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Treasury Bills

Treasury bills are a type of government bond most closely associated with cash. They are a great choice for storing short-term money with minimum risk.

treasury bills
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Index Funds


Target Market

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Countries

AUS |  CAN |  CHE |  DEU |  ESP |  FRA |  GBR |  ITA |  JPN |  NLD |  SWE |  USA

Regions

Developed |  Dev. ex-US |  Emerging |  Europe

Home Country

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Home

AUS |  CAN |  CHE |  DEU |  ESP |  FRA |  GBR |  ITA |  JPN |  NLD |  SWE |  USA

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[marketDisplay] [assetDisplay]

ETFs [homeTextDisplay] [homeDisplayImage]

Notes Definitions
  • +SCB — Total market fund that includes small caps (85% LCB + 15% SCB)
  • +EM — Global fund that includes emerging markets (~90% DEV + 10% EM)
  • -CAN — Excludes Canada (or other specified country normally in the index)
  • Acc — Accumulating
  • Dist — Distributing

Assume there are errors and always do your own research. No listings or links are sponsored. Because they track similar indices, all funds should have similar returns before fees.

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Alternatives


Other options when no treasury bill funds are available

  • Treasury Money Market Account — T-bill ETFs are not offered in some markets, but treasury money market accounts invest in the same bills.
  • Short Term Bonds — Short term bonds have slightly higher interest rates for just a little more risk.
  • Directly Owned Bonds — Bonds can be directly purchased from the government. For bills, buy 1-year bills and roll them over into new ones each year.

Definition


treasury bills definition

The Portfolio Charts treasury bill data tracks the segment of the bond market with maturities of 1 year or less. It also focuses exclusively on debt issued by countries, not companies. In the US they are called treasury bonds, but they may go by other names in different countries. For example, they’re called bunds in Germany and gilts in the UK.

Treasury bills (often called T-bills or simply Bills) have long been valued for their dependable interest payments and steady preservation of capital. When you see an investing analysis that compares an investment to a “risk-free rate”, it is almost always referring to the return of treasury bills.

One interesting misconception about treasury bills is that because of their cash-like behavior, many people wrongly believe they always lose money to inflation. In reality, because they quickly roll over into new issues that track prevailing interest rates, they have historically been one of the better inflation hedges available.

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