<prompt> Human: I got 2000 in I-bonds from my tax-return this past year. Since then Ive read a bit about them on the Motley Fool website wiki? I cant find the page right now.They seem to suggest that I-bonds are a poor investment for young people, since when they mature youll be at the height of your earning potential in your 50s. You still have to pay taxes on the income when you redeem them.I was hoping that an I-bond would be a better investment than stashing it in a savings account that loses to inflation. Am I wrong? The time-frame to redeem would be 10 years, for a house. All retirementemergency funddebt considerations are already accounted for.If I-bonds arent the way to go for intermediate-savings, what is?  <response>: Okay, 2000 for 10 years. Lets say the I-bond is giving you about 3 annually. After 10 years, you have 687 profit. With marginal taxes at 30, youre left with 481 profit. Now, bank CDs. Only around like 2 now. Each year, youre taxed as you receive the interest. Lets say 10 marginal tax exaggerated, because after all, youre afraid of what happens if your tax rate goes up, right?, so your annual gain is only like 1.8. After ten years, youve made 390 profit. So theres certainly a scenario in which I-bonds come out on top. In fact, Id say that I-bonds will almost always beat CDs or savings accounts. If not, whats the difference? If our example had gone the other way, its still on the order of 100 over ten years. Not the biggest mistake of your life. 