when it was when ya put it in.

My daddy never taught us to invest. Had to learn on my own and I haven't really done very well cause I ain't got no clue what I'm doing, no guidance whatsoever. I run into a guy at the lake a while back by the name of jackie (all I know) and we were discussing some things while floating around trying to chase crappies.

A big issue with is that they're run by the US treasury. I don't trust them based on my past dealings with the government. Their ways of doing things are totally backwards and in my case, "here to help" meant they're there to help themselves. And, if you ever have to call them for anything....be prepared to be on hold for HOURS. I was on hold 6 hours and 13 minutes last week trying to reset a password for their TD website.

Small money? What small money? Inflation has many of us cash strapped-myself included. Sitting in a dark warm house right now, trying to keep the bill down as much as possible. I don't go nowhere other'n work. I don't eat out at ALL. You get the idea. I'm being really frugal but ain't got no choice.

Reflecting on it, I could have made the thread title better. Small money should probably have been excess cash...

The US Treasury is still considered perhaps the ultimate place to have money sitting with nearly zero risk. Likely even better than FDIC insured bank accounts, although they are good too.

Still, currently it is hard to find a safer place to put money at a descent return with full liquidity after 12 months, and the ability to take out whatever amount you want, in excess of $25 each time, down to the penny, deposited directly into you bank account. (I tested it, and it works perfectly. Don't remember how long it took, but I think a day or two.)

I was wasting interest money for a year, letting my excess cash sit in an account that paid maybe ten cents a month. With the I bonds I bought at the end of April, I will gain 8.4% average for the first 12 months, but if I took the entire amount out after the initial 12 month period, that would drop to slightly over 6%, still not bad. For feel good purposes I will have to check what bank CDs are paying now.

My interest was putting some cash somewhere that I could have access to after 12 months, and which would gain interest matching inflation, by the CPI-U definition anyway. AND where, like in a checking or savings account, I could take out only the amount I wanted at any given time.

It is very true that getting through to a TD representative on the phone is tough. Only called twice. First time was on hold for 2 hours. Second time I called I got smart and called exactly at their start time, 8 AM EST. Got a recording that my wait time would be about 45 minutes, then a message 5 minutes later, saying it would be "at least 2 hours"...then ten minutes later a person answered the phone, and spent literally an hour working through some things I could not figure out how to do myself, which related to changing/setting up rights to some I bonds. After getting through, the service was excellent...

What actually amazes me, is that I knew all the above details, and never thought to put that cash into I bonds a year ago! Had I done that I would have gained interest greater than the ten cents per month that I was getting, and right now that cash would have been available to withdraw any time. A major "DUH" experience...

 

[skeets]

In a mason jar buried in the ground by the dock under the wood pile,, small money, yeah right

 

[lynnmor]

The mason jar has beat the market big time year to date. Some of my big money is now small money and I should have gotten some mason jars out of the attic.

 

[mike0000]

I opened an account and made a deposit. We may open one in my wife’s soc. # too.
Thanks Henro!


Mike

 

[PaulR]

I've been looking closely at the I-bonds......

Freezers
Generators
LP tanks
Ammo
Vac seal bags
Seeds
Chickens
Barbed wire
Solar Panels
Batteries
.
.
.
.

 

[rc51stierhoff]

I've been looking closely at the I-bonds......

Freezers
Generators
LP tanks
Ammo
Vac seal bags
Seeds
Chickens
Barbed wire
Solar Panels
Batteries
.
.
.
.

I store my stuff with my BH92.

 

[mikester]

I store my stuff with my BH92.

I seem to have more luck buying equipment, using it for 5-10 years, then selling it for more than I paid for it. At least my money maintains it's inflationary value that way. In the bank I have to be content with no interest, excessive service fees, poor service, and a declining bank balance while the bank posts yearly record profits after using my money.