Summary

Why I Bond?

I bonds are inflation protected
Earnings from I bonds are taxed only at federal level and not at state or local taxes (so Oregon state tax exemption..yay)
Using I bonds for Education
- I bonds are not taxed when used for tuition if you meet certain critiera including income [restrictions](Using bonds for higher education — TreasuryDirect)
- You can also roll over I Bonds to 529 account and then use it for all aspects of education like other 529 (tuition, travel,...)
I bonds can play a role in parking emergency funds as long as money is in account for more than a year (and hence liquid). Keep 1 month of fund in bank account and 5 months in I bond

Buy up to 10K per person (per SSN)
I bonds can be bought under children's name but that has implication on college financial aid
Buy upto 10K with your revocable trust
When using tax refunds we can buy additional 5k worth of I bond. Extra button click in Turbo Tax
You buy your partner $10K as a gift but don't deliver the gift until next year
Your partner buys you $10K as a gift but doesn't deliver the gift until next year
https://thefinancebuff.com/how-to-buy-i-bonds.html
https://thefinancebuff.com/buy-i-bonds-as-gift.html

You can buy I bonds from treasury direct.gov
When you create account be careful with the bank info. If you make a mistake or bank rejects it needs extra paper work to fix.
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/myaccount/myaccount_treasurydirect.htm

It is not liquid for one year but after that you can withdraw
If you redeem them after year 1, but before year 5, there is a penalty equal to the last 3 months of interest.
You can buy I bonds at the end of the month and still get interest for the entire month.
May 2022 through October 2022 is 9.62 percent.
I Bonds has a variable rate and fixed rate
- Fixed rate carries with the bond even when variable rate changes
  - for e.g you buy bounds at 5% variable and .4% fixed rate, even with a new variable you will still get the 0.4% fixed rate added to it

I bonds are not taxed when used for tuition if you meet certain critiera including income [restrictions](Using bonds for higher education — TreasuryDirect)
There are income limits (IRS form 8815) for getting the tax benefits for education use.
You can also roll over I Bonds to 529 account and then use it for all aspects of education like other 529 (tuition, travel,...) - Recommended
- To roll over and not pay taxes on the income you need to use from 8815
- Reporting rollover is confusing but here is some good [info](How to Rollover U.S. Savings Bonds into a 529 Plan (savingforcollege.com))
- How do you actually do the rollover?

When you sell, I bonds after a year you pay the last 3 months interest as a penalty
Last 3 months interest is calculated at the current rate so sell when interest rate is low