How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

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scooter
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How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by scooter »

I have used the I bond wizard to track changes to my inventory of paper I bonds for 20 years.

I recently purchased electronic I bonds and want a similar tool to track them.

Is there one or if not, how do people track them.
dcabler
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by dcabler »

scooter wrote: Thu Oct 13, 2022 8:40 am I have used the I bond wizard to track changes to my inventory of paper I bonds for 20 years.

I recently purchased electronic I bonds and want a similar tool to track them.

Is there one or if not, how do people track them.
Spreadsheet I manually update once per month.

Cheers
Refusing or failing to fully understand an idea does not invalidate the idea itself, but it does undermine the opinions of those who are unwilling or unable to grasp it.
tibbitts
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by tibbitts »

scooter wrote: Thu Oct 13, 2022 8:40 am I have used the I bond wizard to track changes to my inventory of paper I bonds for 20 years.

I recently purchased electronic I bonds and want a similar tool to track them.

Is there one or if not, how do people track them.
I just log onto the TD website. If you're looking for an aggregation tool that includes TD, the one I use doesn't; I have to manually update the values. I used what you did before I converted all my bonds to electronic, which most people will have to do to keep the registrations (beneficiaries, etc.) current over the bonds' lifetimes.
WilliamOfOckham
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by WilliamOfOckham »

I have just been adding my electronic ones to the Wizard inventory as they were purchased. I know TD says that the calculator doesn't give the correct values for electronic bonds but the current value listed after logging in to my TD account is the same as that in my saved Wizard inventory. Have others noticed a discrepancy?
ehh
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by ehh »

I enter fake paper I-bonds into my "paper" I-bond inventory. Then use the "Calculate the Value of your Paper Savings Bond(s) web page.

Seems to accept pretty much anything as a "serial number". For example, TD2007-10-01, to represent an I-bond purchased in Oct 2007 and held in a TD account.

Gives the current value without logging in to a Treasury Direct account.

edit: WillianOfOckham is quicker than am I. No discrepancies in current value noted.
wolf359
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by wolf359 »

scooter wrote: Thu Oct 13, 2022 8:40 am I have used the I bond wizard to track changes to my inventory of paper I bonds for 20 years.

I recently purchased electronic I bonds and want a similar tool to track them.

Is there one or if not, how do people track them.
I'm a recent new holder of I-bonds. I bought my first ones electronically on Treasury Direct. I then got paper ones through my tax return.

I can see the need to track the paper bonds and their current value, but I also have the option of sending them into Treasury Direct and adding them there.

Treasury Direct tracks my electronic holdings for me.

Is there a problem that I am missing? Is the Treasury Direct tracking insufficient or the bond wizard greatly superior? I am new enough to this that I may not be seeing the issue.
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scooter
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by scooter »

Thanks for tip of adding a fake number to bond wizard because I have always like using that tool
pshonore
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by pshonore »

I believe eyebonds.info will also show bond values by month.
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scooter
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by scooter »

Thanks to all

I am surprised the treasury doesn't offer a similar tool like I bond wizard for paper bonds also for electronic bonds.
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user9532
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by user9532 »

You can download monthly values in CSV format using this:

https://eworkpaper.com/ibond.php
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scooter
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by scooter »

Thanks for suggestion
cshell2
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by cshell2 »

WilliamOfOckham wrote: Thu Oct 13, 2022 9:13 am I have just been adding my electronic ones to the Wizard inventory as they were purchased. I know TD says that the calculator doesn't give the correct values for electronic bonds but the current value listed after logging in to my TD account is the same as that in my saved Wizard inventory. Have others noticed a discrepancy?
I came here to ask that same question and found this one a search first. I haven't figured out why they say it doesn't track electronic ones accurately because it always seems right on with TD site to me. Of course, you have to make up a bond serial number and it won't accept any denomination over $1000 so I had to break up my 10K bonds in 10, 1K ones, but the total is always right to the penny and the one click update is a heck of a lot easier than logging into TD. Maybe it starts getting messed up if you cash in partial electronic bonds?
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Doom&Gloom
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by Doom&Gloom »

I use the I Bond tracker developed and posted by csmath. It does everything I need yet is simple to use.

viewtopic.php?t=389497
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jeffyscott
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by jeffyscott »

Is "wizard", just another name for the calculator here :?: :

https://www.treasurydirect.gov/BC/SBCPrice

The only issue there is the denominations have to match those of paper bonds, so $5000, $1000, etc. It even works okay with chrome, despite their claim that it doesn't.
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WinstonTeracina
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by WinstonTeracina »

I wish TD worked with one of the numberous agregators out here; I was able to connect my TD account to Fidelity's Full View last year but it only connected my current holdings would not update monthly.

I use Quicken to track my ibond holdings and will import price updates with a .csv file after I look them up on the TD website or using one an online tool like this one: https://eworkpaper.com/ibond.php
VT + BNDW + Duration-matched TIPS fund (TPAW)
nonstoprider
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by nonstoprider »

I also use Quicken to track our I-Bond holdings. I have a security for each issue date and update the prices every six months. I log in to Treasury Direct to find the current value and then do a manual entry in price history. I might explore the CSV import as the number of bonds we hold grows over time.
WilliamOfOckham
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by WilliamOfOckham »

jeffyscott wrote: Thu Jan 05, 2023 4:25 pm Is "wizard", just another name for the calculator here :?: :

https://www.treasurydirect.gov/BC/SBCPrice

The only issue there is the denominations have to match those of paper bonds, so $5000, $1000, etc. It even works okay with chrome, despite their claim that it doesn't.
Yes. I think "Wizard" is a legacy name for the linked "Savings Bond Calculator."
Doc7
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by Doc7 »

Spreadsheet from eyebonds.info

Another poster above mentioned a Bogleheads poster’s sheet developed in Nov 22 - it is the same as eyebonds.info (also a bogleheads poster) he allegedly wasn’t aware of.
Last edited by Doc7 on Fri Jan 06, 2023 9:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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jeffyscott
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by jeffyscott »

Doc7 wrote: Thu Jan 05, 2023 10:29 pm Spreadsheet from eyebonds.org
I think you meant eyebonds.info, which is #cruncher's site

http://eyebonds.info/downloads/index.html
z3r0c00l
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by z3r0c00l »

Made a simple excel sheet and update manually once a month. Thankfully the numbers are always round and only change once a month, takes a minute or two.
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rob
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by rob »

ehh wrote: Thu Oct 13, 2022 9:19 am Seems to accept pretty much anything as a "serial number". For example, TD2007-10-01, to represent an I-bond purchased in Oct 2007 and held in a TD account.
Just leave it blank and it does not care... you only need the month/year, type (Ibond) and denomination (I pretend they are all in 1K lots).
| Rob | Its a dangerous business going out your front door. - J.R.R.Tolkien
Doc7
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by Doc7 »

jeffyscott wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 7:03 am
Doc7 wrote: Thu Jan 05, 2023 10:29 pm Spreadsheet from eyebonds.org
I think you meant eyebonds.info, which is #cruncher's site

http://eyebonds.info/downloads/index.html
thanks, fixed
erp
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by erp »

jeffyscott wrote: Thu Jan 05, 2023 4:25 pm Is "wizard", just another name for the calculator here :?: :

https://www.treasurydirect.gov/BC/SBCPrice

The only issue there is the denominations have to match those of paper bonds, so $5000, $1000, etc. It even works okay with chrome, despite their claim that it doesn't.
The TD calculator seems to handle any denomination value internally (any whole dollar up to 10k).  You can save your portfolio with placeholder values first by following their instructions (press the Save button on the screen and then Ctrl-S to save to a local .html file).

Then you can edit your .html file in an editor and change "DenominationList" to your actual values, eg

Code: Select all

<input type="hidden" name="DenominationList" value="10000;9999;777;88;">
After that double click on your .html to open it in a browser and press the RETURN button at the top of the screen.  It will update with something like this

Image

Or, if you prefer to keep everything in a google sheet along with the rest of your portfolio, you can just pull this entire table into google with a command like

Code: Select all

=IMPORTHTML("https://treasurydirect.gov/BC/SBCPrice?btnUpdate.x=UPDATE&SeriesList=I;I;I;I;&IssueDateList=04/2022;01/2011;08/2008;12/2001;&DenominationList=10000;9999;777;88;&IssuePriceList=0;0;0;0;&InterestList=0;0;0;0;&YTDInterestList=0;0;0;0;&ValueList=0;0;0;0;&InterestRateList=0;0;0;0;&NextAccrualDateList=0;0;0;0;&MaturityDateList=0;0;0;0;","table",4)
which will look like this

Image

Make sure the lists in your URL params are all the same length, but only the first three need to have real values.
Gnirk
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by Gnirk »

ehh wrote: Thu Oct 13, 2022 9:19 am I enter fake paper I-bonds into my "paper" I-bond inventory. Then use the "Calculate the Value of your Paper Savings Bond(s) web page.

Seems to accept pretty much anything as a "serial number". For example, TD2007-10-01, to represent an I-bond purchased in Oct 2007 and held in a TD account.

Gives the current value without logging in to a Treasury Direct account.

edit: WillianOfOckham is quicker than am I. No discrepancies in current value noted.
Same here.
Phaedrus
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by Phaedrus »

erp wrote: Thu Feb 02, 2023 12:07 pm
jeffyscott wrote: Thu Jan 05, 2023 4:25 pm Is "wizard", just another name for the calculator here :?: :

https://www.treasurydirect.gov/BC/SBCPrice

The only issue there is the denominations have to match those of paper bonds, so $5000, $1000, etc. It even works okay with chrome, despite their claim that it doesn't.
The TD calculator seems to handle any denomination value internally (any whole dollar up to 10k).  You can save your portfolio with placeholder values first by following their instructions (press the Save button on the screen and then Ctrl-S to save to a local .html file).

Then you can edit your .html file in an editor and change "DenominationList" to your actual values, eg

Code: Select all

<input type="hidden" name="DenominationList" value="10000;9999;777;88;">
After that double click on your .html to open it in a browser and press the RETURN button at the top of the screen.  It will update with something like this

Image

Or, if you prefer to keep everything in a google sheet along with the rest of your portfolio, you can just pull this entire table into google with a command like

Code: Select all

=IMPORTHTML("https://treasurydirect.gov/BC/SBCPrice?btnUpdate.x=UPDATE&SeriesList=I;I;I;I;&IssueDateList=04/2022;01/2011;08/2008;12/2001;&DenominationList=10000;9999;777;88;&IssuePriceList=0;0;0;0;&InterestList=0;0;0;0;&YTDInterestList=0;0;0;0;&ValueList=0;0;0;0;&InterestRateList=0;0;0;0;&NextAccrualDateList=0;0;0;0;&MaturityDateList=0;0;0;0;","table",4)
which will look like this

Image

Make sure the lists in your URL params are all the same length, but only the first three need to have real values.
This is awesome, thank you.
erp
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by erp »

Someone alerted me that the URL I posted for importing the TD calculator cuts off after 12 rows. I think I fixed it now and also made it easier to use so you don't have to manually edit the URL everytime you add a purchase. You can just enter the info into columns A and B and the results will fill in the box automatically.

You may need to set column A and cell F1 to Format->Number->PlainText to avoid them being converted into an internal date.

The "Value" column has asterisks because the website boldfaces those values and google's importhtml() chooses to highlight them in that way. You can strip them using =SUBSTITUTE(L4,"*","") in a new column to turn them back into numbers.

Code: Select all

=IMPORTHTML("https://treasurydirect.gov/BC/SBCPrice?btnAll.x=VIEW+ALL&RedemptionDate="&F1&"&SeriesList="&REPT("I;",COUNTA(A4:A))&"&IssueDateList="&TEXTJOIN(";",1,SORT(A4:A,ROW(A4:A),0))&";&DenominationList="&TEXTJOIN(";",1,SORT(B4:B,ROW(B4:B),0))&";&NextAccrualDateList="&REPT("0;",COUNTA(A4:A))&"&MaturityDateList="&REPT("0;",COUNTA(A4:A)),"table",4)
Image
dcabler
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by dcabler »

I've found this one works pretty well. Started using it late last year. Compared it to my previous manual method of manually entering the data from TD in my own spreadsheet for a couple of months and it's spot-on. I also like that it specifically tells you the purchases you've made that are under the 1-year and 5-year thresholds as well...

https://sites.google.com/55e.co/55eco/g ... lator-free

Cheers
Refusing or failing to fully understand an idea does not invalidate the idea itself, but it does undermine the opinions of those who are unwilling or unable to grasp it.
Nonchalance
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by Nonchalance »

dcabler wrote: Wed May 03, 2023 5:43 am I've found this one works pretty well. Started using it late last year. Compared it to my previous manual method of manually entering the data from TD in my own spreadsheet for a couple of months and it's spot-on. I also like that it specifically tells you the purchases you've made that are under the 1-year and 5-year thresholds as well...

https://sites.google.com/55e.co/55eco/g ... lator-free
Bringing back this topic after a while, namely an easy tool to track I Bond value. This one from 55e.co is just what is needed (simply showing current value, not busy with month-by-month views), but it and the Treasury Direct tables haven't been getting along for three months now, and while there's a workaround to get updates (thanks dcabler), it's very time-consuming. So, any new ideas for a way to view I Bond values in a simple way? Thanks.
GoldStar
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by GoldStar »

I just log in every few months and copy and paste the list of current values.
I want to log in periodically anyway to make sure I still can and they are still there.
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celia
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by celia »

More importantly than how YOU track I bonds is how your heirs /executor/ trustee will track them (or even that you own them). What do you do for that?
dcabler
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by dcabler »

Nonchalance wrote: Sat Feb 01, 2025 12:28 pm
dcabler wrote: Wed May 03, 2023 5:43 am I've found this one works pretty well. Started using it late last year. Compared it to my previous manual method of manually entering the data from TD in my own spreadsheet for a couple of months and it's spot-on. I also like that it specifically tells you the purchases you've made that are under the 1-year and 5-year thresholds as well...

https://sites.google.com/55e.co/55eco/g ... lator-free
Bringing back this topic after a while, namely an easy tool to track I Bond value. This one from 55e.co is just what is needed (simply showing current value, not busy with month-by-month views), but it and the Treasury Direct tables haven't been getting along for three months now, and while there's a workaround to get updates (thanks dcabler), it's very time-consuming. So, any new ideas for a way to view I Bond values in a simple way? Thanks.
FYI - I just tested a beta version of a fix for this and reported back to the author yesterday. The version with the fix essentially tries multiple times, so it takes a little longer to populate. For all of my Ibonds I'd say it gets all of them about 75 percent of the time and when it misses any, there's only 1 or 2 that have to go through the manual method. Much improved. I would say that it is now usable.

Cheers.
Refusing or failing to fully understand an idea does not invalidate the idea itself, but it does undermine the opinions of those who are unwilling or unable to grasp it.
Nonchalance
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by Nonchalance »

dcabler wrote: Sat Feb 01, 2025 4:54 pm FYI - I just tested a beta version of a fix for this and reported back to the author yesterday.
That sounds like a good solution. I'll check back to see if the new version passes testing and gets uploaded to 55e. Thanks.
bongo
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Re: How do people track chances to electronic I bonds

Post by bongo »

I used the IMPORTHTML command from a few posts up and it worked easily. Just pasted the formula into C3 and then filled in some ibonds in Col A and B. See,

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

(I moved valuation date to B1 and hid some of the output columns to look cleaner)
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