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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

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.

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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.

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