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Rates can be found at stockcharts, using instruments $UST3M, $UST6M, $UST1Y. The chart gives you a sense if rates are generally heading higher, or lower. A rising rate track = go for the 3M. A dropping rate track = go for the 1Y.
I'm not a financial advisor, etc, etc.
Great, uh, educational advice there Dave. And I too support the idea of Treasury Direct, and have used the service, also speaking educationally and not with the intent of giving advice.
For perspective, let's imagine now that we have $1,000,000 to invest, and we do so in 3Mo paper to take advantage of the rising interest rate environment.
At 0.98%, if we rolled this paper 4x so we held for a full year, that would return us $9,800.00 in interest.
Of course Treasury interest is not subject to state or local taxes (yay!) but is still subject to federal taxation (nuts!).
So let's say your effective rate is 25%. This means $2,450 of it goes right back to Uncle Sam, leaving you with $7,350.
With that $7,350 I can pay my property taxes, and have enough left over for one month's worth of groceries. Thankfully I live in a low property tax district compared to many (a similar home in many parts of New Jersey would be taxed at $15,000 or more...in some parts of CA, twice that).
In other words, thanks to Janet Yellen, and the other wankers in charge, a million dollars saved is pretty much wildly insufficient to live off of.
Who is benefiting from all this Fed rate jiggering? The government and other heavy borrowers (i.e. corporations, big speculators, etc).