Every I bond keeps the fixed rate it was bought with for all 30 years, and bonds bought from November 2026 through April 2027 get 1.40%, the highest since 2006. If you have cash you won’t need for a year, buy up to $10,000 at TreasuryDirect this year and another $10,000 from January through April.
An I bond’s rate has two parts, and you control only one of them, by choosing when to buy.
The inflation rate follows consumer prices. A new one takes effect every May 1 and Nov. 1, and your bond switches to the newest every six months, counted from the month you bought it. The fixed rate is set for each six-month buying window, then stays with your bond until it stops earning interest at 30 years.
For bonds bought from November 2026 through April 2027, Treasury set the fixed rate at 1.40%, up from 0.90%. That’s the highest since November 2006. Combined with the current inflation rate, the 1.40% gives new bonds a 5.51% annual rate for their first six months.
Say you buy a $10,000 I bond this November. At 5.51%, it earns about $275 in its first six months. After that, each new rate combines the latest inflation rate with your 1.40%. If inflation runs 3% a year, that comes to about 4.4%, and if inflation drops to zero, the bond still earns 1.40%. Either way, your 1.40% bond earns about $50 a year more than a $10,000 bond bought in October at 0.90%.
You buy I bonds in an account at TreasuryDirect, the Treasury’s website, up to $10,000 per person each calendar year. A purchase this November or December counts toward 2026’s limit, so you can buy another $10,000 under 2027’s limit from January through April, at the same 1.40%. Interest counts from the first day of the month your purchase posts to your account, so buying late in the month costs you nothing.
Put in only money you can leave alone for at least a year. You can’t cash an I bond for 12 months, and cashing one before it’s five years old costs the last three months of interest.
Buy the first $10,000 by Dec. 31, then the second by April 30, before a new fixed rate takes effect on May 1.
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