Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions.
Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers.
Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information.
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey.
Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers.
We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money.
Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service.
Dear Dr. Don,
I have $4,000 in Series EE savings bonds purchased June 8, 1992. What are they worth today? Each savings bond is a $100 face value bond.
— Emma Evaluates
Dear Emma,
Because paper savings bonds are sold for half of their face value, I’m not sure if you have $4,000 in face value of Series EE savings bonds, or you invested $4,000 in such bonds — which would give you $8,000 in face value. I’m going to assume the former, but the tools provided in the answer will allow you to calculate the value either way.
You can download the Savings Bond Wizard to calculate the current value of your bonds, or use the Savings Bond Calculator if you’d prefer not to download the Wizard.
I used both methods to arrive at the results for $4,000 in face value of Series EE savings bonds, as shown in the table below. The key difference is that the wizard will show you the yield to date, while the calculator doesn’t show that yield.
Series EE savings bond totals
|
Series
|
EE
|
|
Denomination
|
$4,000 |
|
Issue date
|
June 1992 |
|
Next accrual
|
December 2009 |
|
Final maturity
|
June 2022 |
|
Issue price
|
$2,000 |
|
Interest
|
$2,956.80 |
|
Interest rate
|
4 percent |
|
Yield
|
5.41 percent |
|
Value
|
$4,956.80 |
You’re currently earning 4 percent on these bonds and your yield to date has been 5.41 percent. If you’re thinking about redeeming the bonds, wait until their next interest accrual date, which is Dec. 1. The TreasuryDirect Web page “When Interest is Added to Your Bonds” explains why you should wait.
Bankrate’s content, including the guidance of its advice-and-expert columns and this Web site, is intended only to assist you with financial decisions. The content is broad in scope and does not consider your personal financial situation. Bankrate recommends that you seek the advice of advisers who are fully aware of your individual circumstances before making any final decisions or implementing any financial strategy. Please remember that your use of this Web site is governed by Bankrate’s Terms of Use.
To ask a question of Dr. Don, go to the “Ask the Experts” page, and select one of these topics: “Financing a home,” “Saving & Investing” or “Money.” Read more Dr. Don columns for additional personal finance advice.
Share