i bonds oh my

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Just a heads up because i was curious I have i bonds from a few years ago it's paying like 4.17% and 3.73% right now. My secret stash EF is growing like crazy for something so safe and out of sight and out of mind. I have $60k bought over 3 years for DH and I $10k a year I believe I bought in 2017, 2018, and 2019. I have a fixed rate of 0.3% and 0.5% and 0.1%

[disneysteve]

The rate on new I bonds is 3.45% I believe as of May 1. I'm actually thinking about buying some before the end of the month.

[Like2Plan]

Just a heads up because i was curious I have i bonds from a few years ago it's paying like 4.17% and 3.73% right now. My secret stash EF is growing like crazy for something so safe and out of sight and out of mind. I have $60k bought over 3 years for DH and I $10k a year I believe I bought in 2017, 2018, and 2019. I have a fixed rate of 0.3% and 0.5% and 0.1%

Nice!

[disneysteve]

Does anyone know if there's a way to transfer paper bonds into your Treasury Direct account?

Never mind. Google answered the question for me.

https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/smartexchangeinfo.htm

[kork13]

Yeah, I'm also looking at potentially moving some of my EF back to I-Bonds now that our financial life is more stable again. With interest rates so low, it only makes sense anyway, since they're paying ~7x what my savings account is right now. Of course that'll change, but they've almost always been better or at least comparable to high-yield savings rates.

[Like2Plan]

Does anyone know if there's a way to transfer paper bonds into your Treasury Direct account?

Never mind. Google answered the question for me.

https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv...changeinfo.htm

Google is a champ!

I transferred all our paper bonds several years ago. I made copies of all the bonds before I shipped them off--just in case. (I sent them certified.)

The last batch I mailed on Feb 2, 2017, were received by TD on Feb 6, 2017 and I think they showed up in my account about a month later. (It's been a while and I didn't write that date down).

Treasury Direct is a very clunky web site, but it is much easier to keep track of the value of the bonds there (instead of paper). It is also a piece of cake to redeem them if you have a bank account linked.

[james.hendrickson]

Google is a champ!

I transferred all our paper bonds several years ago. I made copies of all the bonds before I shipped them off--just in case. (I sent them certified.)

The last batch I mailed on Feb 2, 2017, were received by TD on Feb 6, 2017 and I think they showed up in my account about a month later. (It's been a while and I didn't write that date down).

Treasury Direct is a very clunky web site, but it is much easier to keep track of the value of the bonds there (instead of paper). It is also a piece of cake to redeem them if you have a bank account linked.

I miss paper savings bonds - it was nice to drop the $25 and then get the paper bond in the mail. Something about the paper felt more real and more concrete.

[disneysteve]

Treasury Direct is a very clunky web site, but it is much easier to keep track of the value of the bonds there (instead of paper).

It's very easy to keep track of the value of your paper bonds. You enter all of the numbers and then you can save the report. I have it saved on my desktop. All I have to do is open that file and it takes me back to the website and I get the updated values. I do that every month or so when I update my spreadsheet.

[Like2Plan]

I miss paper savings bonds - it was nice to drop the $25 and then get the paper bond in the mail. Something about the paper felt more real and more concrete.

I liked the paper bonds, too. But, I participated in payroll savings (plus so did DH) so we had quite a few bonds

I discovered a neat little trick where they would back date the bond to when you paid 50% of the purchase price. I don't know if they still do that. But, I switched to a higher denomination of bond and paid for 50% of the purchase price each pay day. So, if the pay dates fell right I could get another 1 month's worth of interest out of the bond. I'm not sure how they handle it now that it is all electronic.

But, if you like paper savings bonds you can actually still get paper savings bonds as a refund on your taxes. (It is also a way to buy an additional 5,000 worth of savings bonds in addition to the limits treasury direct puts on buying electronic bonds).

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8888.pdf

https://www.irs.gov/refunds/using-your-income-tax-refund-to-save-by-buying-us-savings-bonds

https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/articles/res_invest_articles_purchaselimits_0406.htm

[Like2Plan]

It's very easy to keep track of the value of your paper bonds. You enter all of the numbers and then you can save the report. I have it saved on my desktop. All I have to do is open that file and it takes me back to the website and I get the updated values. I do that every month or so when I update my spreadsheet.

It sounds like you have a good solution.

[disneysteve]

It sounds like you have a good solution.

Well I can't take credit for it. It's their built-in solution. Works perfectly.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I had no idea how to redeem my i bonds i Just stuck money in and figured in an emergency well i'd figure it out. Guess I'll hook up my bank account. I sort of like knowing we have an unaccessible EF. DH probably might flip out that i did it but then if we ever needed it he'd be happy.

[Like2Plan]

Well I can't take credit for it. It's their built-in solution. Works perfectly.

I hate to admitting to being this old, but I've gone through several iterations of software (going back to 1984) to keep track of our bonds (each time typing in all the serial numbers etc). They used to have very rudimentary software (not excel) that you could import the earned interest every 6 months to update. We had several hundred bonds so I felt like I needed to keep them in a safe deposit box, so there was an annual expense there. (I know the bonds can be replaced, but it would have been a real day ruin-er to have to go through the process on that many bonds). The first chance I got, I converted to the electronic platform (except for about a year's worth of bonds--which I finally converted a few years ago).

[Like2Plan]

I had no idea how to redeem my i bonds i Just stuck money in and figured in an emergency well i'd figure it out. Guess I'll hook up my bank account. I sort of like knowing we have an unaccessible EF. DH probably might flip out that i did it but then if we ever needed it he'd be happy.

It is a little trickier if you don't hook up your bank account when you first establish the treasury direct account. (They don't want someone to just go on line and change the bank account info). But, are you sure you don't already have a bank account associated with it--or do you make your iBond purchases from treasury direct?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

it appears to be on there. i am very happy.