Bond Equivalent Yield Calculator - T-Bill Yield Check

Bond Equivalent Yield Calculator annualizes the return on a short-term discount security, such as a Treasury bill, from its face value, purchase price, and days to maturity. Use it when you are reading a T-bill quote, checking a brokerage screen, comparing a bill with a CD or money-market yield, or translating a discount price into a simple annual yield. The result is a quote convention, not a forecast.

• • T-bill quote review: Convert a discounted purchase price into BEY before comparing it with another short-term rate.
• • Auction result check: Enter the awarded price and actual days to maturity to review the investment-rate style return.
• • Cash ladder planning: Compare 4-week, 13-week, and 26-week bills on a shared annual basis.
• • Yield convention comparison: View bank discount yield beside BEY so you can see why two quoted rates differ.

The Bond Equivalent Yield Calculator is most useful when the security is bought below face value and matures at face value. It uses the purchase price as the return base, which is why BEY is usually higher than bank discount yield for the same bill.

Keep the input source consistent. If your broker quotes price per $100, scale both face value and purchase price to the same base, such as $100 face and $98 purchase price. If you use dollar settlement amounts, enter both in dollars.

For a broader fixed-income worksheet that includes coupon and price assumptions, the Bond Calculator gives a wider bond view.

The calculator measures the discount earned to maturity, divides it by the amount paid, then annualizes that holding-period return.

• Face value: The amount expected at maturity.
• Purchase price: The discounted amount paid for the same position.
• Days to maturity: Actual days from settlement to maturity, limited here to 1 through 182.
• Day basis: The annual basis used to quote the simple annualized yield, 365 or 366.

The bank discount yield output uses a different base: the discount is divided by face value and annualized on a 360-day year. That mirrors the discount-rate convention often associated with bills, but it is not the same return base as BEY.

The holding period return is the unannualized gain from purchase to maturity. It is useful when you care about the actual gain over the bill term rather than the annual quote.

According to FINRA, a Treasury bill is a non-interest-bearing zero-coupon debt security, and yield is the return earned on a bond expressed as an annual percentage rate.

For coupon income compared with market price, the Bond Current Yield Calculator uses the annual-interest approach that BEY intentionally avoids.

These terms keep the calculation clear when a quote sheet shows several yield numbers for the same bill.

A small difference can matter when you compare cash products. A CD APY, a money-market fund yield, a bank discount yield, and a BEY may all be annual-looking numbers, but their bases are not identical.

For internal notes, label the convention beside the rate. Writing 4.09% BEY is clearer than writing 4.09% yield when the same bill may also show a lower discount rate.

If a quote changes by a few bps, the Basis Point Calculator converts that move before you rerun the BEY scenario.

Use the Bond Equivalent Yield Calculator with one bill or discount-security quote, then keep face value and price on the same scale.

1. 1 Enter face value: Use the maturity amount, such as $1,000, $10,000, or $100 if you are working from price-per-100 quotes.
2. 2 Enter purchase price: Use the discounted amount paid for that same face value, excluding unrelated account balances.
3. 3 Add days to maturity: Use actual calendar days from settlement to maturity, not weeks rounded to a rough month count.
4. 4 Choose day basis: Use 365 for a normal annual basis or 366 when your source uses a leap-year basis.
5. 5 Compare the outputs: Read BEY for the purchase-price return, discount yield for the face-value convention, and dollar discount for actual interest.

If your brokerage quote says a 13-week bill costs $9,925 for $10,000 face value, enter 10000, 9925, 91 days, and 365. The output shows the annualized BEY and the $75 maturity discount before you compare that quote with another cash option.

When the quote starts from a discount-rate convention instead of a purchase price, the Discount Rate Calculator helps review that rate basis.

The Bond Equivalent Yield Calculator gives a consistent fixed-income worksheet for short discount securities before you commit cash.

• • Compares bill terms: A 4-week bill and a 26-week bill can be put on the same simple annual basis.
• • Separates conventions: BEY, holding-period return, and bank discount yield appear side by side.
• • Checks price quotes: Price per $100 face value helps reconcile full-dollar inputs with dealer-style quotes.
• • Shows dollar interest: The discount amount keeps the actual cash earned visible beside annualized rates.
• • Supports cash planning: The maturity value output keeps the expected repayment amount clear for ladder decisions.

Use the result as a quote comparison tool. It can tell you whether two short bills are close, but it does not decide whether the bill fits your liquidity needs, tax situation, or risk tolerance.

For a practical review, run the same bill twice if your source gives both a regular-year and leap-year basis. The difference is usually small, but documenting the basis avoids confusion later.

After you have a pre-tax yield, the Taxable Equivalent Yield Calculator helps compare tax-free municipal income with taxable alternatives.

BEY is sensitive to price, time, and convention. Small entry differences can change the annualized number.

• • This calculator limits days to maturity to 182 because the cited Treasury short-bill coupon-equivalent formula applies to bills of not more than one half-year to maturity.
• • It does not compound proceeds, model taxes, include bid-ask spreads, or estimate secondary-market sale proceeds before maturity.
• • It assumes the face value will be paid at maturity; credit risk and liquidity risk are outside the formula.

For Treasury bills longer than one half-year, Treasury calculation examples use a different equation. Use a product disclosure, broker yield tool, or a full fixed-income calculator when the maturity and cash-flow pattern fall outside this short-bill scope.

BEY can be useful for comparing quotations, but the actual investment decision may also depend on settlement timing, state tax treatment, account type, and whether you need cash before maturity.

According to U.S. Department of the Treasury, CMT yields are simple annualized bond-equivalent yields and Treasury security yields use actual day counts on a 365- or 366-day year basis.

For longer fixed-income positions where rate moves affect price, the Bond Convexity Calculator adds duration and convexity context.