U.S Treasury Bonds - Best/Safest Places to buy

chrisweb

I wanted to buy U.S treasuries direct from the U.S government (via https://www.treasurydirect.gov ) but as far as I can see this is not possible for non U.S citizens.

Does anyone have any recommendations for places where UK citizens can buy I.S treasury bills, from a safe institution?

tradetime

Easiest way to do that is probably through a Bond ETF, such as the ones provided by iShares.

purch

What are you looking at.

Bills, Notes of Bonds ?

They are all tradeable instruments, but you would need to use a broker that has access to the U.S. Bond market.

Try someone like Charles Schwab Global

http://www.schwab-global.com/public/schwab-gcb-en/index.html?cmsid=P-879076&pg=P-1125780

or Interactive Brokers

http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/main.php













P.S. They yield next to nothing, and are issued by a bankrupt nation.

chrisweb

tradetime wrote: »

Easiest way to do that is probably through a Bond ETF, such as the ones provided by iShares.

I'd prefer to stay away from ETFs, I think a 100% U.S treasury mutual fund would be better, or ideally own the bond as direct as possible.

tradetime

chrisweb wrote: »

I'd prefer to stay away from ETFs, I think a 100% U.S treasury mutual fund would be better, or ideally own the bond as direct as possible.

Fair enough, as Purch says then, you need a broker as listed in his post. I don't invest in bonds directly but I know Interactive Brokers provides access to the US bond markets. They can be a bit funny about you investment experience lately, all this government intervention in their business.

chrisweb

Thanks guys I'm looking into those options. Any other recommendations?

I think a 100% U.S treasury bill mutural fund like this one would be great, but one that allows UK customers.

turbobob

What was the reason for ruling out ETF's? The fund IBTS exclusively invests in short term treasury bonds for example. I don't know if US mutual funds are accessible to people in the UK..

LeeSouthEast

USD going down the pan in the not too distant future. Not a wise investment (IMO)

tradetime

LeeSouthEast wrote: »

USD going down the pan in the not too distant future. Not a wise investment (IMO)

That gets touted a lot, and for all I know it may well be true, but I'd be happy to bet that if it does happen Sterling and anything Sterling related will be heading down the pan well ahead of it.

LeeSouthEast

I can't for the life of me find the link now, but I'll keep searching. The general consensus was (as much as I hate to say it) the Euro will be the new USD in terms of reserve currency.