US govt I bonds might be a good investment now.

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6. I bought one in June last year at 3.54% and another in January this year at 7.12% now 9.62%.

There is a 3-month penalty if you sell before 5 years. Why would you sell them unless there was some
emergency and you needed the cash? Otherwise if say the interest rate suddenly dropped from 9.62%
to 1% you wait 3 months then sell, all you lose is 3 months at 1%. My bank pays .1% on a MM account and .3%
on a checking. Yes they pay more on a checking account than a MM account. I asked a bank officer why that was
and he said they are promoting their checking account. Banks charge around 20% on credit card interest and pay
.1% on a money market account, where does 19.9% go? Anyway that is different subject. A friend of mine told me
what he is going to do is buy the $10000 I bond and overpay his taxes in his quarterly tax payments by $5000
therefore he can get a $5000 paper I bond. Between him and his wife he can put $30000 a year in them. I am thinking
there is a penalty for over paying or underpaying your estimated tax, I would check on that first.