Inflation Jumped 1.34% Month Over Month – Buy I Bonds Now!

This is a brief update of my article published yesterday on I Bonds. The inflation news this morning was terrible for consumers, something my wife and I noticed Sunday as a favorite restaurant had raised prices about 40%, but a very good thing for I Bond investors.

In yesterday’s article, I cautiously said that the March report would produce a May 1 reset at 7% with any surprise likely to be to the upside. It certainly was! The month-over-month increase – completing the data needed to calculate the Treasury reset for May 1 – came in at 1.34% This means that the six-month increase was 9.62%.

Here’s the table I provided yesterday with the March number filled in and other numbers updated:

Oct 2021	Nov 2021	Dec 2021	Jan 2022	Feb 2022	Mar 2022
Inflation Index	276.859	277.948	278.802	281.148	283.716	287.504
Monthly Pct Change	.83	.49	.31	.84	.91	1.34

Six Month Percentage Change: 4.81% (9.62% annualized)

	Apr 2021	May 2021	Jun 2021	Jul 2021	Aug 2021	Sep 2021
Inflation Index	267.054	269.195	271.696	273.003	273.567	274.310
Monthly Pct Change	.82	.80	.93	.48	.21	.27

Six Month Percentage Change: 3.56% (7.12% Annualized)

Buy in April on TreasuryDirect. I suggest setting your purchase in motion by April 25 in case the site is slow in processing. You will get the 9.62% yield after six months. Yield for the next twelve months will be 8.39%. It may in fact be a few basis points higher to reflect monthly compounding. The annual number you will have seen in headlines was 8.5%.

The year-over-year headline number is less important to I Bond holders than the sum of month-over-month numbers. For us math nerds, you get this by subtracting last month’s inflation index number from the current one, then dividing the result by the previous month’s number.

Please have another look at yesterday’s article and re-familiarize yourself with details. I’m out most of the day but will read all comments and messages when I can.

If you have the cash lying around take advantage of this amazing opportunity by buying I Bonds up to $10K per year per Social Security Number.