The Best Gift My Son Received

My son is 10 years old right now. He’s received all kinds of gifts in his entire 10 years of life.

He’s gotten money, toys, clothes, frames, coins for his coin collection, art supplies, gift cards, bikes, all kinds of things.

I would say the best gift he’s ever gotten was when he was 1 or 2 years old – it was Savings Bonds. He got 3 $50 and 1 $100 Series EE U.S. Savings Bonds. (I have to remember to say thank you to my friends that gave them to him)

You know how it goes, most of the gifts he was given are long gone. He does have about $1700 in a regular savings account that earns a bit of interest but I just love this gift idea of a savings bond.

What are they? Paper EE Bonds are sold at half their face value. You can purchase them in denominations of $50, $75, $100, $200, $500, $1,000, and $5,000, and $10,000. If you buy a $50 bond, it’ll cost you $25 today but will not be worth face value until it’s matured. There is a $5,000 maximum purchase in one calendar year.

If you redeem EE/E Bonds in the first 5 years, you’ll forfeit the 3 most-recent months’ interest. If you redeem them after 5 years, you won’t be penalized.

How cool is it that you can give a paper EE Bond that has $50 and you paid $25?!

There’s so much more to these savings bonds so if you’re interested in purchasing bonds online or in learning more about them, here’s a look at treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/ebonds/res_e_bondsEE Savings Bonds in depth.

I met a mom in my son’s class who has twin boys. She was telling me that for her boys’ birthdays, her family always gives them money or savings bonds for their college fund. She was saying how the boys don’t think it’s a big deal when they open the presents from them. I think they’ll appreciate it when they don’t have to start paying on a student loan. What do you think?