Savings Bonds?!?! Help Me!!!

Question

My mom gave me my saving bonds for my high school graduation. And none of them have reached their maturity yet, if i were to cash them in right now. Would I get the interest amount or the value amount?!?! Please help, I need to cash them in for college.

Answer 1

Bonds are highly liquid assets, meaning they can be easily sold and bought from the markets. You don't have to wait until they mature, you can sell them anytime you want. But if you do decide to sell them now, you may not get the exact face value amount. It depends on if your bond is trading, as we call, "at par", "at discount", or "at premium". If you want to know exactly how much your bonds are worth, the variables you need to look at are the interest (coupon) amount, face value, time to maturity, and yield to maturity.

You can do a whole course on this topic area, but in a nutshell if you sell them, you should be able to get ROUGHLY the face value amount, give or take a few dollars for each bond.

Answer 2

Savings bonds are sold at a discount to face value.  When they mature you receive face value, but you can keep accruing interest for a period of 30 years.  You can go to the U S Treasury web site to find out the current value of your bonds.  If you cash them in prior to holding them 1 year you receive no interest.  If you cash them in prior to holding them 5 years, you forfeit 3 months interest. Go here to access the bond value calculator at the bottom of the page.

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/tool...

You can cash them in at your local bank.