Our $172,000 T-Bill Ladder: How To Build A T-Bill Ladder & When We'll Stop Laddering T-Bills (2023)

Here's a quick update on our $172,000 T-Bill ladder & answers to the top five T-Bill laddering questions I’ve gotten in recent weeks, including:
1. When will we stop laddering?
2. How do you ladder for an expense, which has a due date that doesn’t neatly meet the traditional T-Bill maturity dates?
3. When you start off with a 4, 8 & 13-week T-Bill ladder, which T-Bill do you auto-roll?
4. How do you switch from a 13-week T-bill ladder to a 17-week, 26-week or longer-maturity ladder?
5. How do you ladder if you can’t meet the $1,000 minimum investment required by most brokerages?
👉 Help keep our one-of-a-kind videos unbiased & sponsorship-free through channel membership - become a super-supersaver member: / @diamondnestegg
#jenniferlammer #bonds #fixedincome
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SOURCES
home.treasury.gov/policy-issu...
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[@dl-ce3so]

My goal in laddering in a traditional sense was to optimize the higher long term yields while maintaining some measure of liquidity. Doesn't make much sense in an inverted yield curve environment. So, currently, I mainly use laddering as a way discipline myself from becoming too impulsive while maintaining diversity of interest rate and reinvestment risk in my fixed portfolio.

[@haldriver1378]

My ladder ain't so organized. When a bill matures, I look over size and dates of next maturities and examine current rates and decide based on all these factors. I use Schwab and they offer autoroll, but I don't use it. I always know my next maturity date and Schwab always alerts me ahead as well. Note that, for now, I'm not using this for any current foreseeable expenses (like you mentioned). It's all for the future. So my maturities don't need to happen on a rigid schedule. Call it a "somewhat organized" ladder.

[@Canoecamper]

Your presentation style is so very crisp and clear; a joy to listen to!

[@Grumpollion]

Looking forward to your videos about what you'll do with the proceeds when the time comes to stop laddering. I'll be interested to see whether you go for long-term bonds or equities.

[@user-wh1ti5cl2c]

Thank you for the video. Your Knowledge is invaluable. I am currently using a 17 week T bill ladder.

[@timparenti]

"Random stepping stool" is definitely how I got started with T-Bills in mid-2022, first dipping my toes in to see how things worked, then taking a bunch of excess cash I was otherwise just sitting on, earning next to nothing in savings at the time, and plunging it into a "bullet" of various terms all maturing in early 2023, so that it could earn something and try to capture the then-rapidly rising rates while it waited to be used to buy more I-Bonds in the new year. As that wound down, whatever was still left over in T-Bills got shoved into the Giant Spreadsheet, where I figured out where I wanted to place my rungs, how many additional weeks each dollar could stay invested before it got there, and where I could afford to float an extra thousand or two for a couple days or a week because of differing auction days or to smooth out gaps. As the initial chaos gradually became more organized, I'm now quite happy with my resulting 17-week ladder with 5 rungs maturing every 3 to 4 weeks… but always eyeing the next step!

[@lionidan]

Schwab does offer auto-renewal on 17 week T-bills now. I have set up a 17 week ladder with Schwab based on your recommendations. Thanks for the help.

[@stevenroemhildt2643]

I am a Charles Schwab user and can verify CS has an auto roll capability on the 17-week t-bills. I use a ladder with the 17-week t-bills and have auto roll on al of them. Love the channel. Keep the content coming!!!

[@barbaraperry2796]

​@usernumber09following

[@AK-qo6tx]

didn't Jennifer say in a previous episode that auto-roll at Schwab takes longer to purchase another t-bill than the auto-roll at Fidelity? i think she prefers Fidelity for their auto-roll because it purchases it at the very next auction. I think Jennifer should explain any delay or difference in the auto-roll at Schwab and Fidelity.

[@AK-qo6tx]

another benefit of Fidelity is that they automatically sweep the matured t-bill into the government money market....while schwab keeps your money in their low paying Schwab bank money market acct unless you manually enter a order to buy a money market if you choose not to buy the next t-bill or change the maturity length. Only negative about Fidelity is their $25k daily ACH transfer limit available to trade immediate after initiating the transfer.

[@lchen3213]

@@AK-qo6tx Oh, so when bills mature money goes into a money market assigned by Schwab? They don't go back to your cash position automatically? Would yo have to sell off the money market in order gain access to your money again?

[@Run4Ever77]

​@usernumber09T-bills are just US Govt debt with maturity of 52 weeks or less.

[@Oheeeoh]

Thanks for the video and have yourself a super weekend!

[@craigroberts757]

Another Amazing video packed with great information my friend. Keep em coming.🎯 Have a great 4th of July holiday Jennifer.

[@DanGaskell]

I have been laddering the 13 and 17 week t-bills since last fall (when you suggested!!). I've had as much as $175,000 "rolling" over those months and it's great to have a guaranteed return. It helps me sleep well at night! Cha-Ching!!

[@marcopolo3109]

That's good, I was thinking in getting into a separate manage account with the brokerage for Treasury bond ladder.

[@annleland6422]

I know about T-bill ladder from prof Zvi Bodie’s book, worry-free investing. You give much more details about implementing it. Thank you very much for the good work.

[@mimi-ny1wq]

Since I spread out mine over 10+ T-bills and they are mostly in my retirement account @ Vanguard (offers no auto-roll), I don't bother tracking- instead, I tend to buy at the secondary market to look for the higher rate/better maturity than auction - and the transaction is almost instant. Thanks for the reminder for the tax on MMF & utilizing HHA as well!

[@user-kn5tb6hp1k]

Great insightful videos. Would you recommend building up the ladder with 8 different t-bills each having 8 weeks of maturity with auto rollover? Or Is there another approach which would work better based on your experience ? Thank you

[@todddunn945]

I have built a ladder of 26 week bills with one maturing every month. I currently hold six 26 week bills. I buy via Treasury direct where I can set the number of reinvestments on any bill and change them any time. When rates start to drop I will likely move into some longer term Treasuries (10 year notes or 20 year bonds). Since notes and bonds pay interest at 6 month intervals I can continue to hold six investments to have cash flow monthly. I am retired, so cash flow matters.

[@TravelingtheWorld96]

Another great video...thanks for uploading. Had a question on excess money after auction. If you buy enough t-bills you will often have more than $1,000 left in your core fund that will tend to get higher as other auctions occur. What do you do with that excess/profit in order to keep it working for you?

[@user-di4bt7qu2i]

Hi Jennifer, I am deeply grateful to you as I have used the information in you videos to put previously idle and nonperforming cash into T-Bills that are actually producing some yield (as opposed to my equities). Now I'm in the process of convincing my friends to do likewise. Thank you so much!

[@Coco-yw9nf]

Anyone buying T Bills tomorrow?

[@Thisishard2333]

Every Monday . 13 week.

[@ccos3302]

Schwab is definitely auto-rolling 17-wk T-bills. It’s happened twice already and they are poised to do it again this coming month.

[@334205bamaboy]

you are amazing ! Thank you

[@claricehirata3303]

Jennifer, just as I was wondering about switching from 13-wk t-bills to 17-wk, you have confirmed, thank you! Also keeping some funds available for TIPS which have had some wide swings in the past 3 days (6/28: 5-yr=1.85, 10-yr=1.53 | 6/29: 5-yr=1.99, 10-yr=1.65 | 6/30 5-yr=1.95, 10-yr=1.59), and equities seem to be skyrocketing in such a crazy way, I am wondering if they will come crashing down for some good buys. Utterly amazing times. If I was doing this by myself, I would be a nervous wreak, but with your support, it makes it so much easier to look at data and see what makes the most sense at the time. Will look forward to your video on how to think things through. What a life-line you are!

[@jesvarghese966]

Would you mind explaining how the tips rates, which are below 2 is better than 4 week t-bill? I'm trying to understand and learn.

[@claricehirata3303]

@@jesvarghese966 To answer your question, Jennifer did an excellent video on T-Bills vs TIPS...her explanation and visuals far exceeds any attempt that I would make to explain it to you! My apologies, I don't remember if it was on the members only channel or this one, though it was probably on the members only channel ($9.99/month), I would say well worth it if you have not joined, but that's just my opinion. :)

[@rburns4048]

Interesting ladder strategy. Since I am located in Florida I have zero tax implications for Treasury versus CD. As a result I have a ladder of the majority of my emergency fund where I have T Bill or CD coming due every month for 12 months. When one comes due I buy another 1 year instrument (based on what offers the highest rate at that time). It took a bit of work to start but now its easy to login and buy once per month as needed. Since I am on Schwab and have to invest even $1,000s I put any odd cash into their money market which is currently around 5%. I get 4.15% in my savings currently but I prefer to lock in rates at least 1% higher at the moment. If they become equal I will stop and put it back in to savings. I too ladder for expenses in the short term as much as I can.

[@jimcraig2521]

When choosing a maturity term for laddering, do you take into account that shorter terms allow for compounding that might yield more income than a longer maturity?

[@JBoy340a]

I started investing in T-bills last year. I tend to buy the longer term (26 and 52) and sacrifice a little interest for ease of management. So far it has worked out well! I like that they now have auto-renew so may try that on some shorter-term bills in the future.

[@DiamondNestEgg]

Thanks for sharing

[@1972fordify]

Ty for such great information! I’m holding 7 figures in T bills. I’m not confident in touching the market right now. Like you pointed out, the time is not right. I believe there will be pain ahead for the market and the economy.

[@marcopolo3109]

Do you use a separate manage account for t bills with a brokerage firm? Or on your own makes the purchases directly with the brokerage website?

[@barbaraperry2796]

Thank you!

[@larrycox6614]

Just found your channel, starting binge watching & decided to subscribe. How & what do you monitor rates to catch the "Blip Rate" ? Thanks for this wealth of info

[@DiamondNestEgg]

👉 Help keep our one-of-a-kind videos unbiased & sponsorship-free through channel membership - become a super-supersaver member: kzbin.info/door/nexoc6tvesvcCEzZhmI-Agjoin WATCH NEXT (member videos) ⭐ How Credit Ratings Try To Predict If A Bond Issuer Will Default: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zpy6ga1mZtareMU ⭐ Seven Risks Of Bond Investing: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gnOmkmV6bpqWhq8 ⭐ How Do Interest & Principal Payments On Bonds Work: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2Syn6Srfs1gp68 WATCH NEXT (referenced in this video) ⭐ How To Buy T-Bills Fidelity & TreasuryDirect: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qHfYmnZjirOYg8U ⭐ How To Buy T-Bills Schwab: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4G6mnh6obuqqas ⭐ How To Buy T-Bills Vanguard: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oqamcmCXYquDjpo ⭐ How To Buy T-Bills E-Trade: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oqmtaKKqoa-irtk ⭐ How To Buy T-Bills Merrill Edge: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bqDKcnRqd72Lm6c ⭐ How To Buy T-Bills How To Build A T-Bill Ladder: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZDSoqmaqbGin6c ⭐ How To Buy T-Bills How To Fill A Gap In Your T-Bills Ladder: kzbin.info/www/bejne/apjEdaaEjtGrd5o ------- Thanks for visiting our personal finance channel! We hope this content will help fast-track your financial journey! Everyone's financial journey is different. Please note that: 1) there are questions/ comments which I will not be able to answer without fully understanding your financial, personal & other circumstances & 2) we will not ask you to call us or send us money in the comments on this channel or any of our other social media accounts, so if you see comment(s) along those lines, it is most likely spam - PLEASE DO NOT ENGAGE WITH SPAMMERS OR GIVE OUT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY.

[@jdl1989]

I agree with alot of videos show the t bill performance whats the yield after maturity

[@Fogaata]

Thank you!!!

[@freddygc7]

great video

[@henrywang7174]

Please have a video on selling T-Bills before maturity on the Fidelity brokerage..

[@vivisimonvi]

I want to say switching from a 13-week to 26-week leaves no gap, but if you wanted to switch that 13-week to a 17-week instead, there will be a gap.

[@rangerdoc1029]

My ladder, four week bills spaced a week apart

[@barbaraperry2796]

Hey Jen, after this educational bond series, can you please teach us about the VIX index? I hope so. Thank you so very much for sharing your time & knowledge!

[@DiamondNestEgg]

Do you mean the volatility index?

[@barbaraperry2796]

@DiamondNestEgg yes, please.

[@barbaraperry2796]

@@DiamondNestEgg cboe

[@sh3lby886]

Please do a tutorial on Dollar Cost Averaging at either Schwab and/or Fidelity. Or if someone can tell me where I can get one.

[@Coco-yw9nf]

What are the advantages of auto roll.I don’t know the next rate so I buy T Bills separately

[@Dave_D.]

I went w/ Fidelity because I planned to auto roll...but since I'm not sure of when/if rates will start going up again, I've just been doing it manually, picking a duration that offers the best rates when each one matures.

[@user-di4bt7qu2i]

Me too Dave. I'm doing the same thing - basically sniping the best yield in the 12-16 week range so that I can maximize yield but stay liquid for the coming crash. It's a lot more work, but I was able to get 5.7% at one point by picking a T-Bill that matured just before the date of the supposed "Default" date last month. Ed - I just saw in the video that Jennifer calls it a Blip Rate.

[@orpheusinohio]

Hi there. I've been quietly studying your videos for a while. Thanks! I have a large T-bill ladder going. I use treasury direct - no intermediary. My question is - if you "reinvest" a T-Bill there automatically, is it reissued after 13 weeks at the same rate as the last one, or at the newest auction rate? Thanks !

[@Dodgerblue7381-ey3ql]

First off, Thank You for your videos. You inspired me to buy TBills through my Schwab Roth IRA. Then I opened a Treasury Direct account and bought several T Bills (27) that I have "laddered in". I have a larger no penalty CD (4.75%) over $100k that is maturing in August. The No Penalty CD in my bank is paying virtually nothing. I do not like having my money locked up for longer periods of time. I am considering putting it in to 4 wk T bills. My wife and I are considering relocating to another (lower tax state) later this year so I do not want to tie my money up. Any up or down sides that you see would be appreciated. Thank You (By the way, not asking for financial advice, just opinion and I will hold no one else responsible)

[@judytaylor819]

I love your videos. what do you think of gold and silver buy and hold for part of your $$$$.

[@garrett7101]

Unrelated, but I’m looking for somewhere to lock up a large amount of cash for the next 5-10 years. Any idea what the best option would be? Most of these good CD rates are short term only.

[@WallaceBMcClure]

Great video. When it comes to ladderring, I think jennifer is my sister from another mother. I’ve ended up with kinda a mess. As money came in, I’d divide things up and put them into tbills in a ladder to get them into a somewhat higher return than nothing as quickly as possible. I’m doing 17 week ladder. Example. I’ve got a tbill coming up in 3 weeks. I’d like to add money to it. Is there an easy way to add money on the reinvestment? Or am I just buying a new tbill and setting that up manually? I use treasury direct.

[@scottyanke655]

I ladder through treasurydirect. Eight t-bills are 8-week, spaced one week apart, so every week one of the t-bills rolls over and I just get the interest deposited into my bank account. Another thirteen t-bills are 13-week, also set to one a week. Every week a 13-week t-bill rolls over and the interest goes into my bank. This has worked well for me, as every week I can either end an 8-week or 13-week t-bill if I want, otherwise I just let them roll. I then have cash available if I need it, within a week. Doing this has me on track to earn over $25k from treasuries just this year.

[@Thisishard2333]

I had so many tbills I started getting a little confused. Same system bought 13 week T-bills for 13 weeks in a row. Two months ago, I actually went on treasury direct and had them start taking out 20% just so I don’t get hammered at the end of the year. Very easy to do.

[@jdl1989]

Can you do a vidoe on how the T bills bonds an notes pay out is it daily or monthly

[@sueh6287]

I like the auto roll feature, but have learned that cancelling a T-bill reinvestment on Treasury Direct must be done no later than four business days before it matures. My ladder rungs are about 2 weeks apart with a couple exceptions. I'm converting all our T-bills into 26-week maturities for now.

[@KathySchwartz]

Is there a way to auto roll on Treasury Direct?

[@jimclark5037]

​@KathySchwartz yes you can repeat up to a year, so 4 week can be set to renew 12 times

[@glenholman3612]

I'm with Fidelity and want to know if you keep T-bill activity and funds in a seperate account within Fidelity. If so, which one? I have ETF's in one of the accounts and would like to keep t-bills in another. Any ideas?

[@claudelleraymond5715]

Hi, how do I get the interest on my 13 week T bill on treasury Direct?

[@bigkahuna3085]

Can/should you T-Bill a ladder in a IRA if not how should you handle $200,000 for short term retiring in 3 5 years

[@DanielleVindez]

Great presentation thanks so much. I was wondering what is the advantage to roll a T bill? If you don't roll at maturity can you not shop for a higher rate T bill? Is it not advantageous to shop for better rates at maturity?

[@PC-zz9cy]

I assume the advantage is no lag time where you aren't earning interest.

[@rigidbeast6447]

should I invest 350k from SPAXX 4.75 to Tbills avg 5.3 % an lose flexibility on market opportunities ?

[@daisyreinacher5022]

Can you talk about laser funds in a video?

[@iammack8818]

Love your videos which helps me understand so much! I opened Fidelity account and cash is held in SPAXX. I was not asked where to hold cash when I opened. It looks like Fidelity charges 0.42 expense, is this high? Should the cash be held in something other than SPAXX, while just waiting to buy Tbills?

[@ewindeed1210]

Spaxx paying 4.77% after expnse

[@tonylee1755]

Hi Jen, thank you for sharing your knowledge. I have been watching many of your vids for almost 10 months now. Recently I watched one where you taught us about setting up a tax witholding at TreasuryDirect. I want to do it but cannot find the video again. Would you kindly let me know the title of that particular video? Thanks so much again.

[@DiamondNestEgg]

This is one of the videos on tax withholding: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hna6g4Ccl7OagtU

[@HeadingForTomorrow]

Is there any disadvantages of buying it differently, so you can have liquidity every week or every 2 weeks, instead of every month? Sometimes you need the money in between the 4-5 weeks you are waiting for 13week to mature. Is there a calculator or website that helps you achieve the target with set amount of investment, either already in treasury or as liquid?

[@PC-zz9cy]

In Treasury Direct what happens when the bank funds to purchase a t-bill do not arrive in time to purchase selected tbill, does the money go to zero percent account?

[@ugot1try]

That is a crazy amount of money to keep in fixed income, for me it's just my rainy day fund of 1 year expenses and a couple thousand extra. The rest goes into stocks

[@murraypassarieu9115]

Maybe they have millions of dollars and then that's not that much to keep fixed. I don't know but if I was a multimillionaire I'd probably keep a bunch in t bills

[@ugot1try]

@@murraypassarieu9115 I guess at a certain level of wealth that the guaranteed 5% is plenty and you would have far more to lose than gain. I'm just happy my rainy day fund is getting yield instead of being punished for holding cash like I was a couple of years ago

[@RealJayPowell]

you can't determine if it's crazy or not until you know what percentage they are holding in fixed income, where they are in relation to years left till retirement, and level of risk they can live with. I have about $188,200 in T Bills. This is about 5% of my portfolio, and I am 64 1/2 yrs old and have been retired since 2017. Crazy? Not in my opinion, but maybe yours. I keep about 10% of my wealth in fixed income. The rest in equities and alternatives, mainly real estate related.

[@zein12]

The 26wk auctioned today at 5.494

[@DiamondNestEgg]

Thanks!

[@jeffknecht2733]

Hi When you take advantage of a "blip rate" where do the funds come from? I guess my question is do they come from one of your ladder rungs?

[@DiamondNestEgg]

That depends on the individual - but for us, we usually have some money parked in money market funds for such market opportunities

[@jimclark5037]

im 60 retiring at end of month. im using tbills as "sequence of return busters" ... putting $100k in 1, 2, 3, 5 yr tbills so that i have $20k each year to get me to soc security at 65 or 66. A small pension will round out my attempt at a low risk strategy for start of retirement.

[@Thisishard2333]

Same here. Retired at 60. Doing 13 weeks every Monday. Don’t want to miss out on increasing rates.

[@chindahlquist9376]

I purchase some T-Bill through Vanguard. Maturity is mid July. I followed your video and was able to purchase as test run on how 4 week T-bill works. Once mature, what do I do? I would like to use mature funds to purchase another T-Bill? I dont think Vanguard has auto-roll? So whats the procedure when there are no auto-roll? Do I need to sell my mature T-bill and buy? How to do you sell mature T bill?

[@sevenstarsfall]

Upon maturity, your T-Bills and interest earned will go into your settlement fund which can then be used to purchase more bills at auction.

[@miketimmons3933]

Your videos are always helpful. However, this 'breakdown' slide is not helpful. It does not show the start of the ladders or the yield in percentage. How did they perform? No way to tell from this slide. Thank you for the work behind these slides.

[@donhowell3337]

Thanks for all your helpful advise about Treasury Direct and buying T-bills. My question is about T-bill maturity dates and new issue dates. If I have a T-bill that matures on say July 13th and a new T-bill is auctioned on July 11th and issued on July 13th, can you buy the new issue with the money that matures on the same day as the new issue? Or do you need to wait for the money to show up in my checking acct. with a few days gap between the maturity date and the new issue date? Thanks for you guidance...

[@lynnebarrios5082]

If you have the t-bill's maturity funds go into the treasury direct c of I account, it will be there and available on the day of maturity and you can buy your next purchase it out of the C of I account. I would love to see Jen make a video about using the C of I account on Treasury Direct. I did not discover this way of rolling over t-bills for awhile and did not like the few dollars deposited to my checking account (and taxable) when the t-bill rolled over. If it goes to the C of I , then it can be reinvested in future purchases.

[@KathySchwartz]

@@lynnebarrios5082 is rolling over and reinvestment the same thing? I use TreasuryDirect and have a 13-week and 17-week t-bill. I want to do the ladder thing but don't know if I should just take the money when it matures into my bank account and start fresh or reinvest or do the C of I thing you mention. It's a lot of money so I don't want to screw it up! :-) Thanks for your help!

[@donhowell3337]

@@lynnebarrios5082 Thanks so much for your reply. I've read the TD info on C of I and it appears to be the answer to my question. I'm going to try it with a soon to mature t-bill and place a reinvestment purchase request on the same day. I agree Jen should do a video on this process as I would suspect most people new to TD don't use this process...Thanks again

[@jonny6758]

Fidelity or shawab what would you want to go with or what's better

[@DiamondNestEgg]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/m6KZaZSCaLeLrsU

[@PH-dm8ew]

How does fidelity make money off my buying tbills?

[@jamesrobertson504]

Hi Jen, another great video. Why do you favor rolling 13 week bills if Powell is telegraphing at least one more rate hike in July and maybe one more in September? Won't the 13 week bills lose value (and the interest rate go up) as the short term rates curve goes up when the Fed hikes, such that it would be better to stay in shorter duration until they finish? I remember that happening to me a lot last year, particularly when the Fed did all those .75% hikes in a row. My government money market fund was always beating my T Bills as it responded faster to the rate hikes.

[@ryanredding1533]

Maybe this is a dumb question but -- as far as laddering goes shouldn't you just theoretically buy a new 4-month T-Bill literally every single day instead of having them spread out by 4 month intervals (a 4 and an 8 and a 13) so that way you can more quickly put the compound interest to use?

[@s10jam]

You can't buy them daily. Only in the intervals they are available.

[@artzag75]

Thank you for your videos! Great channel! I watched this and the previous video on t-bill ladders, but I still can't start. Schwab doesn't offer me to purchase any new issues shorter than 3 months (only 3 months and 6 months are available). How do I purchase new 4-week t-bill and 52-week bill? Does anyone else have this problem?

[@danmarkiewicz3697]

This video by Jennifer should help: "T-Bill Auction Schedule: How To Buy New Issue Treasury Bills (Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard & Others)"

[@DiamondNestEgg]

T-Bill Auction Schedule: How To Buy New Issue Treasury Bills (Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard & Others) kzbin.info/www/bejne/rovVZ3iNoLt9rZI

[@artzag75]

@@danmarkiewicz3697 Thanks! This helped!

[@artzag75]

@@DiamondNestEgg Thank you for outstanding videos!

[@yaroslavnaidyon]

Thank you for all the videos on the topic, but only until very recently it was not worth it given the inflation was above 5% and if you consider that you have to pay taxes on your 5% yield then in fact you are LOSING money with this strategy (or at least used to lose money). If the inflation will continue to stay under 5% then perhaps this is an ok strategy. P.S. S&P 500 is up 17% ytd, perhaps we should have been doing the traditional 60/40 portfolio since 2022.

[@brianandrews4712]

Can one purchase T-bills within an IRA? If so, can you discuss/demo in a future episode?

[@MrRudy235]

YES.

[@DiamondNestEgg]

This playlist has quite a few "How To Buy T-Bills" videos depending on your broker. We bought most of them in an IRA, but do suggest reaching out to a tax advisor if you have specific tax questions about holding them in an IRA.

[@johnsmith-dm2tq]

buying 1 year t-bills, no coupon. holding to maturity. if there are two bonds, 1 is a 6 mo and one is a 1 year. both are 5.3% why does the option admjusted spread on one -4.37 and the other -6.89? and do i want the smallest option adjusted spread? and what one would that be sence these are negative numbers. i am on fidelity trying to buy t-bills. does any of this matter? just get the duration and yield that i want and move on?

[@civil3728]

Are you trying to buy new issues or are you buying those that are existing issues trading in the open market. I BELIEVE there is no spread on new issues.

[@johnsmith-dm2tq]

@@civil3728 thanks

[@justincase2830]

Jennifer, do you know or does anyone in the community know,if an open order can be placed with a brokerage co, and in my case Charles Schwab for a set rate on a specific duration TBill. Example 5.5% nothing more or nothing less on a six month duration?

[@MrRudy235]

Almost sure that it cannot. Even if they accepted the order they would not have a way of knowing the rate until _after the auction. You could hve the funds in your bank account and withdraw the funds (or place a stopn on the payment) from your bank if you are not satisfied with the resulting yield, but i would not recommend it.

[@justincase2830]

@@MrRudy235 thank you!

[@verahuang2562]

I just started a 13 weeks T-bill ladder. I bought a 4 wks and an 8 wks Treasury, 912797GA9 and GJ0, yesterday on 6/29/2023. The yields published on TreasuryDirect are 5.190% and 5.319% respectively, while 5.25% and 5.40% are shown on this video. In addition, I can’t come up with any of the yields using your formula for T-bills shorter than 26 weeks. Take GA9 maturing on 8/1/23 and priced at $99.618625 for an example, using your formula, I come up with a yield of 4.367% if the Auction Date of 6/29/23 is used as the starting date (32 days). It is 5.374% if the Settlement Date of 7/5/23 is used as the starting date (26 days). What gives?

[@DiamondNestEgg]

The rates in the video are from the secondary market. Here’s the video for calculating the investment rate at auction from the Treasury’s Announcement, Data & Results Page. You’ll need to use 366 days instead of 365 because next year is a leap year: T-Bill Rates, Pricing & Interest | High Rate vs Investment Rate kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZbIo553ab2Uf80

[@verahuang2562]

@@DiamondNestEgg Thank you, Jennifer. You clear it all up.

[@johnb9710]

Hi, Where is the best places to buy T BILL?

[@DiamondNestEgg]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/m6KZaZSCaLeLrsU

[@peachykeenjellybean73]

We opened a Treasury Direct account in April or so and have been buying T-Bills. Well, on Saturday I made changes such as creating a C of I and adding a second bank. This morning we got hit with an email asking for a FS5444 and we're now locked out of our account. So our money is basically hostage until that's processed, correct? I'm kind of freaking out about this, not to mention the whole UP TO 13 WEEKS to process. We have several thousand already in T-Bills and a large purchase scheduled for this week. Ugh. Is the new bank account the likely reason for the sudden freeze? I noticed they took the money I scheduled to go into our C of I this morning with no problem.

[@DiamondNestEgg]

You should call them and see if they can unlock your account + find out what happened to trigger this. I called about an hour ago and the wait time was under 5 minutes. Let us know what they say when you get the chance.

[@peachykeenjellybean73]

@@DiamondNestEgg thank you for the reply! When I called, the agent said they aren't able to see anything about the reason for it. On another community, someone replied that adding the new/additional bank account probably triggered it?

[@MrRudy235]

@@peachykeenjellybean73 I added a second bank on the phone with treasury Dierct. But you can't add a second bank until 30 days have passed since the last bank was added. Hope this helps.

[@datbio7302]

why do you put t bill in IRA when it is tax free for state tax?

[@clintthroop5618]

with auto role, why not ladder your t-bills every week instead of every month?

[@calgreco8607]

Well when bank stops giving me 5.64% APY I should do this as it's only Taxed Fed. Wish rates were higher! lol

[@culau3]

why do you use a brokerage instead of treasury direct?

[@DiamondNestEgg]

How To Buy Treasury Bills, Treasury Notes, Treasury Bonds | Fidelity & TreasuryDirect (Step By Step) kzbin.info/www/bejne/qHfYmnZjirOYg8U

[@murraypassarieu9115]

she shared her video but for me brokerages are WAY easier than TD for t bills

[@FrancescaCignarella]

Also because she buys as part of her IRA I think, you cannot do that in treasury direct.

[@bryanfoxx2292]

The main thing I like about TD is that I have it set up that they pull monies out of my personal bank account on the ISSUE date and BACK INTO my personal bank account at the MATURITY date. In any of the brokerage firms one has to set up accounts in their firm then they withdraw and deposit monies into that account. Yes, they are paying interest on those accounts BUT if I am only using them to buy T Bills I don't want to jump through a bunch of hoops to get my money back to me if and when I no longer wish to buy T Bills. Besides my wife has no interest in doing the online necessities so if something happens to me, the T Bills, once the individually mature they go back to our personal hometown bank and she does NOT have to do anything further. I of course print a hard copy of every investment with ALL pertinent info and show her amounts, maturity dates and to check that they are accounted for when we receive our monthly paper statements.

[@murraypassarieu9115]

@@bryanfoxx2292 If it works for you, great. For me, Vanguard does what you say but with my Vanguard money market fund that plays over 5 percent right now. But as I say whatever works for you. As soon as I cash in my I Bonds in October I'm gone from TD forever. It's just too much of a hassle to log in for me. I already have all my other investment accounts with Vanguard so it's the easiest thing for me.

[@bruceanderson8179]

I'm not sure it's right to stop laddering when rates have 'peaked.' Obviously with a ladder there are some holdings that one has invested in that are below 'peak'. Perhaps one should stop laddering T Bills when rates have dropped below the lowest rate in their ladder. If the lower rate was a viable investment 6 months ago it should be viable today. As for T Bills in an IRA, one should probably adjust their T Bill/Treasury yield on the basis of their state's income tax rate to have a tax equivalent yield as withdrawals from IRAs are often considered taxable income by states with income taxes. For instance a T Bill with a 5.25% yield in a tax deferred IRA in a state with a 6% income tax rate would reduce that yield to 4.935%. In that case a CD with a slightly better yield than the posted T Bill rate would actually be the investment of choice.

[@johnsonch7292]

Just buy usfr floating us treasury rare it ladders for you too up to 2 years. But so much ladder the rate is like updated 3 months treasury rate.

[@zein12]

I'm leaning more to Treasuries rather than a fluctuating etf that had a .15% fee .. for now

[@duangchaichirand483]

Conservative good investment and make investor sleep well thank you

[@alancunningham3291]

What are your thoughts on a 4, 8, 13, 17 ladder?

[@mrallan8063]

Why are you so conservative in your IRA and HSA accounts?

[@rossej56]

Playing devil's advocate here: Why not just invest in a Federal Money Market Fund which looks to be invested in bonds anyway and averaging over 4% and let it ride? Seems like that is on average returning the same yield without having to keep track of bonds... What am I missing here is why I'm asking this question.

[@DiamondNestEgg]

Higher yields basically. The T-Bills under 52 weeks have been yielding 5+% for quite some time now. I’ll have a more detailed video coming out next month on this.

[@David-bf6pl]

What's Laddering??

[@DiamondNestEgg]

This video explains laddering in detail: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZDSoqmaqbGin6c

[@dianeclark-sutton8430]

Fyi. You can now autoroll on 26-Week and 52-Week Tbills at Fidelity and Schwab. I just tried both this morning. (7/6/23)

[@DiamondNestEgg]

Thank you - I will share shortly!

[@kevink286]

I'm wondering if it doesn't make a lot more sense to buy USFR instead. USFR is Wisdom Tree's Floating Rate Note ETF. This ETF purchases FRNs exclusively and has the same state/local tax benefits as treasury bills. The yield resets each week to the prevailing 13-week treasury bill rate, so especially in a rising interest rate environment, it's most beneficial since the new rate applies to the entire balance. In addition, FRNs have an additional spread rate above the 13-week bill rate. There is an expense ratio for this ETF, but it's less than the spread, so you actually yield slightly more than 13-week bills. It's more convenient as well since you can purchase fractional shares at any time and buy exact dollar amounts instead of only specific days at multiples of the unknown upcoming auction price. It's also more liquid since you can sell any amount at any time. The price adjusts daily to include a prorated portion of the upcoming dividend, so you don't lose anything by selling before distribution. There are a ton of advantages, not the least of which is not needing to go through the time-consuming effort of constructing a ladder. The only drawback that I see is that when rates start to drop, FRN rates (and USFR yield by extension) will start falling immediately since the rate isn't locked in like treasury bills. But the advantages when rates are rising cancel that out on the front end. Plus, when rates fall, there will likely be other investment opportunities to take advantage of, and you don't need to wait for maturity to take advantage of them, if you so choose. Thoughts on this?

[@hpp8140]

How do you make out the USFR rate?

[@BorisLikesBonds]

Thanks for sharing your T-Bill allocation! Bravo to you and your family on such a healthy sized ladder! 🥳 🍕 I’m a little neurotic when it comes to needing structure and orderliness so my ladder rung maturation is synchronized between the rungs. However, I don’t use any auto-roll features. I use Treasury Direct because they allow purchases as low as $100. As my initial $100 rungs matured, I manually scheduled the succeeding rung to be $200! Then the next succeeding rung is a manually scheduled $300 T-Bill. Scheduling it all manually is not a big deal. The maturing T-Bill money and the purchase money for the next rung slosh around for a day or two in my checking account but it all settles quickly. Doin all this allows me to not only take advantage of great risk free rates but I get another piggy bank and tier of savings to use in case or job loss or excessive medical bills. After cracking through four digits, I am working on cracking through to five! 💪 Thanks, Jennifer! Your videos remind me of Jack Bogle saying to stay the course! 🚣‍♂️

[@DiamondNestEgg]

Thanks for sharing Boris