Suit yourself. There is no One Right Answer.

"Jeff P." <jeff_phil-NO[at]SPAM-yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:10iiuem59h3qn79[at]corp.supernews.com...
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"Scott Tyler" <agent_scotty-at-hotmail-dot-com> wrote in message
news:eRlsQqLiEHA.3016[at]tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
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Well, I do have my entire work history in my Microsoft Money file. However,
that only goes back to the mid 90's. I didn't record every nickle I got or
spent when I was a kid. I guess it doesn't make sense to setup accounts for
all these savings bonds purchased in the 80's when nothing else was recorded
until around 1996.

Someone mentioned entering the interest for every month over the course of
all those years. I would never have thought to consider going through that
much trouble. All of the interest is reported on the tax return of the year
they are cashed in anyway, so I couldn't see the point in doing all of that.

Shall I just enter it all as one big deposit with a split gift / interest
category, and call it good?

-Jeff

"Tagman" <Tagman_2000-at-hotmail-dot-com> wrote in message
news:OJSrUKLiEHA.3944[at]tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

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That may depend on how long a transaction history the original poster has.
In my case, my transaction history went back far enough to warrant the work
of entering the purchase transactions in the cash register as "Other
income:Gifts received", creating investments for all 59 savings bonds (71
bonds total, but some are multiple purchases of the same issue), then
entering the necessary supporting transactions. I update the interest
monthly by copying, pasting, and correcting as necessary the interest
transactions from 6 months prior, then verifying the current values against
the report in the Savings Bond Wizard.

If the original poster has a year or two of transactions in Money, and the
bonds he cashed are 10+ years old, all that work probably wouldn't be
warranted. As he probably didn't keep a journal for allowance received,
lawns mowed, newspapers delivered, shopping carts pushed, hamburgers
flipped, etc, it's not as though he would have the supporting data to create
a historically accurate Money file for the time period the bonds were
accruing interest.

--
Scott Tyler
agent_scotty-at-hotmail-dot-com

I guess my thinking is that the only historical dope worth obtaining
here--beyond accuracy for accuracy's sake--would require creating separate
investments for each dated bond (group) (e.g., $100 EE 2002-03). Then all
you'd get would be the return on that month's bond vs. others broken out.
I'll leave it to the OP to decide if that's worth the trouble it will take
to do it.

One other side effect worth noting: if these bonds are fairly old issue
dates, say upwards of 18 years or more based on the OPs scenario, and you
create investments and buy investment transactions back to the issue date of
the first bond, you'll now get 18 years worth of Monthly Reports in the
list. I offer that speaking as someone who has a bond investment "US $50 EE
Bond - 1985-04" with a transaction date of 4/1/1985 kicking around.

"Tagman" <Tagman_2000[at]hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:OJSrUKLiEHA.3944[at]tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
"Creating investments out of them at this point serves no purpose I
can see."

Other than historical accuracy...

"Creating investments out of them at this point serves no purpose I
can see."

Other than historical accuracy...


"Dick Watson" <littlegreengecko[at]mind-enufalready-spring.com> wrote in message news:u7t4q9JiEHA.2952[at]TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
If you've just cashed them in, I think I'd just enter a split deposit for
the total redemption amount with Other Income:Gifts for their purchase value
and Investment Income:Savings Bond Interest (or similar) for the difference
between redemption value and purchase value. You can use the latter for tax
purposes. Creating investments out of them at this point serves no purpose I
can see.

"Jeff P." <jeff_phil-NO[at]SPAM-yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:10ihoh75hlcg4d1[at]corp.supernews.com...
- quote -

If you've just cashed them in, I think I'd just enter a split deposit for
the total redemption amount with Other Income:Gifts for their purchase value
and Investment Income:Savings Bond Interest (or similar) for the difference
between redemption value and purchase value. You can use the latter for tax
purposes. Creating investments out of them at this point serves no purpose I
can see.

"Jeff P." <jeff_phil-NO[at]SPAM-yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:10ihoh75hlcg4d1[at]corp.supernews.com...
- quote -

I would enter each bond under a generic bond investment with the basis value when purchased offset to a gift account.
Calculate the interest earned each year using the savings bond wizard and input an entry (monthly or annually).
Generate a sale entry when cashed.
Report you interest for income tax purposes.

"Jeff P." <jeff_phil-NO[at]SPAM-yahoo.com> wrote in message news:10ihoh75hlcg4d1[at]corp.supernews.com...
I had a relative that gave me US savings bonds when I was a kid for
Christmas and birthdays. Now they got all got cashed in towards college. I'm
wandering how other people would record this in Microsoft Money. Options
are:

1. Just record the total amount of all of them cashed in as a deposit 'gift
received' from this individual in my checking account, and forget about
breaking it down for each individual bond.

2. Create an investment account. Add investments seperately for each savings
bond. Record the interest income categorized seperately from purchase price,
and consider the purchase price a gift received from this relative dated
back to the purchase date of each bond.

3. Create an investment account but add only one investment called "US
Savings Bonds from So-and-So", and record each bond as a 'buy' transaction
against that same investment. This keeps the interest and purchase price
categorized seperately, but consolidates all of them into a single
investment to avoid unnecessairly filling up the list in Microsoft Money.

I suppose it really doesn't make any difference. But, I'm just wandering
what would you all do?

-Jeff

I had a relative that gave me US savings bonds when I was a kid for
Christmas and birthdays. Now they got all got cashed in towards college. I'm
wandering how other people would record this in Microsoft Money. Options
are:

1. Just record the total amount of all of them cashed in as a deposit 'gift
received' from this individual in my checking account, and forget about
breaking it down for each individual bond.

2. Create an investment account. Add investments seperately for each savings
bond. Record the interest income categorized seperately from purchase price,
and consider the purchase price a gift received from this relative dated
back to the purchase date of each bond.

3. Create an investment account but add only one investment called "US
Savings Bonds from So-and-So", and record each bond as a 'buy' transaction
against that same investment. This keeps the interest and purchase price
categorized seperately, but consolidates all of them into a single
investment to avoid unnecessairly filling up the list in Microsoft Money.

I suppose it really doesn't make any difference. But, I'm just wandering
what would you all do?

-Jeff