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So you don't buy actual treasuries; you buy VGST, SHY and TLT.
Have you tried linking your Fidelity account to Treasury Direct?
I have not attempted to link my Fidelity account to Treasury Direct, either. However, I have both a Treasury Direct account and a Fidelity account. I have chosen to purchase "new issue" Treasuries through Fidelity. It's easy and Treasury Direct is not particularly user-friendly. Although I have no intention of selling them before they reach maturity, that is an option on Fidelity that is not available on Treasury Direct. I followed Harry Sit's step-by-step instructions for my first purchase.
Treasury Direct is an absolute nightmare site. I've capped my I-Bonds the last two years. You're able to put federal tax returns on top of your 10k yearly cap too. I did that this year and will likely do so as long as I-bonds hold over 5%.
I've learned to manage the site to purchase several short term notes this year. I'll take the interest hit over dealing with this chaotic market right now. I'm set to make over 1k in interest over the next three months doing nothing. I ate it hard in January so the interest will offset capital losses.
I have not attempted to link my Fidelity account to Treasury Direct, either. However, I have both a Treasury Direct account and a Fidelity account. I have chosen to purchase "new issue" Treasuries through Fidelity. It's easy and Treasury Direct is not particularly user-friendly. Although I have no intention of selling them before they reach maturity, that is an option on Fidelity that is not available on Treasury Direct. I followed Harry Sit's step-by-step instructions for my first purchase.
That's a good article on how to buy treasuries through the major brokers. I don't have a treasury direct account, I buy new issue treasuries from my Schwab account for no fee. It is pretty easy and like you, I hold them to maturity. I have a mix of CDs and treasuries, but as the CDs mature over the next year, I am going to buy more new treasuries instead of CDs.
as my cds are coming due i am rolling them into the 1-3 year treasury bond funds shy and also some in to vanguard vgsh.
the other components of my portfolio have been increasing in value at a faster rate so i balance it out adding more of this component.
my portfolio uses a barbell approach on the fixed income side .
the fixed income side is 25% in long term treasuries and 25% in short term treasuries /cash instruments. .that equals about the interest rate sensitivity of having all 50% of the money in an intermediate term fund but it offers more flexibility.
so holding bonds to maturity wont work well for me without a lot of bond trading since i need something that stays in the long term bond range all the time .
TLT has a pretty steady duration of about 17-1/2 years which works well . but it takes a lot of bond trading to maintain that duration if i tried to do it . .so funds are easy to use in this case . shy has a duration of 1.86 years , vanguards version is 1.89 years
the short term bonds are up 1.73% so far ytd
tlt up 8.29 ytd , so the fixed income side is up 5.00% ytd when combined
a 5% cd is up 1.25% ytd , a 4% cd bought earlier in the year is up 1% ytd
Last edited by mathjak107; 04-12-2023 at 02:43 AM..
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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We only keep a few thousand in the bank, most of our money is in credit unions. Either way, where else would we put it our readily available money? Having cash at home is not going to make it easy to pay the house payment, taxes, or other bills. It would also be contributing to the failure of the banks to take out our money.
vgsh. vanguard short term treasuries , it is like shy
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