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birb_cromble  7d ago (text post)   823 thread views

Qeekly Finance Thread - 2026-09-26

A weekly thread to discuss financial matters - from personal all the way up to global.

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I maintain a twelve month emergency fund, and I recently got over my various trauma-responses to the point where I was able to roll half of that into a six-month CD that's offering 80bps over my HYSA.

While I know I could probably do "better", sometimes you have to have to take the small victories.

If anybody out there is reading this, don't get so hung up on the difference between"better" and "perfect" that you do nothing at all. Every improvement is a stepping stone.

I recently got over my various trauma-responses to the point where I was able to roll half of that into a six-month CD

Congrats, it can be quite scary.

While I know I could probably do "better" ...

Assuming you are U.S.-based, I see @Mantergeistmann has already suggested I Bonds. I think, under most circumstances, rolling short-dated T-bills into a ladder of seasoned I Bonds is slightly "better" if you are working a normal-length career, aren't maximally aggressively shopping introductory rates, are planning on keeping a full-year emergency fund, and are willing to replace low-real-rate tranches of I Bonds when reasonable. TreasuryDirect is still clunky, but it has slightly improved. This also has a slight advantage over rolling CDs, as it saves you from having to change banks every six months for the best rate. But, yes, on a modest emergency fund, the real difference is probably smaller than other choices, and you do have to get over the small personal limit and one-year hump for I Bonds.

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