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United States Savings Bonds – An Insight
Introduction
The need to encourage a larger section of the citizens to build up their savings and also to develop a reservoir to fund the government’s borrowing needs, led the US government to develop lucrative schemes such as the United States Savings Bonds.
Widely regarded as one of the safest forms of investments in the US, these savings bonds are basically the debt securities issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, offered in a series of categories and denominations.
Key Benefits
There are a host of benefits that are associated with the purchase of the United States savings bonds.
The most important benefit of this form of investment in the US is that it is the safest way to secure and earn from your savings, the bonds being fully backed by the faith and credit of the U.S. government.
In addition to this, the federal taxes on the interest amount that is earned can be deferred until the buyer cashes in the bond, or alternatively, stops paying the interest at maturity. The United States savings bonds are also exempt from the state and local taxes, helping you save further.
Moreover, since these bonds are registered with the U.S. Treasury’s Bureau of Public Debt, they can be easily replaced in case the bonds get lost, stolen, mutilated or even destroyed.
Categories of US Saving Bonds
There are three main categories of US Saving Bonds that are currently being issued, though these categories might be subject to change form time to time.
Below we’ve included a brief description of each one of these.
a) Series EE Bonds – This category of the United States savings bonds are purchased at a price, half to that of the face value. The government allows the investor to purchase only bonds worth $5,000 up to face value in a given calendar year. The value of the EE bonds further increases in accordance with the interest that accumulates. Such bonds also pay an interest for a period of 30 years and upon maturity, the investor is paid the original investments along with the amount of interest that has accrued.
b) Series HH Bonds – This type of bonds can only be purchased in exchange for the Series EE or E bonds, Savings Notes or with the proceeds from a matured Series HH bond. Purchased at their face value in the denominations of $500 to $10,000, these bonds carry no upper limit. However they don’t increase in value and have a maturity period of 20 years in all.
c) Series I Bonds – These bonds are sold at face value and grow with inflation-indexed earnings for a period up to 30 years. Moreover, these bonds also have an upper limit of $5,000 that can be bought in a particular calendar year.
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