If you wanted to compare the same earnings with tesla puts you would have to go all the way down to a $100 tsla put, tesla going down to $100 is as likely as the fed declaring bankruptcy.

so max contrib is 15k asuming you do 5k with your return. 15k for 15 months will net you about 16020 after federal taxes.

another option would be to sell "safer" puts, for example lets take tsla, what is the lowest you could see tsla stock in 15 months? lets say 180.00 that would give you a gain of $3500 less $500 after tax and you would need $14,500 to cover the margin balance. You could also close the position at any time if needed.

Isn't that exactly what I said?

6 months good interest and then in 6 months you get whatever that rate is... You lose 3 months interest if you sell before 5 years.

What did I state incorrectly?

Land, for no risk. For risk sell puts in the current market.

You do realize that the I bond rate changes every 6 months and it will likely be less than 6% 6 months from now. So you'll be stuck earning those lower rates for the full 5 years unless you take the early redemption penalty.

I would invest in land before i would put it into US bonds, especially with a major economic crash potentially coming. People always need land, it's a finite resource and the price will always go up especially so for strategic land. Safest is farm land that you can rent out, inflation rate is fairly common for farm land value plus you get a bonus of rent. Something simple like hay fields is good.

Its funny people think getting less than inflation in return is a good deal. Much better places to put money. After taxes you're still losing money.