Looks like it's on pace for only a 19.56% return, stuper1. But, wait! That is without compounding. Seriously, it must be a drag to jump in and then experience even a small drawdown. I just started with the PP this month and check each day to see what's up and what's down. As others have noted, it's ...

Maybe I should start another thread but I think this ties in with the gold vs. inflation topic here... I read James Rickards' book Currency Wars a while back (It's actually what pushed me to explore the PP). He talked a fair bit about how when a major economy (the US, in this case) starts printing a...

Thanks for the chart, Buckaroo Banzai. If rates ever get that high again, there won't be so much angst about holding 25% in cash!

I don't have T-Bill data but I remember getting 16% or 17% in a money market fund for a brief time in 1981 or so. Interest rates were just incredibly high at the time.

I didn't know about the overpaying your taxes trick! One would really have to love I-Bonds to do that but for some it could be a very clever move. Will definitely keep that one in mind. Not trying to hijack this into a discussion on EE Bonds, but... I don't particularly like them either but I have s...

Hey, Roger1. Have you set up your three-asset PP so that you still have plenty of cash for living expenses outside of the PP? What you are doing is against all the standard advice that is on this form, but I am especially interested in it because I did something similar. I have only been invested in...

Yeah, I just went back and read the Treasury Direct disclaimer again and it makes my head hurt with all the legalese. I figure with my old paper bonds that at least they can't be taken electronically. It would take a direct strike on the safe deposit area of my bank to wrest them from my grasp (eith...

To your first point, ns3, no they are not actually making interest payments on the I-Bonds but that has always been the case with savings bonds. They grow tax-deferred for as long as 30 years but the government doesn't have to show you the money until you redeem them... which makes them like a lot o...

Good point! But it's only one piece of paper that I can take to a bank and get paper money in return (hmm...). Do the paperless bonds even have serial numbers that you can plug into the Treasury Direct calculator? Silly question, I guess, but one worry I had about the few that I held was that I woul...

Thanks for your input, TennPaGa. I hadn't heard about floating rate notes yet. It seems that a lot of roads now lead back to the Treasury Direct website... which gets me back to my question about paper bonds. I had purchased a few of the paperless bonds when they first became available, and then tur...

Correct, but isn't offering more bond-type products a bit like what any retailer does? People are more likely to like one of them if there is a lot of selection. But please answer my first two question and then we can devolve into Yoda speak!

I posted this yesterday but on an old thread, and I am interested in feedback from you all out there... I have a couple of questions on I-Bonds... Does anyone besides me get the willies that one can't hold paper bonds anymore? I really don't like just having them all set up electronically. My thinki...

Hey, I know I am picking up an old thread here, but I have a couple of questions on the I-Bonds... Does anyone besides me get the willies that one can't hold paper bonds anymore? I really don't like just having it all set up electronically.  The other question goes back to the issue of whether or no...

Portart, I have some good news for you. I recently heard Stephen Dubner of Freakonomics fame claim that owning an annuity contributes to living longer. Here is the radio link: http://www.marketplace.org/topics/life/freakonomics-radio/how-live-longer The part about the annuity is toward the end. Tune...

Thanks for weighing in, rickb. Your point about physically holding gold is well taken. My "gold" is sort of phony gold at this point. Unfortunately, the way my assets are currently configured, I won't be able to buy much physical gold for the next couple of years. Most of the "cash&qu...

Me again. What I DO like (a lot) about rhymenocerous' suggestion is that realistically the only gains across the four assets in the near term are likely to be in the LTT, gold and stock positions. Having as much of those three assets as possible in an IRA means being able to sell a portion in an up ...

Thanks for the input, rhymenocerous. Your suggestion is one way I have thought about viewing my PP... including some of the cash equivalents in my non-IRA accounts as part of the PP (so that I still have an overall mix of 25/25/25/25). I just thought I should hold at least SOME cash in the IRAs to g...

I apologize in advance if this has been discussed elsewhere. I am new to the PP and one of advantages I keep reading about the 25% cash position is that it's useful for living expenses. I have set up a PP in my tax-deferred accounts and I am not planning to use that money for at least the next ten y...