CDs vs. T-Bills: What's the Better Investment Now? (2024)

FAQs

CDs vs. T-Bills: What's the Better Investment Now? ›

T-bills have a key advantage over CDs: They're exempt from state income taxes. The same is true with Treasury notes and Treasury bonds. If you live in a state with income taxes, and rates are similar for CDs and T-bills, then it makes sense to go with a T-bill.

While interest rates and inflation can affect Treasury bill rates, they're generally considered a lower-risk (but lower-reward) investment than other debt securities. Treasury bills are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. If held to maturity, T-bills are considered virtually risk-free.

A look at CD rates since June 2022

Higher rates have big benefits for savers. Savings account and CD APYs tend to rise alongside the federal funds rate. If you're in a position to save in today's higher interest rate environment, investments like CDs could help accelerate your savings.

Compared with Treasury notes and bills, Treasury bonds usually pay the highest interest rates because investors want more money to put aside for the longer term. For the same reason, their prices, when issued, go up and down more than the others.

CD rates may not be high enough to keep pace with inflation when consumer prices rise. Investing money in the stock market could generate much higher returns than CDs. CDs offer less liquidity than savings accounts, money market accounts, or checking accounts.

As a result, T-bills have interest rate risk meaning there is a risk that existing bondholders might lose out on higher rates in the future. Although T-bills have zero default risk, their returns are typically lower than corporate bonds and some certificates of deposit.

We spoke with two investment experts to find out. The short answer is bonds tend to be less volatile than stocks and often perform better during recessions than other financial assets.

Are CDs safe if the market crashes? Putting your money in a CD doesn't involve putting your money in the stock market. Instead, it's in a financial institution, like a bank or credit union. So, in the event of a market crash, your CD account will not be impacted or lose value.

You can find 6% CD rates at a few financial institutions, but chances are those rates are only available on CDs with maturities of 12 months or less. Financial institutions offer high rates to compete for business, but they don't want to pay customers ultra-high rates over many years.

When to buy T-bills? ›

Treasury Bills

Except for holidays or special circ*mstances, the offering is announced on Tuesday, the bills are auctioned on Thursday, and they are issued on the following Tuesday. 13-week and 26-week bills are offered each week.

To calculate the price, take 180 days and multiply by 1.5 to get 270. Then, divide by 360 to get 0.75, and subtract 100 minus 0.75. The answer is 99.25. Because you're buying a $1,000 Treasury bill instead of one for $100, multiply 99.25 by 10 to get the final price of $992.50.

The drawback is that interest rates can change in the future, depending on the actions of the Federal Reserve. While CDs maintain a fixed interest rate, the interest rate you receive from a high-yield savings account could increase or decrease over time.

High-yield savings accounts

The best online banks offer APYs of 5.00% or more. If you deposit $500 in a high-yield savings account with a 5.00% APY, you could earn as much as $142 over five years — assuming you don't make anymore deposits and that the APY stays the same.

T-bills pay a fixed rate of interest, which can provide a stable income. However, if interest rates rise, existing T-bills fall out of favor since their return is less than the market. T-bills have interest rate risk, which means there is a risk that existing bondholders might lose out on higher rates in the future.

Taxes: Treasury bills are exempt from state and local taxes but still subject to federal income taxes. That makes them less attractive holdings for taxable accounts. Investors in higher tax brackets might want to consider short-term municipal securities instead.

Mr Wong from Bondsupermart is sticking to his forecast for the yields of six-month T-bills to range between 3.7 per cent and 3.9 per cent in 2024.

3 Month Treasury Bill Rate is at 5.26%, compared to 5.25% the previous market day and 5.04% last year. This is higher than the long term average of 4.19%. The 3 Month Treasury Bill Rate is the yield received for investing in a government issued treasury security that has a maturity of 3 months.