Tracking I Series Savings Bonds

MARKFUNDO
MARKFUNDO Member ✭✭
edited June 2022 in Investing (Mac)
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

Comments

  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    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 90s
  • MARKFUNDO
    MARKFUNDO Member ✭✭
    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.
  • RJA3
    RJA3 Member
    Exactly what I was inquiring about....I'll try it out and see. Hopefully, I can get back and say thanks.
  • TDaleMagalia
    TDaleMagalia Member ✭✭
    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!
  • Jon
    Jon SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    RickO said:
    I don't understand what you mean by "creating a Brokerage account "manually" with a sub under it called Treasury Direct". 
    I suspect what happened is that this is their first Brokerage account, so prior to this they didn't have the "Brokerage" category. Having created a brokerage account (one that is not connected to an online account, hence the "manual") they now have a new Brokerage category with a new Treasury Direct account in that category.

    Quicken Mac subscription. Quicken user since 1990.

  • retird
    retird Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2022
    Deleted...

    Windows 11 (2 separate computers)..... Quicken Premier.. HAVE USED QUICKEN CONTINUOUSLY SINCE 1985.

  • Jon
    Jon SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    edited April 2022
    retird said:

     I'm at R39.23 [Windows] and nothing in the offline brokerage called Treasury Direct.

    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.

  • retird
    retird Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2022
    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.

  • TDaleMagalia
    TDaleMagalia Member ✭✭
    edited April 2022
    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!
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    You're welcome.
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • MARKFUNDO
    MARKFUNDO Member ✭✭
    @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.

    Mark
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    @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 90s
  • TQue
    TQue Member ✭✭
    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.
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    @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 90s
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