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I Bond vs. CD Rates

Short-term Certificates of Deposit (CDs) are the safe investment with which most investors are familiar, but the tax-deferred, inflation-linked I Bond may be a better option for some.

Initial Rate Comparison

This chart shows the difference between the I Bond rate and the 6-month Certificate of Deposit (CD) Secondary Market rate at that time for the period of September 1998 to June 2010.

Purchase date	CD Rate	I Bond Rate
9/1/1998	5.33	4.66
10/1/1998	4.99
11/1/1998	5.07	5.05
12/1/1998	5.01
1/1/1999	4.9
2/1/1999	4.95
3/1/1999	4.98
4/1/1999	4.94
5/1/1999	5.03	5.05
6/1/1999	5.31
7/1/1999	5.58
8/1/1999	5.83
9/1/1999	5.89
10/1/1999	6.04
11/1/1999	5.97	6.98
12/1/1999	6.07
1/1/2000	6.15
2/1/2000	6.26
3/1/2000	6.36
4/1/2000	6.5
5/1/2000	6.94	7.49
6/1/2000	6.91
7/1/2000	6.86
8/1/2000	6.76
9/1/2000	6.68
10/1/2000	6.65
11/1/2000	6.63	6.49
12/1/2000	6.3
1/1/2001	5.45
2/1/2001	5.12
3/1/2001	4.74
4/1/2001	4.41
5/1/2001	4.01	5.92
6/1/2001	3.74
7/1/2001	3.7
8/1/2001	3.49
9/1/2001	2.84
10/1/2001	2.26
11/1/2001	2.03	4.40
12/1/2001	1.9
1/1/2002	1.85
2/1/2002	1.95
3/1/2002	2.16
4/1/2002	2.11
5/1/2002	1.93	2.57
6/1/2002	1.92
7/1/2002	1.84
8/1/2002	1.72
9/1/2002	1.74
10/1/2002	1.69
11/1/2002	1.4	4.08
12/1/2002	1.36
1/1/2003	1.3
2/1/2003	1.27
3/1/2003	1.2
4/1/2003	1.23
5/1/2003	1.19	4.66
6/1/2003	1.02
7/1/2003	1.06
8/1/2003	1.13
9/1/2003	1.13
10/1/2003	1.14
11/1/2003	1.17	2.19
12/1/2003	1.17
1/1/2004	1.12
2/1/2004	1.11
3/1/2004	1.09
4/1/2004	1.21
5/1/2004	1.46	3.39
6/1/2004	1.76
7/1/2004	1.85
8/1/2004	1.89
9/1/2004	2.04
10/1/2004	2.18
11/1/2004	2.46	3.67
12/1/2004	2.66
1/1/2005	2.85
2/1/2005	3
3/1/2005	3.23
4/1/2005	3.34
5/1/2005	3.44	4.80
6/1/2005	3.56
7/1/2005	3.8
8/1/2005	3.99
9/1/2005	4.01
10/1/2005	4.32
11/1/2005	4.52	6.73
12/1/2005	4.62
1/1/2006	4.69
2/1/2006	4.88
3/1/2006	5.01
4/1/2006	5.17
5/1/2006	5.25	2.41
6/1/2006	5.46
7/1/2006	5.54
8/1/2006	5.44
9/1/2006	5.37
10/1/2006	5.35
11/1/2006	5.33	4.52
12/1/2006	5.31
1/1/2007	5.34
2/1/2007	5.34
3/1/2007	5.28
4/1/2007	5.31
5/1/2007	5.32	3.74
6/1/2007	5.36
7/1/2007	5.34
8/1/2007	5.4
9/1/2007	5.33
10/1/2007	5
11/1/2007	4.85	4.28
12/1/2007	4.85
1/1/2008	3.71
2/1/2008	2.99
3/1/2008	2.7
4/1/2008	2.86
5/1/2008	2.84	4.84
6/1/2008	3.09
7/1/2008	3.13
8/1/2008	3.11
9/1/2008	3.82
10/1/2008	4.37
11/1/2008	2.83	5.64
12/1/2008	2.18
1/1/2009	1.53
2/1/2009	1.75
3/1/2009	1.76
4/1/2009	1.54
5/1/2009	1.04	0.00
6/1/2009	0.67
7/1/2009	0.5
8/1/2009	0.44
9/1/2009	0.36
10/1/2009	0.31
11/1/2009	0.3	3.36
12/1/2009	0.3
1/1/2010	0.29
2/1/2010	0.3
3/1/2010	0.34
4/1/2010	0.42
5/1/2010	0.64	1.74
6/1/2010	0.75

References

The Federal Reserve System. Federal Reserve Statistical Release. Selected Interest Rates. http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/H15/data.htm. Accessed July 21, 2010.

Page last modified 1/16/2012

Initial Rate Comparison

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References