Treasury Bills — TreasuryDirect (2024)

FAQs

How much does a $1000 T bill cost? ›

To calculate the price, take 180 days and multiply by 1.5 to get 270. Then, divide by 360 to get 0.75, and subtract 100 minus 0.75. The answer is 99.25. Because you're buying a $1,000 Treasury bill instead of one for $100, multiply 99.25 by 10 to get the final price of $992.50.

1 Year Treasury Rate is at 5.14%, compared to 5.15% the previous market day and 5.07% last year. This is higher than the long term average of 2.95%. The 1 Year Treasury Rate is the yield received for investing in a US government issued treasury security that has a maturity of 1 year.

TreasuryDirect provides a web-based environment for buying and holding Treasury Bills, Notes, Bonds, TIPS, and FRNs, as well as Savings Bonds. You cannot purchase Cash Management Bills in TreasuryDirect.

3 Month Treasury Bill Rate is at 5.25%, compared to 5.25% the previous market day and 5.12% last year. This is higher than the long term average of 4.19%. The 3 Month Treasury Bill Rate is the yield received for investing in a government issued treasury security that has a maturity of 3 months.

Choosing between a CD and Treasuries depends on how long of a term you want. For terms of one to six months, as well as 10 years, rates are close enough that Treasuries are the better pick. For terms of one to five years, CDs are currently paying more, and it's a large enough difference to give them the edge.

They are sold at a discount to face value, and the difference between the discounted price and face value is your return on investment. For example, if you buy a 12-week T-bill with a face value of $10,000 for $9,800, the difference of $200 is your return for holding the security for 12 weeks.

Key Takeaways

Interest from Treasury bills (T-bills) is subject to federal income taxes but not state or local taxes. The interest income received in a year is recorded on Form 1099-INT. Investors can opt to have up to 50% of their Treasury bills' interest earnings automatically withheld.

Upon maturity of the T-bills, when will I receive the principal amount? On maturity, the principal amount will be credited to your respective account by the end of the day, typically after 6pm. For cash applications: The principal amount will be credited to your designated Direct Crediting Service bank account.

It pays interest twice a year and face value at maturity. The money market yield is the interest rate earned by investing in securities with high liquidity and maturities of less than one year. Federally guaranteed obligations are debt securities issued by the United States government that are considered risk-free.

You can sell a T-Bill before its maturity date without penalty, although you will be charged a commission. (With CDs, you pay a sizeable penalty for early withdrawals.)

How to get 5% return? ›

High-yield savings accounts

Another place you could park money and earn 5% or more, without risking your principal within applicable insurance limits, is a high-yield savings account. High-yield savings accounts can also let you move money in and out of your account more freely than CDs do.

4 Week Treasury Bill Rate is at 5.28%, compared to 5.28% the previous market day and 4.32% last year. This is higher than the long term average of 1.41%. The 4 Week Treasury Bill Rate is the yield received for investing in a US government issued treasury bill that has a maturity of 4 weeks.

Bills are sold in increments of $100. The minimum purchase is $100. All bills except 52-week bills and cash management bills are auctioned every week.

You can buy (bid for) Treasury marketable securities through: your TreasuryDirect account — non-competitive bids only. a bank, broker, or dealer — competitive and non-competitive bids.

For example, you can purchase: $10 million each in 4-, 8-, 13-, 26-, and 52-week Treasury bills, $10 million each in 2-, 3-, 5-, 7-, and 10-year Treasury notes, $10 million in 30-year Treasury bonds, $10 million in 2-year Floating Rate Notes, and $10 million each in 5-, 10-, and 30-year Treasury TIPS.