Finvest

Your guide to cash and bonds, making the safe money work

Where to park cash, how bonds really move, the Treasury menu from bills to I bonds, a T-bill ladder built step by step, and the duration lesson 2022 taught the hard way: in plain English, with calculators.

Start reading: Chapter 1

13 chapters · 5 calculators · evidence first · www.getfinvest.com

Educational material only. This guide is not individualized investment or tax advice. Markets involve risk of loss; historical figures carry their sources and periods, and are not promises.

Part I · Safe money basics

HYSA, money market funds, CDs, and the checking buffer: what each is for, and when each wins.

How bonds actually work

A bond is a loan with a receipt. The price-yield seesaw, finally explained with one moving picture.

Part II · The Treasury aisle

The Treasury menu

Bills, notes, bonds, TIPS, and I bonds: the full government aisle, auctions included, jargon removed.

T-bill ladders, step by step

The flagship: build a rolling ladder with real auction numbers, and give every dollar a maturity date.

Yield curves and what they whisper

Normal, flat, inverted: what the curve's shape means for savers, and what it cannot predict.

Part III · The wider bond world

Duration, the risk dial

Why safe bond funds fell 13% in 2022, the one-sentence rule that explains it, and matching duration to horizon.

Credit risk: corporates, munis, and junk

Spreads, ratings, the muni tax math, and why reaching for yield is a loan you make to trouble.

Bond funds vs ladders

The great debate, resolved by purpose: when the conveyor belt wins and when the dated rungs do.

TIPS, I bonds, and inflation

Real yields, breakevens, and the two government tools that pay you back in purchasing power.

The weird aisle: agencies and mortgage bonds

Agency debt, mortgage-backed securities, and prepayment risk in plain English. Mostly a fund decision.

Part IV · Running the safe money

Cash management in practice

Sweeps, settlement, FDIC and SIPC limits, and Mara's five-account consolidation, traced dollar by dollar.

What can go wrong

2022's duration crash, 2008's broken buck, 2023's SVB: the safe shelf's three famous failures, decoded.

The parking decision tree, the ladder recipe card, the annual safe-money hour, a glossary, every number sourced.