Investing in a United States Savings Bond is one of the best ways to invest your money. These US Savings Bonds allow the purchaser to earn interest on them for up to 30 years. Because of this, the question arises, when should you cash your US Savings Bonds? Well the answer is actually different depending on each individual’s situation.
Since US Savings Bonds will continue to earn interest for up to 30 years, that seems like the natural time to cash them. 30 years actually is the best time to do so, but this of course can only happen in certain situations. If you do not need the money, and you are fine surviving with other money you have in your savings account and cash, then leave the bonds in there. You won’t earn the same type of interest dividends in the bank or anyplace else really, except maybe mutual funds or the stock market. If you’re financially able to, leave your US Savings Bonds alone for the full 30 years, then cash them for some nice income.
The minimum amount to hold onto them I would say is about 10 years. For example, a $100 savings bond is really purchased for $50, but in order to get the full face value of the bond of $100, the bond must be 10 years old. For this reason, I’d recommend holding onto them for at least 10 years if possible, in order to get the face value of the bond.
Another good time to cash your bonds is of course if you need the money. If you need the money for expenses such as college tuition, etc then that would be a good time to cash them, but if you could use other money that isn’t earning as much interest, I would hold onto the bonds if at all possible.
You can check the current value of bonds online through the United States Treasury’s website. A simple Google search(Since I cannot post links in the article) of US Savings Bonds, or US Savings Bonds calculator should bring it up as the first result. From there, you type in information about the bond, and it tells you how much interest has been earned, and what the current value of the bond is. I actually have another article further explaining how this process works, so be sure to check that out for some more detailed information about this process.