Say, hypothetically, that you found out that your grandparents had set aside a bunch of savings bonds for you. Say, further hypothetically, that one has "matured", another has not, and their combined value at the moment was...well, "a lot"
Further postulate that you happen to be in quite a bit of debt right now...not a horrible amount, but with the holidays and all, things fell behind slightly. Said debt would theoretically be on a credit card and overdraft...
Now, given this theoretical situation, and also given that said theoretical bonds, if cashed in, would erase about %80 of the debt, allowing you to possibly crawl out of this theoretical debt mound inside of 2 months...
Would you sit on the bonds and let them fully mature (which would theoretically be 15 years from now, for the first theoretical one)..or would you cash out, get a lot more solvent and aboveboard now, with the idea that once your debt was paid off, any theoretical funds that had been originally devoted to paying the debt off could now be put into savings and/or funding more toys?
Factor in that your grandparents mean a lot to you, and that you wouldn't want to cheapen their memory by grabbing the money and running like an ungrateful grandchild...
(Yes, in this theoretical situation, I'd be looking for justification to cash out and get back on track :) I'm just sad that given this hypothetical situation, I'd be dependent on outside help to get me out of a problem I may theoretically have...)