Bond calculators come in so many shapes and sizes. You can use a bond duration calculator, a bond amortization calculator, a bond derivative calculator, or a bond value calculator. However, the most common type of bond calculator in use is a savings bond calculator. When you purchase one or multiple savings bonds, you'll want to be able to keep track of everything it's doing. By learning about calculating savings bonds, you will be making the most of bond calculators.

There are several ways you can use a savings bond calculator beyond finding the value of your savings bonds. You can even use free online bond calculators on the Internet. Once you know these basic ways to make the most of bond calculators, you'll want to find out in what other ways you can use them.

1. Learn what bond calculators can do for you beyond simple bond calculations.

2. Learn what Internet sites allow you to use free bond calculators.

3. Learn all the ways you can use bond calculators to keep track of your savings bonds.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find smart ways to use your bond calculators

You can use your bond calculators to not only calculate your bonds, but also to keep track of what your bonds are doing, set up a profile of your bonds and print out an inventory of your bonds.

I recommend: Treasury Direct has a Savings Bond Wizard you can use to manage your savings bonds. Bonds Online calculates and displays all of the relevant details of your bonds.

Use a free online bond calculator

Many websites offer free online bond calculators. Most of these calculators can tell you your bond prices and yield. They can help you keep track of what your bonds are worth whenever you need or want to look it up. Since they are available on the Internet, you can use them at any time, on your schedule.

I recommend: Calculator Web lets you calculate your bond prices and yields. Online Calculator allows you to find the value of your bonds and how much they're currently worth.

Learn more about using bond calculators

The more you learn about how to use a bond calculator, the more it can do for you. Once you know the basics of using a bond calculator to find the value of your bond, you can expand on your knowledge and learn much more about your bonds. Many websites can help you learn the most important information you need to know about your bond, show you how to read a bond and has features that can help you keep track of your bond inventory.

I recommend: SavingsBonds.com shows you what the most important information you need to know about your bonds is. Savings Bond Tracker helps you to set up portfolios of all of the calculations on all of your bonds.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  You can use an online bond calculator program to print out reports on your savings bonds.

Investors tap bond calculators, including a savings bond calculator, bond amortization calculator or bond duration calculator, to gauge how a particular bond should perform from purchase until maturity. Bond valuation calculators help determine which type makes the most sense for a house or business down payment, funding college or growing a nest egg. A bond is an IOU to an investor from a company, such as General Electric, or from the U.S. Treasury or the city of Los Angeles. These IOUs vary from short-term loans of a few weeks to 30 years and beyond. Most pay fixed or floating-rate interest then return the principal to the lender (the investor) at maturity.

Bond calculators determine: Is a particular bond too expensive to earn its holder a respectable return over time? Is a taxable bond’s payout enough to top a comparable municipal bond's tax-free yield? Consider these points:

1. Investment goals determine type of bond calculators.

2. Mastery of bond terms to input correct data: price, yield, coupon, maturity date, duration, convexity and cash flow.

3. Investment websites and government agencies offer bond calculators, often at no cost.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Define your investment needs before calculating bonds

Determine on your own or with the help of a money manager or adviser just how much of your investing funds should go to fixed-income instruments, generally referenced as bonds, but including bonds, notes, bills, corporate debt, mortgage-backed debt and other investments. Investment needs are based on age and tax bracket and the need for periodic income.

I recommend: It may be the lobbying arm of Wall Street’s large bond dealing investment banks, but the Bond Market Association offers user friendly educational tools for individual investors too. Find easy-to-digest investment product descriptions and advice on Investorguide. Catch free real-time financial news and analysis from MarketWatch and Yahoo Finance.

Learn a new language - try bond-ese

Whether you're a veteran or neophyte investor, grasping the fundamentals of the bond market will help you keep up with what your investment adviser is talking about or elevate your own self-directed investing. Interest rates are a pretty easy concept to digest, but bond convexity, as just one example, may require a bit more brushing up.

I recommend: Keep complex terms at your fingertips with the Investorwords or Investinginbonds glossaries.

Find your online bond calculator

Go online for complimentary general-purpose bond calculators and taxable versus tax-exempt yield equivalent calculators. You may also specialize any search using, bond amortization calculator or bond duration calculator. For highly skilled investors and professional money managers, bond derivative calculator software can be purchased online and through outlets that sell complex math calculator software. Many offer a free trial.

I recommend: Even subscription Web sites like mutual fund research firm Morningstar include a few complimentary offerings like bond calculators. Tap investment firms that specialize in bond investments for an online bond calculator or a bond derivative calculator. For calculating savings bonds values, use government resources at TreasuryDirect for savings bond calculators and other tools.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Bond calculations are a relatively simple way to determine the payout on a an investment, but should never be used exclusive of other risk considerations, including an individual's own investing needs.

There are many different types of bond calculators you can use to keep track of many different types of bonds: a bond duration calculator, a bond amortization calculator, a bond derivative calculator, a savings bond calculator and a bond value calculator.

When you purchase a savings bond, the most common bond calculators you want to use are savings bonds calculators and bond valuation calculators. By learning about some of these bond calculators key terms, you can keep better track of your bonds.

1. Learn what a savings bond calculator can tell you about your savings bond.

2. Learn what bond valuation calculators can tell you about your savings bond.

3. Know where you can find a free online bond calculator to keep track of your bond yield.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find a savings bond calculator

A savings bond is typically the type of bond that you will invest in. You want to be able to keep track of your bond's maturity, interest rates and regulations. Using a savings bond calculator will allow you to keep track of your savings bond, and know exactly what's happening with it. By learning about these calculators, and calculating bonds you own yourself, you can save yourself time and money.

I recommend: TreasuryDirect allows you to calculate the value of your savings bond online for free. SavingsBonds.com takes all of the information on your savings bond and puts it into an easy-to-read online report.

Find a bond value calculator

Bond valuation determines the fair price of a bond, which is the present value of cash flow it's expected to generate. Discounting the expected cash flows of the bond to the present using the appropriate discount rate is how you can determine the present value. You can also use bond value calculators to determine your savings bond valuation.

I recommend: Business Finance Online offers a free bond value calculator. Bond Valuation provides details of your bond's calculations and bond valuation problems.

Use online bond calculators to determine your bond yield

Your bond yield is an important aspect of your bonds. Using bond calculators to calculate your bond yield can help you determine the current value of your bond, and how much it will be worth at maturity. You can use other convenient online bond calculators to determine more information about your bond and what it's worth. Most online bond calculators allow you to check the price of different types of bonds. You can use many of these services free-of-charge.

I recommend: MoneyChimp offers a Bond Yield Calculator that can show you your bond's current yield and yield to maturity. Money-Zine.com also has an online calculator that helps you determine your bond yield.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  If you have other types of bonds, you'll want to learn how to do the bond calculations on them as well.