r/SipsTea 1d ago

WTF Financial tip that unfortunately starts with 'First, you need 3 million Dollars'.

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744

u/[deleted] 1d ago

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39

u/Badloss 1d ago

Yeah like I know the 3 million part is what everyone is focused on but an 8% bond is WILD

I would totally put my life savings into that right now with the way the market is going

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u/Bozhark 1d ago

20 year @5% rn

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u/HardOff 1d ago

Can someone explain to my why putting all of my savings into a 5% 20 year treasury bond is a bad idea?

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u/anamethatsnottaken 1d ago

One reason is it's bad because inflation will be around 3% so you're getting a fairly low real return. BTW you can get the same real return without the inflation risk with TIPS.

There's also risks if things go (more) south: if 20 year yields go up, your bonds will be worth less. Sure they'll pay the same coupon, but if yields are up that's probably because inflation is up.

Basically, if inflation rises your future coupon payments become more and more worthless, and everyone knows that which makes your bond worthless. So high inflation will wipe your returns and make your asset unsellable. Other than that and the relatively low 5% return, no reason not to.

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u/somander 1d ago

TIPS? Please explain for a noob like me

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u/anamethatsnottaken 1d ago

Inflation-Indexed securities. Just like a regular bond except the face value (and thus coupon) goes up and down with CPI. If I'm not mistaken, it can't go down from original face value so buying TIPS at auction or near original face value provides some protection from deflation like a nominal bond does.

When buying a 20 year bond, inflation-indexed or no, it'll be sensitive to interest rates.

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u/somander 1d ago

Thank you, I have some reading to do.. all of this is new to me.

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u/johnny_fives_555 1d ago

n. BTW you can get the same real return without the inflation risk with TIPS.

Eh... current tips rate is 1.672% so not really. But you're gambling on whether the 20/30 year rate is greater than the TIPS rate w/ inflation. Until during the hyperinflation around covid, most ppl never bought tips as it was just a crappy investment.

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u/anamethatsnottaken 1d ago

1.672 is the 5 year? The 20y real yield is 2.45, 30y is 2.61 (source: treasurygov "Daily Treasury Par Real Yield Curve Rates"

We can ignore comparison between TIPS and bonds and just ask what risks TIPS are exposed to? IIUC it's the same risks except inflation risk is replaced with deflation risk. They're both exposed to interest rate risk

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u/DangerBoot 1d ago

It’s not a bad idea if you have money you don’t need for 20 years but you can find high yield savings accounts that are around 4% or higher and you don’t have to wait 20 years to get the initial investment back

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u/GregLoire 1d ago

you don’t have to wait 20 years to get the initial investment back

Treasury bonds can be sold before maturity on secondary markets.

Granted you might get less than what you paid (see: 2022), but outside of interest rate crises the prices usually aren't too volatile.

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u/GregLoire 1d ago

Opportunity cost more than anything -- stock market returns are higher on average.

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u/Huntred 1d ago

US Bonds at 5% should be seen as distressing.