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What’s Poppin’,

This is the Master Money Newsletter. The money newsletter that is just like your friend who gently nudges you in the right direction but is not afraid to bring out the tough love.

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Here’s what we have on deck today:

📰 Read: How to Build a T-Bill Ladder

📺 Watch: The Best Vanguard Index Funds

🎧 Listen: The Average U.S. Credit Score

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Numbers to Know

💰T-Bill Yields hit 5% on 6-month treasury bills.

💻 Apprenticeship programs are becoming more popular as an alternative to college​

🤮 Zillow just released the least affordable cities to live in America.

📈 The S&P 500 has had positive years 73% of the time and an average rate of return over 10%

️Credit card fraud is on the rise. The median fraudulent charge is only 79 dollars. If you're not tracking your transactions and reviewing your spending, you might not even notice the fraudulant spending! Use a tool like Delete Me to reduce the risk of fraud happening to you.

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📈 CHART OF THE DAY (Powered by YCHARTS)

This is a big one and what we will be talking about today! YCharts is where I get my investment data. If you want to check them out with a free trial you can HERE.

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Boy oh boy do we have big news today. T-Bills have finally hit 5%.

This is as smooth as the voice of the very similar sounding name, T-Pain. In fact, you can finally afford to “buy you a drank” with the interest you can earn on these T-Bills. I apologize, that was one of my worst “jokes” yet.

This is incredible for you and I. Finally, we can earn a respectable rate of return on our emergency fund, wedding savings, home downpayment fund, or any other short term savings goals we may have.

But before we go pouring our savings into T-Bills, there are a few things we need to understand.

What in Tarnation are T-Bills

A Treasury Bill (T-Bill) is a short-term U.S. government debt obligation backed by the Treasury Department with a maturity of one year or less. This is a fancy way of saying that you are providing a loan to the government. In return, they are paying you back with interest.

Treasury bills are usually sold in denominations of $1,000. However, some can reach a maximum denomination of $5 million in non-competitive bids.

How The Heck Do You Buy T-Bills

You can buy T-bills online directly from the U.S. government at TreasuryDirect. Alternatively, you can also buy T-bills through a bank or broker. Bills are issued weekly through an auction bidding process.

Here is some more valuable information from Treasury Direct. ​

💻 More info from Investopedia

How Many Treasury Bills Can I Buy?

The maximum amount of Treasury bills that you can buy in a single auction is $10 million if the bids are noncompetitive or 35% of the offering amount for competitive bids.

The Good Stuff: What are the Current T-Bill Rates?

🪜 How to Set-Up A T-Bill Ladder for Our Emergency Fund

Now we get to the really good stuff. How can we set up a system to allow us to get these juicy T-Bill returns.

Enter the T-Bill Ladder. 🪜

In this example, I will set this up someone with 6-months of expenses in an emergency fund. If you have less, then just follow the system to how many months you have.

You will see me label each by “month”. This does not mean you do this monthly. You will buy these T-Bills all at once. It is just a way for me to label what the actual dollar you have saved is for! Remember, every dollar should always have a job.

• Month 1: Cash (In a high-Yield Savings account. Here is my favorite.)
• Month 2: 1 Month Treasury Note with one months expenses.
• Month 3: 3 month Treasury note with one months expenses.
• Month 4: 3 month Treasury note with one months expenses.
• Month 5: 3 month Treasury note with one months expenses.
• Month 6: 6 month Treasury note with one months expenses.

All other savings that you do not need past 6-months will go into a 6-month Treasury note since it has the highest interest rate.

As each T-Bill matures, you buy 6 Month Treasury notes. In 6-months, all will be at that 5% rate (or whatever the yield is in 6-months).

What this allows you do is reap the benefits of that juicy interest rate, all while having the liquidity available to use the money in case of emergency, since one T-Bill will mature each month.

You can do this with CD’s as well if the interest rate is ever higher! When I do buy CD’s I buy them here. ​

🌴Fun fact: Warren Buffett holds about $75 Billion in T-Bills. That is where he parks his cash!

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📈 Quick Tip Of The Week

Job switching may be the best option for someone who can not keep up with inflation.

Among job switchers, 49% had wage growth that exceeded last year’s inflation.This was only true for 42% of workers who kept the same job.

TIP: When you ask for a raise make sure that your raise is at the local inflation rate or greater. Otherwise, you are taking a paycut.

Source: from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.​

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High-Performance Book Club 📚

I get a ton of questions from listeners and readers as to what I am reading. So we decided to let you know via the newsletter. The High-Performance Book Club will be a way to share this. If you want to be Elite in your career, business, or with your wealth, then welcome to the club. If you would like to see our previous picks, you can find them here.

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The Personal Finance Podcast 🎙️ ​ ​

​21 Ways To Guarantee You Stay Poor (or Make You Rich) with Matt Aitchison​

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Youtube

​The 6 Best Vanguard Index Funds (High Growth)​

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