I have a small dilemma with grandnephews and savings bonds.

Stick to your original plan. If they are smart they won’t cash them in until they mature.

Give the bond to the older nephew at time of graduation. By the time the younger nephew graduates from HS, use the proceeds of his savings bond to get him a comparable value gift. This way you would present to be a fair greataunt to your grandnephews and still have some change for your own little pleasure.

I’d say stick to your original plan and make it an object lesson to the older one about compound interest and how waiting would earn him more money. If he chooses not to, then he can’t say he didn’t have the opportunity for the same monetary gift. Giving them both now just sends the wrong message. It teaches them compulsion or instant gratification over discipline. I wish I had an aunt like you. All I inherited was dysfunction.

@njnyjobs – I’m not the co-owner on the bonds so I wouldn’t be able to cash them.

@WestRiverrat & @SeventhSense – I think I will make an effort to encourage them to keep them to face value. Or, to the point where they no longer earn interest which is past the point of face value.

@SeventhSense – I will be your aunt if you like. I don’t have a bond for you but could send you brownies…

Why don’t you just ask the older one what he wants to do? Inform him of his options and let him make the decision.

@tedibear39
Aww thanks…And I love the brownies but the dividends are hell.
I’m going long on whole grains and lean meat. :)

@bobloblaw I wouldn’t want to put that kind of pressure on the older one. But I would explain the options to him when I gave it to him.

@tedibear39 What series bond is it? Different series have different options for cashing them in early.

I would keep to your original plan. It was a good one. The older one can hang onto his and let the value accrue. The younger one gets a larger sum in return for waiting. “Fair” and “identical” do not mean the same thing.

And you should decide this, not the children. It’s your gift, and a gift is not something that is owed to them.

The difference will be minimal. It was a graduation gift, give it when they graduate.

Are you going to take inflation into account too? Probably not.. So trying to make them equal is worthless.

Give them at each of their graduation like you planned. Don’t fret about such a small amount of interest.

The oldest gets the gift because he graduates. The youngest will get the gift when he graduates. The youngest hasn’t really done anything to deserve an early gift. If you want to make it fair, tell the youngest that when he graduates, you have a savings bond for him, too.

A little “make up” cash goes a long way to overcome the ‘not fair’ syndrome. I had it with my three (now adult) grandsons.

@WestRiverrat – They’re EE bonds. And they’re already at a point where they could be redeemed.

I think I’m going to stick with my original plan. As many of you have said, the interest difference will be minimal. I will also make sure they understand the various factors of when the bond gets to face value and at what point it stops earning interest. They can decide from there to cash it or keep it.

Thanks, all!

Further thought, @tedibear39: if you gave them both the bonds now, you’d then be wanting to give the younger a real graduation gift when he graduates—and also something to make it up to the older one, who only got one gift where the younger got two. Your original plan lets each one shine on his own special occasion.

As an older sibling myself, I used to resent seeing the younger ones automatically get things when I did—I had to wait until I was 12, say, and they got them at the same time even though they were only 8 or 6. It sure took away from the feeling that I had attained something worth waiting for. As a parent, I understood the impulse to balance things in that way, but it doesn’t balance them. It throws the balance off.

@Jeruba – Excellent points, as usual! Thank you!

@YARNLADY
That’s NOT FAIR!!...
<—- waiting with puppy eyes

@SeventhSense – Here’s your quarter for the difference in interest, a loaf of whole grain bread and a hunk of filet mignon. ;-)

@SeventhSense You are bound and determined to be my surrogate grandson aren’t you? Did you know that my grandson’s fight for the right to clean the bathroom, and the loser has to vacuum the floors?