Does anybody know about these? My son has receive some when he was born, he is 12 now. I have them saved away for him. How much will they be worth when they mature? I have been looking online, but am confused with all the information out there.
Does anybody have an easy explanation on this. If they are 50$ bonds(EE)are they only worth 50$ when they are matured, or worth more?

By Amecmom on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 10:33 am:

They are worth $50 plus any interest that has accrued after the bond has reached it's maturity date.
Ame

By Jackie on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 11:55 am:

I finally found a online calculator to find out how much they are worth.

By Hol on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 12:29 pm:

If they are EE bonds, they continue to earn interest for thirty years AFTER maturity. DH and I have many that we accumulated through a payroll deduction in the military. We have put them in a safe deposit box for our retirement. Kind of emergency money. You don't pay interest on them until you cash them in, and then only Federal income tax. They are exempt from state income tax.

My late mother-in-law used to buy them for my older DK's for birthday, Christmas and other occassions. I held on to them and gave them to them when they left home. It was a nice little nest egg to give them.

One word of advice...if anyone buys them for a child, put the child's social security number on them. If you put your's, you end up paying the income tax when they are cashed. I just bought another one for my grandaughter's birthday. I had left her SS# home in my address book, so I had to put her mother's (my DD) on it.

By Jackie on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 01:34 pm:

Hol..thanks for letting me know. All the bonds have mine ss number on it. I had no idea. See, you learn something new everyday.

By Jackie on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 01:34 pm:

Hol..thanks for letting me know. All the bonds have mine ss number on it. I had no idea. See, you learn something new everyday.

By Vicki on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 01:54 pm:

If you put your's, you end up paying the income tax when they are cashed.


Unless something has changed, that isn't true. I worked in a bank and sold these for years. You can put your ss# on them with another persons name as the owner. It is when they are cashed in that the bank will get the ss # of the owner of the bond and that is what goes on the tax form. The owner is who pays the tax.

By Vicki on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 01:55 pm:

Here is more info:


I'd like to buy a savings bond as a gift. What if I don't know the owner's Social Security Number?

If you don't know the Social Security number of the bond recipient and you are buying a paper savings bond, you may use your own. The Social Security Number printed on the paper savings bond does not establish tax liability or ownership. It is used only to find records if the savings bond is lost, stolen, or destroyed, should the owner not have a record of the serial number.

On paper savings bonds issued or replaced starting August 1, 2006, the first five digits of your Social Security number or Employer Identification number will be masked and replaced with asterisks. This is being done to protect your privacy and to prevent the information from being used for identity theft.

To purchase an electronic savings bond as a gift, the TreasuryDirect account holder needs to know the recipient's full name and Social Security Number and/or taxpayer ID number. The gift bond is placed in the account holder's "Gift Box" until the account holder obtains the TreasuryDirect account number of the recipient and is ready to transfer the bond into the recipient's account. The gift recipient will then receive an e-mail announcing the transfer of the bond.

By Hol on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 04:20 pm:

Thanks, Vicki. Very interesting! The woman at the bank here this week must have been misinformed because she told me that since I put my DD's SS# on it, and not DGD's that SHE would be liable for the taxes. The way that you describe it makes more sense. What if the gifter is deceased? That's what happened with my kids' bonds. My MIL had put HER SS# on their bonds because she bought them through payroll deduction at work. By the time I gave them their bonds, my MIL had passed away.