Sooner or Later…

Like thousands of others my niece graduated this past month and is headed off to college.  Thanks to changing parental custody and some senioritis she has to take two college classes this summer and pass them to receive admittance to the college of her choice.  Thanks also to the changing custody and some hardheadedness she hasn’t even begun to fill out her financial aid forms.  So money for necessary textbooks and gas is a little short.

Now comes sister’s forward planning.  You know the kind that get repeated everyday–save for your kids education and all that good stuff.  Well, sister was married to a spendthrift who didn’t like to pay basic bills, so sister worked her ass off to keep things going and provide for their four children. (No sister did not see this side until after there were four kids–a personal gift from the old hubby to the old lady.)  But one thing she did do was to buy a savings bond every chance she had.  Scrape together $25 or $50 dollars and she bought the kids bonds–the kind that after seven years are worth twice their amount.  The kind that show the amount it is worth after xx years.  Not a lot mind you, but something.

So time comes that the money is really, really needed–college teachers get quite snarkey if you don’t have their required books.  Sister takes in the face value $100 bonds that are well over 7 years old and gets…$70.00 each.  Yes that is correct seventy dollars.  Seems the good ole federal government has an escape clause that bases the value of the bond on interest rates.  So the bank/government can sell a product with a labeled value and can tell you it will have that printed value in the future as long as you wait the allotted time before redeeming and it will be a total lie.  You get what you get and that is that.  Who are you going to complain to??

So sister is gathering all the bonds she scrimped & scrounged for and cash out.  After all, what’s the difference if there is no way to get what you paid for?  Early withdrawal or not, the value difference isn’t all that different.  No great loss.

Is it any wonder most people don’t save for tomorrow?

A rude awakening.