Finvest: The easy way to buy US Treasury Bills

Hi Fintech nerds! This is Shivam - We are thrilled to introduce Finvest! 🎉

TL;DR: Finvest is the easiest way to buy US Treasury Bills. Our mission is to enable everyone to grow their wealth in a stress-free way. You can earn up to 5.3% APY through Treasury Bills - an industry-leading rate to replace your savings account. Your interest is secured and locked-in even if the Fed lowers rates and interest is exempt from state taxes, unlike your savings account. Say goodbye to clunky platforms like TreasuryDirect and Fidelity 📉

Check out our website here and download the app on the App Store or Play Store.

Check our Product Demo Video

Problem

Interest rates are at an all-time high since 2007. With interest rates at such unprecedented levels, we wanted to take advantage of the environment, but all the major banks gave us basically nothing on our cash. Chase only gives 0.01% interest on cash - it's a scam! With the high interest rates, you basically earn free money on idle cash through US Treasury Bills.

But there is no easy way to buy Treasury Bills today. You can buy them through the government website (Treasury Direct) - which is an experience from the 1990s or use the legacy brokerages like Fidelity, Charles Schwab. I would personally never use a Fidelity or Charles Schwab account - it’s non-transparent, opaque, and comes with a clunky user experience. Most modern fintech apps also don’t enable you to invest in underlying fixed income assets.

Why buy Treasury Bills?

🎉 Interest-rates are at all-time highs since 2007! In fact, the US Treasury Bill outperforms majority of US stocks

🏝️ You pay no state or local taxes on interest earned on Treasury Bills. This is unlike your savings account. If you live in a high-tax state, this can make a HUGE difference!

🔑 Locked-in rate: Your interest rate is locked in even if the Fed drops interest rates. Its a great time to invest in Treasury Bills because rates will drop soon!

💰 Backed by the full faith of the US Government: Treasury Bills are one of the safest assets in the world

Solution

We built a platform we wish we had - a simple way to invest in the fixed income assets like US Treasuries. We want to democratize access to the $130 Trillion fixed income market, which is 3x the size of the equity market.

We are launching with support for US Treasury Bills and plan to offer the entire set of fixed income products such as high-yield spend accounts, money-market funds, Treasury Notes and Bonds, Municipal Bonds, Certificates of Deposits, and International Bonds.

We want your idle cash to work for you, not the other way around. With interest rates this high, everyone should be able to grow their wealth in a stress-free way.

How do you compare to alternatives?

It is not even worth comparing with traditional banks such as Chase and Bank of America which offer less than 0.05% interest, make huge profit by investing our hard-earned money in Treasury Bills, and keeping the interest margin for themselves.

High-yield cash account such as Robinhood Cash, Wealthfront, or Marcus give up to 5% interest which is still lower than what we would get by directly investing in Treasury Bills and are not exempt from state taxes. You can invest in money-market funds and bond ETFs - but these funds are exposed to short-term securities and their interest rate will fall once the Fed starts cutting rates.

With Treasury Bills, your interest rate is locked in when you hold them to maturity. So let’s say you buy a 12-month Treasury Bill today, your interest rate is locked in even if the Fed cuts rates. Moreover when you invest into US Treasuries directly, the interest you earn is exempt from any state or local taxes.

Is my money going to be locked in?

You can sell your Treasury Bills anytime - it is one of the largest and most liquid financial markets in the world. You can withdraw money from your Finvest account anytime at no cost. :)

How much do you charge?

Unlike other financial institutions, we want to be transparent about our fees. We charge a monthly fee of 0.03% on the average daily market value of your assets. So let’s say the average daily balance of the assets in your account is $1,000, we will charge you 30 cents per month. A single Starbucks latte costs $5 these days. Your net earnings on Finvest are still higher than your earnings on other investment platforms as shown in the table above.

Is my money safe?

Finvest is a financial technology company, not a bank or an investment advisor. Finvest never directly holds your cash or investments. Your funds, investments, and Treasuries are securely held in custody and cleared through Pershing Advisor Solutions LLC, a subsidiary of the Bank of New York Mellon Corp.

Your account is also covered by SIPC, which protects securities customers of its members up to $500,000 (including $250,000 for claims for cash). US Treasuries are considered to be one of the safest assets to park your cash since they are backed by the full faith and credit of the US government.

Ask

• Download the Finvest app and share your thoughts.
• Show it to your friends and family!
• Reach out at shivam@getfinvest.com if you would like to say hi!