Savings Bond Calculator

Savings bonds are long-term investments with maturities of up to 30 years. They come in one of two types: EE and I. Both types of savings bonds may be sold 12 months after purchase, but if sold before year five, investors will lose three months' worth of interest. They pay a lump sum upon cashing out instead of ongoing interest payments. Unlike other types of government securities, savings bonds cannot be resold or traded.

Calculating EE bonds

EE bonds guarantee to double your money if held for 20 years, and their maturity may be extended to 30 years. They can be bought in penny increments from $25 to $10,000 per year per Social Security number.

New EE bonds are only issued electronically, but it's possible to have been issued a paper bond between 1980 and 2012. If you've purchased EE bonds electronically, the best way to see their value is to log in to the TreasuryDirect account through which you bought the bonds.

If you're holding on to a paper EE savings bond (perhaps you received it as a gift) and aren't sure what to do with it, head to TreasuryDirect to calculate the value of your paper savings bond.

To use this TreasuryDirect calculator, you'll need to know your bond's Series (in this case, EE), denomination ($50, $75, $100, etc.), and issue date. The calculator will then provide the bond's value as of the specified date.

We'll also note that if you're looking for a way to calculate the value of your paper Savings Bonds, only use the calculator linked above. TreasuryDirect has issued warnings that scams will try to collect birth certificate information in exchange for access to bonds owed to you with false TreasuryDirect calculators. Users should ensure they're on TreasuryDirect's website when redeeming paper bond value information^[0]

Calculating I bonds

I bonds can be purchased in amounts from $25 up to $10,000 in electronic bonds and $5,000 in paper bonds per year. They differ from EE bonds in that they earn an interest rate that adjusts for inflation.