November 14, 2023

Comparing I Bonds to Inflation

If you hold I bonds for five years or longer you will get the full interest when you redeem them. As of November 1, 2023, there are 242 I bonds that are older than five years. These are the I bonds purchased from September 1998 through October 2018, the five year mark as of November 2023. Of these 242 I bonds, 174 will provide a real return if you redeem them in November. In other words, 174 of these I bonds have grown in their values to exceed their inflation-adjusted purchase prices and the remaining 68 are lagging behind inflation.

For I bonds purchased each month starting from September 1998 through October 2018, the chart below shows how much the bonds had grown in values compared to the growth in inflation for the same period. The variance shown in the graph is the difference between the bond value and the inflation-adjusted purchase price on 11/1/2023 as a percentage of the inflation-adjusted purchase price. So it is the cumulative real growth from the purchase date through 11/1/2023 (not annual growth). As an example, as on 11/1/2023, a $10,000 I bond purchased in September 1998 had grown 132.25% over its inflation-adjusted purchase price.

Use the Next and Previous buttons to move around the purchase dates of bonds.

The chart below shows the number of I bonds older than five years above and below their inflation-adjusted purchase prices for each month from January 2020 through November 2023. For example, in January 2020, there were 196 I bonds older than 5 years. Out of them, 193 had grown in their values to exceed their respective purchase prices adjusted for inflation, and only three were below those levels. On the other hand, in November 2023, 174 out of a total of 242 I bonds (72%) older than five years were above and 68 were below their inflation-adjusted purchase prices.