I Bonds Pay 5.51% Now
Just the Tip:
New I bonds earn 5.51% a year for their first six months. That’s inflation plus a 1.40% fixed rate. Your bond keeps that 1.40%, the highest since 2006, for 30 years. If you won’t need the money for a year, buy up to $10,000 at TreasuryDirect this year and another $10,000 from January through April.
You can’t control inflation, but the month you buy decides your fixed rate.
The inflation rate follows consumer prices. A new one takes effect every May 1 and Nov. 1, and your bond switches to the newest every six months, counted from the month you bought it. The fixed rate is set for each six-month buying window, then stays with your bond until it stops earning interest at 30 years.
For bonds bought from November 2026 through April 2027, Treasury set the fixed rate at 1.40%, up from 0.90%. That’s the highest since November 2006. The current inflation rate adds about 4.1% a year, for a total of 5.51%.
Say you buy a $10,000 I bond this November. At 5.51%, it earns about $275 in its first six months. After that, each new rate adds your 1.40% to the latest inflation rate. If inflation runs 3% a year, that comes to about 4.4%, and if inflation drops to zero, the bond still earns 1.40%. Either way, your bond earns about $50 a year more than a $10,000 bond bought in October, whose fixed rate is 0.90%.
You buy I bonds in an account at TreasuryDirect, the Treasury’s website, up to $10,000 per person each calendar year. A purchase this November or December counts toward 2026’s limit, so you can buy another $10,000 under 2027’s limit from January through April, at the same 1.40%. Interest counts from the first day of the month your purchase posts to your account, so buying late in the month costs you nothing.
Put in only money you can leave alone for at least a year. You can’t cash an I bond for 12 months, and cashing one before it’s five years old costs the last three months of interest.
Buy the first $10,000 by Dec. 31, then the second by April 30, before a new fixed rate takes effect on May 1.
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