[bm3719]

I Bonds are 30 year bonds. Since the I Bond yield of 9.xx% is only guaranteed for the first 6 months, what's the consensus thinking here on a long term hold of them?

Some info I found says:

   I bonds cannot be cashed for one year after purchase. If a bond is cashed in
   year two through five after purchase, the prior three months of interest are
   forfeited.  There is no interest penalty for cashing in the bonds after five
   years.

Sounds like you'd have to hold them for at least 1.25 years then to get a year's worth of interest.

[brk]

IMO, it's not worth over thinking. The rates are very good, but you are limited to a relatively small amount of money. My wife and I both bought an I bond at the recent rates. If we're lucky, we'll make about $1,000 each on them. You can do a lot with $1,000, but it's not like we're talking about life altering amount of money here (in the context of people who can afford to put $10K in an I bond in the first place). We basically used money that would ordinarily be earning less interest in some kind of emergency-funds checking account.

It probably would not be worthwhile in the grand scheme of things to take $10,000 from some kind of actual investment account and move it over to these I bonds for a brief duration.

[bm3719]

That's true. I'll probably grab one once the official site works again, but I was weighing that, plus the inconvenience of having to manage funds in yet another location and keep the tax implications in mind (you only have to pay federal taxes on interest here).