There are a couple of deadlines in October that I wanted to bring attention to. These are beyond just the usual Federal extended personal tax filing deadline (moved to Monday the 17th since the 15th is on a weekend).
The first one has to do with Series I Savings bonds. If you want to lock in the current rate of 9.62% (an annual rate that you get for six months), then you should purchase by October 28th to ensure issuance by the end of October. The rate is going to adjust on November 1st. While that official rate is not released yet, it is expected to be about 6.5%. So effectively if you purchase now, you would earn 9.62% the first 6 months and 6.5% the next 6 months or about $800 on a $10,000 purchase. With Series I bonds you have to hold them for a year and if you cash in between 1-5 years you lose the last three months of interest. A few misc notes:
There are online savings accounts paying over 3% right now where you wouldn’t be restricted to keeping your money locked up for a year.
If you are willing to assume risk with the money it is entirely possible you would earn more in a year by investing instead (especially since the market is down). This obviously not guaranteed.
Treasury Direct is unfortunately known for not having the best technology. One of my clients told me about Yotta I-Bonds Bucket. I will admit I have done very minimal due diligence on them but they are worth a look if the only thing holding you back is not wanting to deal with Treasury Direct.
The second deadline is the PSLF Waiver. This one is somewhat complicated but basically, until the end of October, the government is removing some of the barriers to qualifying for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. While many are not affected, there are many other borrowers that could have their loans wiped out completely or at least have several months of qualifying payments added to their count. Please take a look at Student Loan Planner and the government Student Aid website. Be very cautious with student loan actions and decisions as it is easy to make a six-digit mistake.
Thank you for taking the time to give this post a quick read. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
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