first time user [ US Savings Bonds]

Big Bill

have 100 savings bonds to track and trying to enter them into quicken - having trouble following instructions - clicking on investing but can not find the security list - is that under another tab - found something under tools but then there is not something that shows new - am I in the wrong starting place

GeoffG

You might want to consider entering these all as one Savings Bond and track the value in one of the mobile/web apps instead. SB values do not update in Quicken like stock quotes so there is no benefit to tracking them individually and the marginal value increase is tedious when manually updating that many bonds. Updated values from a seperate app can be updated in Quicken from time-to-time showing the bond growth.

UKR

At the bottom of the Security List, accessible from the Tools Menu, there's a button "Add Security"

Big Bill

Thanks GeoffG for your response - I was advised that Quicken would take cake cake of my issue and thus I purchased the software for that issue - since Treasury Direct took all that away from us many years ago. Since the bonds will be maturing over the next 10 years I might just build a manual spreadsheet myself and although it might not be to the penny it will be close enough and when they have matured - hopefully treasury direct will still have a factor for every to use and determine the full maturity

Big Bill

UKR - you can only use that if you are using it for a stock symbol

volvogirl

I know.  I miss the Saving Bond Wizard! The Treasury now has an online list you can enter them into.  I entered my friends bonds, she only has 30.  But I have hundreds so I don't know if I want to enter all mine.  I just keep a total on Quicken and used to add an increase to it every 6 months or year.  

Tom Young

@Big Bill

No, that's not correct.   Although Quicken asks for a ticker symbol, because most people's portfolios are full of "exchanged traded" securities, down at the bottom of the page that asks for the ticker there's a "Click here" link that allows you to set up a security without a ticker symbol.

You'll use that link 100 times.

UKR

Big Bill said:

UKR - you can only use that if you are using it for a stock symbol

That's odd. If I go through the manual process of adding a security,

I will eventually get to "Security Type". Using "Bond" or "US Savings Bond" and filling out the remainder of the form should do it.

Since I don't own any bonds, I can't give you more details. Somebody else who does might chime in with a better explanation.
All I'm saying is: It can be done in Quicken.

volvogirl

Treasury Savings Bonds Calculator

https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/tools/tools_savingsbondcalc.htm 

Here's my old notes for Quicken.......

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-unlike corporate, Treasury, or municipal bonds, which are tracked according to share values derived from the bond's face amount.

For a savings bond, you enter:

Number of bonds you bought (or own). 

Cost per bond (not the total cost of all bonds). 

So remember you enter the COST not the face value.

How to Add a Bond

1. Choose Investing menu > Security List, and then click New. 

2. 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. 

3. Click Add manually. 

4. In the Security Type list, select U.S. Savings Bond. 

5. 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. 

volvogirl

Glad you asked about Savings bonds.  I decided to use the Treasury online calculator.  I started entering my bonds into it.  Not too bad.  Then you can save your bonds as a html file to call it up again to update it.  I have my bonds broken up into EE and I bonds. 

I have my bonds in Quicken under Property & Debt.  I didn't start out using Investing.    Then when i update the values I just enter the increase in value (I put it in Deferred Interest).  When I enter the amount I type "the new value - the prior Q value" like 51,000-49,000.  Or you can subtract it first and enter the net amount.  

Ps56k2

Big Bill said:   ... since Treasury Direct took all that away from us many years ago. Since the bonds will be maturing over the next 10 years I might just build a manual spreadsheet myself

I was using the Savings Bond Wizard - from the Tres Dept - but they archived that.

HOWEVER - they migrated to an online browser based calculator, where you enter all your Savings Bond info, and it keeps track of all the dates, rates, maturities. 

It is then up to YOU, to save the webpage data in HTML - and reload it merely by clicking on it to get any updated info - twice a year -

https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/tools/tools_savingsbondcalc.htm