Among many other investment options, most people want to invest their money in savings bonds. This is also great for those people who just want to have a stable and steady income source. Basically, most savings bonds offer around 7.75 interest on the money that you invest in the savings bond.
Learn the current value of your paper bonds effortlessly with these simple steps
- Access the Savings Bond Calculator home page and click on the ‘Get Started’ link.
- Select the right series of numbers and denominations of your paper bond from your drop-down boxes.
- Input the issue date, ensuring the two-digit months (e.g., 01, 12) and four-digit years (e.g., 1985 or 2001).
- Click the ‘Calculate’ button to unveil the current worth of your paper bond.
For managing your paper bonds efficiently
- Repeat the above steps for each paper bond to build an organized inventory.
- The Calculator will automatically update your inventory, adding each new paper bond to the top of the list.
To explore the past or future values of your paper bonds
- Adjust the ‘Value as of’ date to your desired timeline.
- Click ‘Update,’ and witness your inventory reflecting the values of your paper bonds as of the specified date.
If you encounter unfamiliar terms in the calculator
- Bond Serial Number: Located in the lower right corner, it aids in record-keeping.
- ‘Value as of’ Date: The default shows current values, but you can change it to any month from January 1996 onwards.
- Series: Identifies the type of paper savings bond (EE, I, E).
- Denomination: The face value in the upper left corner.
- Issue Date: The month and year of issuance on the right side.
- Bonds: Total number entered into the inventory.
- Total Price: Sum of money paid for the paper bonds in the inventory.
- Total Interest: Combined interest accrued by the listed bonds up to the ‘Value as of’ date.
- Total Value: The cash value of the paper bonds in the inventory as of the specified date.
- YTD Interest: Year-to-date interest accumulated by the bonds in the inventory.
- Issue Price: Cost of each paper bond in the inventory.
- Interest: The interest accumulated by each paper bond from its Issue Date to the ‘Value as of’ date.
Additionally, learn about special bond designations
- NI: Not Issued
- NE. Not Eligible for Payment
- P5. Three-month interest penalty for bonds issued May 1997 or later, cashed before five years old.
- MA. Matured bond, not earning interest (applicable from September 2004 onwards).
Save your inventory for quick updates
- Use your browser’s saving function by clicking ‘Save’ in the results area.
- Save as an “HTML Only” file for future reference.
Encounter issues loading saved inventory?
- Click the ‘Update’ button to restore your inventory in the Savings Bond Calculator.
Annual reporting to the IRS
- Utilize the calculator’s YTD interest feature to report annual interest.
- Enter December of the tax year in the ‘Value as of’ box to find the accrued interest for that year in the ‘YTD Interest’ box.
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