Bond maturity is the time when the bond issuer must repay the original bond value to the bond holder. The maturity date is set when the bond is issued and the bond holder can sell before this time if they want to.
Bonds can be short, medium or long term, which refers to the length of maturity.
Buying bonds with longer maturities is popular for retirement savings. These are known as savings bonds. Although they have a relatively low rate of return, they are a fairly safe investment and many are backed by the government.
What you need to know about bond maturity.
Bond maturity is a definitive date when the investor is repaid for a bond. It is also a key component in calculating the price of a bond – this is done using the bond’s present value of future interest and maturity value.
Short term bonds generally mature after 1 to 5 years, medium term bonds after 5 to 10 years, and long term bonds after 10+ years.
The longer the maturity of a bond, the greater the risk to the bond holder. Bonds are influenced by interest rates, inflationand liquidity, but holding a bond to its maturity provides some protection – unless the issuing company goes bankrupt.
Find out more about bond maturity.
Read our definition of a bond to learn more about this type of financial security.
What is bond maturity? Bond maturity is the time when the bond issuer must repay the original bond value to the bond holder. The maturity date is set when the bond is issued and the bond holder can sell before this time if they want to. Bonds can be short, medium or long term, which refers to the length of maturity.
1. the maturity gives the time period over which the holder of the bond can expect to receive the coupon payments and the number of years before the principal will be paid in full. 2. the maturity is important because the yield on a bond depends on it.
The yield to maturity (YTM) is the expected annual rate of return earned on a bond, assuming the debt security is held until maturity. The yield to maturity (YTM) is calculated by the following formula: [Annual Coupon + (FV – PV) ÷ Number of Compounding Periods] ÷ [(FV + PV) ÷ 2].
Longer-term bonds experience greater percentage price change than shorter-term bonds for the same change in market discount rates. This heightened sensitivity is due to the higher number of periods (N) until maturity in the bond pricing equation for the longer-maturity bond.
Defined-maturity bond funds hold a portfolio of bonds set to mature near the fund's expiration date. The bonds held by the fund can be replaced in the years leading up to the maturity date at the manager's discretion.
Investors who hold a bond to maturity (when it becomes due) get back the face value or "par value" of the bond. But investors who sell a bond before it matures may get a far different amount. For example, if interest rates have risen since the bond was purchased, the bondholder may have to sell at a discount—below par.
Series I savings bonds, commonly referred to as "I Bonds," fully mature after 30 years. However, you can redeem them as early as one year after purchase. If you do redeem them early, you'll give up the last three months of interest, so you'll need to make sure you really need the money if you want to cash out early.
When your T-bill matures, its life is over. The U.S. government will pay you the full face value of the bond. In our example above, you'd simply see the bond disappear out of your brokerage account or IRA and be replaced with $1,000.
In the case of a zero-coupon bond, the bond's remaining time to its maturity date is equal to its duration. When a coupon is added to the bond, however, the bond's duration number will always be less than the maturity date. The larger the coupon, the shorter the duration number becomes.
With a Series EE bond, you wait to get all the money until you cash in the bond. Electronic EE bonds: We pay automatically when the bond matures (if you haven't cashed it before then).
Column 3: Maturity date - This is the date on which the borrower will pay the investors their principal back. Typically only the last two digits of the year are quoted, 25 means 2025, 09 is 2009, etc.
If your savings bond from a Series other than EE, I, or HH has finished its interest-earning life, you could cash it and use the money for something else – a project, a financial need, or a new investment like an interest-earning savings bond or other Treasury security.
A bond's term to maturity is the period during which its owner will receive interest payments on the investment. When the bond reaches maturity, the owner is repaid its par, or face, value.
Bonds often are referred to as being short-, medium- or long-term. Generally, a bond that matures in one to three years is referred to as a short-term bond. Medium or intermediate-term bonds generally are those that mature in four to 10 years, and long-term bonds are those with maturities greater than 10 years.
Maturity risk refers to the potential for bond prices to fluctuate based on changes in interest rates over time. As bonds approach their maturity date, this risk declines. However, longer-term bonds carry higher maturity risk premiums to compensate investors.
You can hold your bond once it reaches maturity, but you won't earn any additional interest. On one hand, you can't spend a savings bond without redeeming it, so the value of your bonds would be considered "safe" from that standpoint.
They're available to be cashed in after a single year, though there's a penalty for cashing them in within the first five years. Otherwise, you can keep savings bonds until they fully mature, which is generally 30 years.
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