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...)

I think a lot depends on what your grandparents intended, hypothetically.  Further, do you have the disciplinbe you did not have in the past?  Would you not just run up the bills again and their generous gift end up being wasted?

No debt trumps savings every time, IMHO.  One might also wish to consult with ones parents in such a time of indecision.

Good luck!

In this particular case, several things theoretically contributed...the largest of which was making a purchase knowing that a large payment check was being delivered to me...but, however, said hypothetical check was lost and had to be re-issued, and by that time, things had theoretically snowballed. (We're talking half a year of theoretical time here [:)])

Would this exersize in imagination happen again? Possibly, but certainly not anytime soon and without good reason. (There was a damn good theoretical reason for this, which involved an imaginary Steyr Aug...)

First of all you may have a lot more time Untill they fully mature. If they are EE savings bonds, up to the date they mature you can convert them into HH savings bonds.

EE bonds add interest to the bond. so say a 1,000 bond is purchased at 500$. In 20 years the bond becomes around 2000$ depending on intrest rates. That bond then is worth 2000.

But when you convert them to HH bonds you are paid a direct deposite into your bank account two times a year. So you can still have money to play with while retaining the bonds untill you really need them.