48 years old, currently have no investments. My net worth is my car and the clothes on my back, and I don’t ever want to be in this situation again.
(Edit: I don’t need to buy a house or anything whatsoever related to a house, so please don’t mention the “h” word in your response, it’s triggering me for tangential reasons. Let me be clear, I will NEVER care about real estate whatsoever, mmmkay? Just trust me when I say I have a roof over my head and it’s completely paid off, no property taxes, and No, I will never sell it, so the whole h-word" aspect of life is not a concern for me, k?)
Just looking for guidance where to invest this relatively small amount of money every month so in a few years when I’m older & frailer I’ll have enough for retirement. I don’t want it to just sit in my bank account, I want it to grow.
For reference, I’ve been living on approx $1500 per month for as long as I’ve noticed, so I don’t need much per month, and the sooner I die, the less retirement fund I’ll need, but we can never predict when anyone’s death will happen, so let’s assume I’ll live to 100 because I’m ridiculously healthy & an exceptionally good driver, never been in an accident, one speeding ticket in my entire life, no social life so I never get into risky situations, so let’s just plan for the possibility I’m going to live another 50 years.
They’re only paying like 3.6% right now. I’ve been earning more interest in a high yield savings account lately and it doesn’t have all the withdrawal penalties.
The current rate is 5.27% Yeah if you withdraw before 5 years you lose the last three months of interest.
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/i-bonds/i-bonds-interest-rates/
Mine likely have not updated to the new rate yet. I was just on the Treasury Direct site and am still receiving 3.6%.
Recently purchased bonds are paying 5.27 Older ones pay more like 4. https://www.treasurydirect.gov/files/savings-bonds/i-bond-rate-chart.pdf
They’re structured to pay barely more than inflation - 0.0-0.5% more through most of this century - which means that even the 5.27% rate on todays bonds will fall when inflation goes back to its 2% target. They’re about the safest investment you can make, but you’re not going to increase your purchasing power.
The rates will update every 6 months on both ends, but depending on when you buy, your new 6-month rate may lag behind by 1-5 months after they’ve changed it on their end.