If you’re a millennial, there’s a decent chance you have a Series EE savings bond somewhere, tucked in a drawer, sitting in a safe deposit box, or half-forgotten in a folder your parents gave you years ago.
They were a common gift in the 1980s, 90s, and early 2000s. Safe, government-backed, and easy to buy, EE bonds were often positioned as a simple way to “start saving for the future.” The problem is that most people who received them never really learned how they work or what to do with them now.
This creates a surprisingly common financial loose end.
Series EE bonds earn interest at a fixed rate and are guaranteed to double in value after 20 years. That guarantee is the key feature, but it also creates a timing issue. If you cash the bond too early, you may give up a meaningful portion of its value. If you hold it too long, it may stop earning interest altogether after 30 years.
So the first step is understanding what you actually have.
If your bonds are paper certificates, you can look up their current value using the Treasury’s online calculator. If they’re electronic, they’ll be visible in a TreasuryDirect account. Either way, you’re trying to answer three basic questions: What is this worth today? Has it already reached the 20-year doubling point? And what interest, if any, is it currently earning?
From there, the decision becomes more straightforward.
If a bond is approaching 20 years, it may make sense to hold it until it doubles. If it has already passed that mark, it’s worth evaluating whether it still fits into your broader financial picture. And if it’s nearing 30 years, the decision becomes more pressing—and more straightforward—because once it stops earning interest, there’s little reason to keep it.
There are also practical considerations. Interest is taxable at the federal level (though not state or local), and redeeming paper bonds can require a trip to a bank or conversion through TreasuryDirect.
None of this is especially complicated, but it is easy to ignore. And that can be the real issue.
EE bonds are a small example of a larger pattern: financial assets that were set up with good intentions but never fully integrated into a long-term plan. For many millennials, this likely includes not just savings bonds, but old retirement accounts from previous employers, inherited IRAs, or scattered investment accounts.
The goal isn’t to optimize every dollar, but it is important to bring clarity to what you already have.
Because in many cases, the question isn’t whether a savings bond is a good investment. It’s whether it still has a place in your financial life at all.