Ask Terry Questions Treasury Bonds

Treasury Bonds

By Terry Savage on April 23, 2019 | Chicken Money

Hi there,

I watch wgn every day. I saw you yesterday and you were talking about treasury bonds. I have been working with Fidelity through my company 401K and Roth IRA. I was just going to ask them but they never seem to get back to me. I have around $8K to invest right at this moment. My 401K is doing really well. I just bought into a ROTH IRA about 2 years ago and it’s doing okay. My goal is to retire in 8 years. I will be 62 years old. I will or should have around $800K or more by then depending on the market. My only worry is healthcare. That can really get expensive. I’m just trying to make as much money as I can in the next 8 years. What would you tell someone who has $8K lying around doing nothing? Should I buy some of these Treasury Bonds? I heard you saying they make around 3%. Was I hallucinating? Maybe you said 0.03%. I don’t know. Anyway, I’m putting in the MAX on all my retirement accounts (all 2) so I can’t do anymore there. If I buy these bonds will I make money? I have no idea what to do with my over-savings. I have enough money to invest with a remainder of cash on hand to last 6 months if things turn up side down. I just want to retire and go fishing everyday for the rest of my life. How can I possibly retire in 8 years? I started my 401K back in 1989 and it’s been growing ever since then. Even after the market crashed numerous times. I just rode the wave. What the heck do I do with the $8K?

Terry Says

I think this relatively small portion of your money should be considered “chicken money” — money you can’t afford to lose!

I was talking about Treasury Bills — short term (a year or less) IOUs from the Federal Government.  The 6 month T-bill is currently yielding just under 2.5 percent.  Here’s a link to my column on How to Buy Treasury Bills.

Remember, as you get closer to retirement you’ll want to become more conservative in ALL your investments!

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