However, the nominal rate is often less than what youd see with the best online savings accounts. For example, if the bond is purchased as a gift, a gift tax applies. Barbara A. Friedberg, MS, MBA is a former portfolio manager and university investments instructor. If you cash them out during the first five years, you forfeit three months of interest payments. If you hold a bond in electronic form, log in to TreasuryDirect to find the value. Series EE bonds issued since May 2005 accrue interest at a fixed monthly rate, which is compounded semi-annually. Find a personal loan in 2 minutes or less. Savings Bond Calculator Help. The U.S. Treasury stopped issuing most paper savings bonds in 2012, but they never expire and theres no deadline to redeem them. These low-risk financial investments pay interest for 30 years or until encashed, whichever is early. If you choose to report interest to the IRS annually, check out the Calculator's YTD Interest feature. EE Bonds may be purchased by U.S. citizens, official U.S. residents, minors, and all U.S. government employeesregardless of their citizenship status. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Interest for the first 6 months = [(Annual Interest Rate/2) x Original Bond Value], New Bond Value (after 6 months) = Interest for the first 6 months + Original Bond Value, Interest for the next 6 months = New Bond Value after 6 months x (Annual Interest Rate/2), New Bond Value (after 1 year) = Interest for the next 6 months + New Bond Value after 6 months, A = Final bond value at end of a specified period. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Divide the annual interest rate in half and multiply it by the original bond value. Series EE savings bonds can be redeemed a year from purchase, but you won't see the same level of returns if you cash in your bond before it matures in 20 years. The Calculator will add each new paper bond to the top of your inventory listing. It reports the amount of interest your paper bonds have accrued from the start of a year through the date you enter in the "Value as of" section. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence. Series EE bonds purchased between 1997 and 2005 earned a variable rate of interest. Brian Beers is the managing editor for the Wealth team at Bankrate. The Series EE Bond (often referred to as a "Patriot Bond") is a non-marketable, interest-bearing U.S. government savings bond. Accrual savings bonds included in the dataset were issued as far back as 1941. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories, except where prohibited by law for our mortgage, home equity and other home lending products.