Tracking I Series Savings Bonds
MARKFUNDO
Member ✭✭
How do people in this community track series I savings bonds? I opened an account, but it wants a security symbol. Was thinking about having a seperate "cash" type account for each bond.
What do you do and what is the best way you would recommend?
Thank You
What do you do and what is the best way you would recommend?
Thank You
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I created a brokerage account called "Treasury Direct". I created a Bond security for each I-Bond named "US Savings I-Bond $xxxx mm/yyyy, where $xxxx is the purchase amount and mm/yyyy is the purchase month and year. I leave the symbol blank.
I put a buy or move shares transaction for the appropriate number of shares in the Treasury Direct account. I set the initial share price to $xxxx on the purchase date. Then I update the share price manually each quarter based on the value shown on the Treasury Direct website.
Bonus: nice new feature in just released QMac 6.7: you can update the security price directly from the portfolio screen without having to open the security for edit.Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s4 -
Thank You. That was one way I was thinking about it last night to track. Just tried this morning as a CD and I think that will work also using the same account naming you suggested as it will allow me to track the interest over the life and make my reports for tax preparation easier.0
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Exactly what I was inquiring about....I'll try it out and see. Hopefully, I can get back and say thanks.0
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I've not done any investing other than auto-bank updated IRA's. I'm trying to follow this along to be able to allocate two iBonds (one for hubby, one for me) from funds in our checking account. I got as far as creating a Brokerage account "manually" with a sub under it called Treasury Direct. Was that correct? Now how do I create a Bond Security??? Once created with a zero balance, do I then just go to my checking account and designate it to the appropriate bond security? Thanks for any help, all!0
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@TDaleMagalia
There is no such thing as a sub account in Quicken, so I don't understand what you mean by "creating a Brokerage account "manually" with a sub under it called Treasury Direct". But let me start from the beginning step by step on how I did mine...
Create a Treasury Direct brokerage account: Click menu Accounts > New > Investments > Brokerage (or the + sign at the top of the sidebar). On the window that opens, click Continue without selecting a Financial Institution. You will be given only the option to Enter Transactions Manually. Click continue. Set the opening balance to zero and click Finish. Right click on "Brokerage" (the new account) in the sidebar, select Rename Account and change the name to Treasury Direct.
Create the Security: Click menu Window > Securities. Click the + sign at lower left corner and create the new I-Bond security like this:
Click Price History and enter the starting price like this:
Note: you could make the name and value something else, like $1000 for example. You would just purchase 10 of them instead of 1 of them if you were buying $10k worth.
Transfer funds for purchase from Checking Account: Create a transfer transaction from your checking account like this:
This will move $10k in cash from checking to Treasury Direct and Treasury Direct will show a $10k cash balance.
Purchase the Bonds in the Treasury Direct account: Create a Buy transaction in Treasury Direct like this:
Create similar transfer and buy transactions for your husband's bond. The Treasury Direct Portfolio will now reflect owning 2 shares of the $10k I-Bond (or 20 shares of a $1k I-Bond) like this:
When you go to treasurydirect.gov and get a new current value, simply add that as a new price entry on the bond security and your portfolio value will be up to date without having to enter any new transactions and history will be maintained via the series of price updates.
Hope that helps.
Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s7 -
RickO said:I don't understand what you mean by "creating a Brokerage account "manually" with a sub under it called Treasury Direct".
Quicken Mac subscription. Quicken user since 1990.
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Deleted...
Windows 11 (2 separate computers)..... Quicken Premier.. HAVE USED QUICKEN CONTINUOUSLY SINCE 1985.
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This is the Quicken for Mac Investing section. If you're using Quicken for Windows, you want to be in the Windows Investing forum.Quicken Mac subscription. Quicken user since 1990.
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THX....didn't notice it was a MAC post.... deleted my post...
Windows 11 (2 separate computers)..... Quicken Premier.. HAVE USED QUICKEN CONTINUOUSLY SINCE 1985.
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Thanks--once again you folks have understood exactly what I was asking (despite my lack of ability to express it well!) and given me the solution. Jon, you're exactly right in your assumption that I had no previous Brokerage account and that explained what I was seeing. And RickO, those steps (and screenshots) enabled me to understand and *do* what I needed to. It's all set up. Whew!!! I *never* would have been able to do that without this hands-on help (and so politely offered, too). Mahalo nui loa!1
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You're welcome.Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s0
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@RickO,
I looked at the brokerage account and your detailed approach, but have a question about consequences of that approach. By updating price to the Treasury Direct value, this will show as a capital gain when you sell it vs interest income if you use Quicken to feed reports for taxes. Is this correct?
If you create this as a CD, and enter the interest every 6 months when it actually added to the principal ("The interest is compounded semiannually. Every six months from the bond's issue date, interest the bond earned in the six previous months is added to the bond's principal value, creating a new principal value. Interest is then earned on the new principal."), this will then show up in Quicken reports as Interest and Schedule B vs Schedule D for capital gains.
Mark0 -
@MARKFUNDO Good point. I don't use Quicken to track cap gains for tax reporting, so makes no difference to me. I think either way works though.
Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s2 -
RickO, I tried to follow your screen shots but I'm confused about Creating a Transfer Transaction from my Checking account. My checking account already has a transaction downloaded form the bank where I purchased the Bonds from Treasury Direct. I can change that Category in my checking account to point to my TD Brokerage account and it creates a transaction in my TD Brokerage account but it does not pick up the I Series Bonds Security I created in your previous step. I simply get a Payment/Deposit transactions in the new TD Brokerage account and no higher level Security entry these bond are purchased under. If I change the newly created transaction in my TD account to Buy or Buy Bonds it deletes the downloaded transaction from the bank in my checking account. I believe I have to use the downloaded transaction from the bank. If I create a new one like you say it screws up the bank account with a double transaction...
How do I tie it all together in the TD Brokerage account? Thanks in advance.0 -
@TQue When you change the transaction in your checking account to point to the TD account, it will create a positive cash balance in the TD account. That's good and that's what you want. But don't change the newly created transaction in the TD account to Buy. Instead, create a new Buy transaction in the TD account to reflect bond purchase. This will "use up" the cash balance in the TD account. The result will be a zero cash balance in the TD account with two transactions: one the incoming cash transfer from checking and the 2nd the purchase of the bonds.
Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s2
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