I had thought that you talked about giving them money for a down payment (which is a large sum of money to me), and is what I would hope my mom would do for my sister. She can easily afford it, would never even notice it, but the difference is that she is terrified of her money. Can’t even look at it without me, and periodically we check everything, I show her that it hasn’t disappeared and that it’s all going fine. But it did seem odd to tell me not to get involved, when you are very involved in your own children’s financial situation.
I don’t know how to help someone not be afraid of money. I think she’s been like this her entire life.
Am curious why you would want to buy a six month callable CD instead of a six month Treasury, since the six month T-bill is yielding higher than the CD?
It’s probably in the noise. I’ve been sitting in cash, avoiding bonds and internationals and emerging markets, so far so good. I did venture in to buy some 2 year CD recently at 4.50 or maybe a bit lower, but it’s not callable. Maybe today, if I’ll see if I can venture into buying something else before the market close. All for learning experience.
Edit to add, I bought 6-month TBill at 4.2%, but what I’m confused is the word ZERO in the name. Did I buy a TBill or something else. This is from Fidelity. It’s rollable feature.
DD2 knows what prices are in her area for homes. We will see how we can ‘help’ - it may be a loan with no interest and the amount goes down every year within gifting limits. Will just have to see.
A home that she can be in w/o needing to upgrade unless she has a lot of money eventually and wants to do so. In all likelihood she would be buying as a single person.
Not a flat out gift of a large chunk of money.
She might decide to do it all on her own and wait. The condo she is renting is fine. It will be her decision.
Could Fidelity have compared the T bill with zero coupon bonds? In general, a zero coupon bond
is any bond which doesn’t pay periodic interest. T-bills do not pay regular interest payments as with a coupon bond, but a T-Bill does include interest reflected in the amount it pays when it matures.
I thought some T-bills paid interest every six months, assuming the duration is longer than six months, and it is not a zero coupon. I fully admit that I know very little on this topic so I am probably wrong and/or using the wrong terms.
Interesting, my order disappeared. I don’t know if I bought something either. I think it’s the confusing part of buying Treasury Bills at Fidelity.
Does anyone have a better link on how to buy TBill at Fidelity.
Is there a chance that you got as far as the Preview Order screen and then did not hit buy? Or were you buying it after 5pm? I think that is when the market closes? The Treasuries I have purchased appear in my account immediately.
Here is how I approach Fidelity’s Fixed Income. I am sure there is a better way, but this is what I do.
News & Research tab across the top (middle on my desktop), then select ‘FI, Bonds & CDs’, and voila!
You will see the chart with 3 mo, 6 mo, etc, and you just click the link for the duration and type you want.
If you choose two year Treasury, it will then launch all the available options. What you will not see is the purchase minimums unless you click Depth of Book on the right side. Scroll down to ‘Ask’ prices and you will see how many thousands you will need to buy, and the corresponding rate. Bond purchases are expressed in thousands so 50 = $50K.
Alternatively, just click BUY and Fidelity will automatically select the best rate for your desired quantity. You can buy from either the Depth of Book link or the Treasury Bond search page.
You can do the same with CDs, but at the moment, the 2 year Treasury is yielding slightly higher than the 2 yr CD, and no state income tax. If you buy CDs, confirm that the one you have selected is Call Protected. Most of the 2 years pay interest every six months, but some pay monthly, so if the timing of income flows matters to you (from a tax perspective), look for Coupon Frequency.
Sorry…I see that you asked for a link. I do not have one, but wanted to say that the FI reps at Fidelity are super helpful and patient. You can grant them permission to view your screen, if you want their help in navigating a purchase or understanding how interest is calculated.
T-bills, T-notes, and T-bonds are fixed-income investments issued by the US Department of the Treasury when the government needs to borrow money. They are all commonly referred to as “Treasuries.”
T-Bills
Treasury bills have a maturity of one year or less, and they do not pay interest before the expiry of the maturity period. They are sold in auctions at a discount from the par value of the bill. They are offered with maturities of 28 days (one month), 91 days (3 months), 182 days (6 months), and 364 days (one year).
T-Notes
Treasury notes have a maturity period of two to ten years. They come in denominations of $1,000 and offer coupon payments every six months. The 10-year T-note is the most frequently quoted Treasury when assessing the performance of the bond market. It is also used to show the market’s take on macroeconomic expectations.
T-Bonds
Treasury bonds have the longest maturity among the three Treasuries. They have a maturity period of between 20 years and 30 years, with coupon payments every six months.
Thanks for the referral to opensocialsecurity – I couldn’t pull the name out of my brain.
I think my confusion about the spousal benefit is that I’m planning to take SS off my earnings now, but claiming spousal benefits at H’s NRA or later - so it’s not a “deemed” filing. I’ve seen several articles now that say my spousal benefit will be reduced, though, so fear that will be the case. Now I guess I’ll try to run some scenarios to see what the optimal timing might be, and see if opensocialsecurity cites regs so H can go to the source documents. (This research makes him SOOOOO happy.)
Already know what my benefit will be, as I haven’t had income in several years, and have my SSA estimate and some modeling from their website (which said I’d get 50% of H’s…). Also know that half of H’s benefit is far more than my own, so taking early hits hard.
I funded my I-Bond about two months ago, H just did his. Thinking about getting some of the 4% Treasury stuff, as our ready cash – which used to be our Every Freaking Cent (EFC) account thanks to Curmudgeon – is sitting in a money market account earning virtually nothing.
Both my sons have a stack of savings bonds they received as baby and birthday gifts. Now that they are 30 and 31, guess we should figure out how to cash them out or move them to another instrument. Some of the registrations are in our names, FBO kid’s name, so some level of parental involvement will be required.
It does, every May, but even during the worst of the crash of 2008, I have not seen the assessed values go down. So I’m a bit peeved that the basis for the years to come has been set at the peak.