The Sun's Financial Diary

As some popular online savings banks recently slashed their rates (GMAC from 5.25% to 5.00%, Citi e-Savings from 5.00% to 4.75%), the rates of 4-week were on the rise, at least in the first month of 2007. The rate ended 2006 at 4.742% APR. On January 30th, the rate of 4-week T-bill was 4.972%, which [...]

Here's a complete chart of the 4-week T-bill rates of 2006. Overall, the rates were on the rise throughout the year. It was just above 4.0% when 2006 began, gradually moved up and peaked at 5.263% on November 30th, and ended the year with a 4.742% APR, a 17.6% annual increase in rates.   The [...]

The auction of last week's 4-week T-bill set the rate at the highest level of the year. Even without considering the equivalent taxable yield, the rate of 5.243% APR almost matches what GMAC bank has to offer (5.30% APY with $500 initial deposit).  At 5.243% APR, the annual percentage yield (APY) is 5.37%. Since interestes [...]

Yesterday, a reader, goldsheet (Thanks!), posted a comment on my T-Bill Taxable Equivalent Yield, saying that the EAPY formula in the post is actually for itemized deduction and he/she also provided a formula for EAPY for standard deduction. Indeed, the formula I gave is only for the calculation of EAPY if you itemize, which I [...]

I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome you to my diary and hope you find the information in my post "T-Bill Investment Rate: Is it APR or APY? And What Is Your Taxable Equivalent Yield?" useful. I will be very happy if the post, written with my best knowledge, can help you understand some [...]

If you go to TreasuryDirect’s website and check the latest T-Bill rates, you will find a table with the following seven columns: Security Term, Issue Date, Maturity Date, Discount Rate %, Investment Rate %, Price Per $100, and CUSIP. As a 4-Week T-bill investor, when I look at the table, the single item that concerns [...]

This week’s auction result put the interest rate of 4-week T-Bills at 5.146%, better than what EmigrantDirect and HSBC offer (5%). For second straight week, the rates are above 5%, making T-Bills more attractive now than a month ago. And I decided to jump back in again. Well, considering that I have only canceled the [...]

Exactly one month ago, I canceled our $3000 weekly 4-Week T-Bill purchase after the interest rate dropped to 4.757%, far less than the 5.15% APY we earned from EmigrantDirect at that time. In the past month, we have seen changes on both the banking and T-Bill fronts and the new developments made me wonder if [...]