US Savings Bonds

Archive for September, 2010

Question: How to you redeem/cash in US Savings Bonds if you only have a copy of the bonds? The orignals have been lost .

Answer: here is a link to that exact information

Question: What are the Relative RISK Levels?

Can you rate these Investment categories (lowest to highest risk?)
1. Savings Account & CD’s
2. Government Bonds
3. Corporate Bonds
4. REIT’s
5. Stock Exchange Index Funds
6. Mutual Funds
7. Stocks

Answer: Looks like you already have them ranked correctly given historical risk levels.

However, currently REIT’s have been on an unsustainable run and are behaving more like equities. The reason is because they are paying out a lot less income than historical levels. They normally have both bond (income) and stock (appreciation) qualities. Lately they have exhibited more stock (appreciation) qualities than bond (income) qualities.

One can also argue that Mutual Funds and index funds should be interchanged. This is because index funds give you the risk of the market. In theory, well managed Mutual Funds should give you less risk than their market benchmark and higher returns. However, most aren’t able to accomplish this feat because their internal expenses are too high.

Houston, Texas -Martin Luther King Oratory Competition.

Question: Do you complain about the national debt, and own any US Savings Bonds?

Just curious if there’s any hypocrites out there who own Savings Bonds, but complain about the national debt.

Answer: I do. I don’t think its hypocritical though. You cant control the government spending and by not buying T-bills or Savings Bonds you will not stop the government from spending. If you dont buy it then the next guy will.

With all of these banks failing and the economy being so bad you have to be smart about things and keep some money in a 100% safe investment. Sometimes you have to just realize some things will never change and you have to do whats best for yourself. You may think its hypocritical but I dont.