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altmud t1_j6kz4xc wrote

  1. You need a brokerage account. The cash to purchase anything will come from the "settlement fund" (a.k.a. "Core Position") in that brokerage account, which is usually a money market fund of some sort.
  2. While logged in to Fidelity, you will go to News & Research > Fixed Income, Bonds & CDs > New Issues > Treasury. There you will see a list of what is available to buy. The money must be in your settlement fund when you hit "Trade" to buy. The "settlement date" listed in the display is when the T-bill will actually start, which will be some number of days later.
  3. When the duration you want is available.
  4. There is an "Auto roll" option for Treasuries -- I've never used it, so can't comment. Fidelity has a way to build and automatically maintain ladders, but I think that is only for CDs, not for Treasuries.
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FckMitch t1_j6lei4o wrote

On #1 - you can buy TBills from cash management account at fidelity

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altmud t1_j6llm30 wrote

The Fidelity Cash Management account is a type of brokerage account. What I was trying to say, in answer to OP's question, is that you cannot have the money deducted directly from your own personal bank account when you buy a T-Bill, you must have the money in your Fidelity brokerage account (whatever type of Fidelity brokerage account it might be).

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Bigchip01 OP t1_j6ljann wrote

Would this be more advantageous to have the money sitting in cash management to get interest versus the brokerage account?

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altmud t1_j6lmufj wrote

They're both brokerage accounts. For the "Cash Management" account, you would earn interest (currently 2.21%) on cash that is "swept" to various FDIC-insured banks, whereas for the other type of brokerage account you would earn dividends on cash in a Fidelity money market fund (probably SPAXX, currently yielding 3.95%).

You can buy T-Bills in the same manner with either type of brokerage account, so choose whichever one fits any other needs you might have.

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Bigchip01 OP t1_j6l2afq wrote

Thank you. When I take a look right now I see 0 t-bills available? Is there a certain day they become available?

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1hotjava t1_j6lbvaj wrote

So for like a 13-wk (3 month) bill this Thursday the next batch of bills will become available for auction that closes the following Monday.

Schedule is located here:

https://treasurydirect.gov/auctions/upcoming/

They don’t show up on Fidelity until the auction opens. Note you don’t have to bid, just enter how much you want in “face value”, then after the auction close you find out the exact cost (and thus the actual yield)

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