First Step Completed

This morning I took my stack of 140 U.S. Savings Bonds to the bank in order to cash them in. I showed them to one of the customer service representatives and asked her if I really had to sign and fill out the address on every one of them. She told me I only had to fill in the address block on one, but I had to sign the rest and then take them to one of the tellers. She pointed out a desk where I could sit and sign my name. It took me about half an hour to sign my name 140 times. My signature was beginning to look like a scrawl half way through the process.

 

When I finally finished signing, I went to a teller's window. I was fortunate that there was just one person in line when I walked up. I explained to the teller that I wanted to deposit the money in my money market account. She said she needed my drivers license. Then she started entering each bond into the computer. It took her more than two hours to complete the task. I took a seat in the lobby. I was feeling terribly guilty because I had taken one of the tellers out of commission. The lines became very long. People would walk up to the teller, and she had to tell them to wait for someone else.

 

Approximately ten years ago I downloaded a program from the Federal Reserve Bank that calculates the value of U.S. Savings Bonds. I kept getting updates to the interest rates. I had the printout from this program with me to compare to the actual amount the bank gave me. When the teller finally called me back to the window, she handed me a deposit slip. I compared the amount to what my program had calculated. The amounts matched down to the last cent. I had not cashed any savings bonds since the 1970's. Back then the banks had printed tables that they used to calculate the value of the bonds. Individuals could order the tables from the government, but there was no convenient way to verify that you were getting the correct amount for the bonds. Personal computers and the Internet have made it much easier to manage personal finances.

 

My whole morning was consumed by the bond cashing. I did not get to make my phone calls until the afternoon. The realtor was busy when I called. She finally returned my call. She is going to have the photographer come out to take pictures of the house next Tuesday. Then we moved our meeting up to August 21 to give me an updated market analysis and take the final steps.