Money in the Bank

The Loonie is on the Canadian dollar coin, and a few Loonies here and there can buy a lot of Canadian savings bonds over time.

Unbeknownst to me, the Loonie was not adopted wholeheartedly by Canadians in its early years. People don’t like change, in more ways than one. Not me, I loved it right from the start. I emptied my change into a jar every night and once a year I’d roll it up and buy Canada Savings Bonds for my son’s education. His savings grew massively with the advent of the Loonie, and again nine years later with the Twoonie.

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Read more from this blogger: Happy birthday Loonie!

Is a Patriot Bond any different than a Savings Bond?

How much money has been raised from Patriot Bonds since 9/11? And has any of that money been spent or is the President waiting to use those funds to fund the WAR ON TERROR if Congress cuts off funding?

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Read more from this blogger: Patriot Bonds?

From a review of The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing, this bit on savings bonds.

This chapter talks about ways to guarantee that the money you put away will beat inflation, via I-bonds (savings bonds that earn about 1.5% plus whatever inflation is) and treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS; similar to I-bonds - they earn a little more but are less flexible). If you’re really conservative and just want to beat inflation over the long term, these are a great way to go.

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Read more from this blogger: The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing: Chapters 1 - 8

These savings bonds were worth more than just money.

While digging around in some of my old files this afternoon, I found two $25 savings bonds that were issued to me when I was a baby. They’re from January 1974 and November 1975, so they’ve both reached their 30-year maturity.

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Read more from this blogger: Savings Bonds

This honest homeless man returned 31 U.S. savings bonds he found.

He was rewarded with $100 from the owners of the bonds, but despite that heartless giving, the community of Michigan rallied around the homeless man and poured in around $4500 and a job lead. Mr. Moore, used the money to find an apartment, and hopefully he is having a wonderful Christmas Season.

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Read more from this blogger: Homeless Man Finds Best Reward is Honesty

Financial planning should include the unexpected, and savings bonds can help when the unexpected happens.

First, you must have an emergency fund. A six month emergency fund is the best thing you can possibly have for your family. It’s more important than a big lump in retirement or a nice mutual fund balance. It needs to be safe (meaning you have little or no risk of losing the balance) and it needs to be easily accessible when you need it. Some options for this include savings bonds or a high-yield savings account.

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Read more from this blogger: When Careful Financial Planning Goes Awry

Savings bonds make a good gift.

It’s educational. If done well, a gift of a savings bond can be quite educational. They can teach the power of interest and also demonstrate how investments work in a simple way that children can grasp. I particularly like using the savings bond calculator to see how much a few savings bonds I received in my childhood are worth - and sort of worried that some of them are about to stop earning money, because it means I’m getting old.

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Read more from this blogger: The Ups and Downs of Giving Savings Bonds as Gifts