Summary
- Inflation report on April 14 will set the I Bond’s six-month variable rate, taking effect May 1.
- Right now, it looks like the new six-month variable rate could be lower than the current 2.76%.
- However, it’s possible the May 1 fixed rate – which stays with the I Bond forever – will rise above the current 0.0%.
The idea with I Bonds is to build a large inflation-protected cache, as part of an overall portfolio that includes stocks, bonds, nominal Treasurys, TIPS, bank CDs, mutual funds. The difficulty is that there is a $10,000 per person per year purchase limit on I Bonds, so to build a large stockpile you have to buy them every year. And then the question is: When do you make the purchase?
Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities 
Here’s hoping for runaway inflation. Then they will probably cap the variable rate at 5% for folks with our foresight. Rule changers mid game need to be horse whipped. Been maxing out x 2 since 2006.