Time to cash those old savings bonds?

#Middlebury #Seniors

Did you stash away savings bonds years ago? Do you know what they’re worth now?

While savings bonds used to be a great way to put money aside for the future, with the different interest rates and dates of maturity, it’s all too easy to forget they’re there. Paper bonds haven’t been issued for years; they’ve all gone electronic. But if you have paper bonds from long ago, there’s a good chance they’ve matured. A few things to consider:

Paper bonds can add interest over and above the face value until they’re finally mature, which is usually 30 years. If your paper bonds are very old, they could be worth much more than face value.

Cashing in the oldest bonds first is a mistake. They might still be earning great interest.

If you cash in a bond on the wrong day, you might be giving up six months of interest.

Since you pay federal taxes on the interest, cashing in too many at once can have tax consequences you might not expect.

If you have paper savings bonds, your best bet is savingsbonds.com. It has loads of information to help you get the most cash out of your bonds, plus a complimentary bond calculator. If you set up an account, it will track your bonds and give you their current values.

Perhaps its best feature is that it tells you the next time interest will be added. The last thing you want to do is cash in one right before the interest is posted. And it will warn you what interest you need to report on your taxes before you cash them in.

If you have paper bonds that you want to convert to electronic, you can do that too. Ask at your bank.

© 2018 King Features Synd. Inc.