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A Beginner's Guide to Investing in T-Bills: How to Secure Your Financial Future
In this article, we will learn about the benefits of investing in t-bills and how they help manage money better. If you follow active investing strategy, you must have come across times when you sell a big chunk of assets and wait for an opportunity to reinvest the money.
When you follow a healthy financial habit, you will find many prospects where you need to park your cash for small durations until you find a good opportunity.
There is always a question running inside the mind to invest this money so that it can be redeemed when required and, meanwhile, earn something.
I know this is the case with me.
Even when that is not the case, there will be a possibility that you need to boost your cash flow by receiving regular interest payments.
You can solve these problems by understanding a crucial debt instrument known as T-bills.
What Are T-Bills?
The government issues short-term debt securities called Treasury Bills or T-Bills. They offer it at a concession to the amount the investor will get when the T-Bill matures or the face value of the bills. T-Bills are regarded as a low-risk investment because the government stands behind them with full faith and credit.
Moreover, T-Bills are issued in India in a range of maturities, including 91 days, 182 days, and 364 days. You can buy these assets from a broker or financial institution.
Individuals can purchase government treasury notes for less than the security’s face value, and since they can be redeemed for cash at that value, investors can keep the difference. For instance, a discounted price of Rs. 98.40 can be used to purchase a 91-day Treasury Bill having a face value of Rs. 100.
Individuals are entitled to the full nominal value of Rs. 100 upon maturity, making a profit of Rs. 1.60 for them.
If you receive any bonus or unexpected cash all of a sudden and do not want to let the money sit idle, this is one of the most preferred options, as you earn more than the bank’s interest rates. Moreover, the duration is so less that you do not have to make a fixed deposit.
The current interest rates for the t-bills lie around 6-7%. Much greater than the bank’s interest rates.
One problem with parking the money in a fixed deposit is that the banks levy a fine if you break your F.D. prematurely.
Remember the article where we were talking about managing the portfolio between equity and debt?
If you are an active investor who likes to buy and sell things as per their research, you can use the t-bills along with the other debt instruments to build up the debt side of the portfolio.
Another method with which you can use T-bills for your favor is using it for building up the emergency fund.
Beyond a point, there is no need to build an emergency fund in Fixed Deposits. You can use this facility to build up your emergency funds.
How To Invest In T-bills:
You can invest in t-bills by opening an account in ZERODHA KITE.
After opening the account, you can use the credentials to log in to their Coin Platform.
Moreover, you can buy various mutual funds, government bonds, and other instruments except for equities via this platform.
Step 1: Go to Government Bonds
You will find various bonds available for subscription. Choose the bonds you prefer and place order.
Keep note that, you will be prompted for having sufficient balance before placing order. So, it is recommended to add the funds in your KITE platform before hand.
Minimum Amount To Invest:
The minimum amount you need to invest is INR 10,000. After this, you can purchase in the multiple of 10,000.
Conclusion:
To sum up, Government treasury bills are a great investment option for people wishing to keep extra cash in a safe place and earn high returns. Individual investors can participate in the non-competitive bidding procedure the RBI facilitates for these bonds by submitting their bids to the appropriate primary dealer of a scheduled commercial bank.
Additionally, because the discount rate and par value are disclosed in advance, investors benefit from complete transparency throughout the transaction process. Also, it helps with the process of budgeting for effective wealth growth.
Thus, one of the safest investment options in the nation is a Treasury bill. It is popular for portfolio diversification in the case of seasoned investors who devote a portion of their funds to government securities to reduce the total risk to their corpus. It is not just excellent for risk-averse people tired of stock market tools. These sovereign notes are essential for controlling an economy’s overall money supply, which in turn affects how much money is gathered for the capital market.
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