How do I buy a bond? (U.S. Savings bond or EE)
The U.S. government issues Series EE bonds in various face-value denominations. Interest is paid only when a bond is redeemed. The interest from a Series EE bond is exempt from state and local taxes, and no federal tax is due until the bond is redeemed.
First, add the bond to your Security List
- Click the Investing tab.
- Click the Tools button, and choose Security List.
- Click New Security.
- Enter a meaningful name, such as US $1000-6% 01/24 for the purchase of a E/EE U.S. Savings bonds, with a face value of $1000 and a maturity date of 1/20/24. If you have more than one savings bond, make sure the name you enter here is unique. Click Next.
- Click Add manually.
- In the Security Type list, select U.S. Savings Bond.
- Click Next and follow the on-screen instructions. Quicken may not display all the fields described below, depending on the information you enter.
- Asset Class: Select Domestic Bond.
- Maturity Date: Enter the maturity date (the date on which the principal amount of a note, draft, acceptance bond or other debt instrument becomes due)
Second, record the bond purchase
To track your holdings, enter a Buy transaction in one of your Quicken investment accounts. When you do this, keep in mind that U.S. Savings Bonds are tracked according to their cost per single bond, so:
- Enter the number of bonds you bought (or own) in the Number of shares field.
- Enter the cost per bond (not the total cost of all bonds) in the Price paid field.
Example: If you bought a single paper bond with a face value of $50, you most likely paid $25 for it. You would enter 1 as the number of shares and $25 as the price paid.