[gadders]

How are you holding those bonds? Are you getting physical certificates and putting them in a safe/safety deposit box? If they're held electronically in a custody account at a bank that goes bust then I'm not sure you will be much better off.

[mywittyname]

Not the OP, but I assume they are holding them in TreasuryDirect.gov.

[berkle4455]

Very unlikely, TreasuryDirect is so horrible to use, only if you must like I-Bonds. You just go into your brokerage and buy them on the secondary or even through auctions. TD Ameritrade and Vanguard brokerage accounts make this extremely easy. You can also sell your bonds whenever you want instead of waiting til maturity this way.

[dragontamer]

> TreasuryDirect is so horrible to use

Sure its horrible to use. But it does the job, and is directly part of US Treasury auctions, so the prices are provably fair.

Brokerages will skim off a bit off the top when they sell you a treasury. In contrast, TreasuryDirect is direct-from-auction, with the fairest prices possible.

------------

Besides, its not like a notarized snail-mail form is that hard to accomplish. Back in the day, that was the only way to get any official business done.

Your local bank probably has a notary on hand to sign the appropriate form. If not, look up your Yellow Pages for the nearest notary.

[rk1987]

Clearly you're living in different world.

I've been trying to open treasury account for last 2-3 months. Having a notarized form is such a big blocker if you have a 9-5 day job.

The reward of getting few % higher return is not enough to figure out notary for me.

[dragontamer]

I just checked Google, and there's a bunch of online Notaries. So I really don't expect anyone to trip up over this step.

I personally go to the bank somewhat regularly to pick up $5 and $1 bills. It wasn't that hard for me to have a notary form also signed for Treasury Direct access.

-------

Besides, there's a chance that you can get everything done online with Treasury Direct. It just so happened that there was some kind of issue that required me to send in a notarized form proving my identity and such.

But using a notary is kind of basic "adulting" skills. There are other government forms that require a notary. (Passports and such).

[akiselev]

> If not, look up your Yellow Pages for the nearest notary

My Yellow what?

[selimthegrim]

Paper version of 411.

[salawat]

Yellow Pages. It's called a phone directory. Before the internet we printed up large lists of local people and businesses.

Yellow Pages is the local business directory.

If you're one of todays 10000, congrats!

[gadders]

The point I was trying to make, though, is that TD Ameritrade or Vanguard aren't any more immune to going bankrupt than a bank is.

[berkle4455]

A) A brokerage isn’t a bank

B) It wouldn’t matter anyway you still own the shares of stocks or the bonds. They don’t magically disappear if the entity fails.

C) Additionally there’s SIPC

[gadders]

>>B) It wouldn’t matter anyway you still own the shares of stocks or the bonds. They don’t magically disappear if the entity fails.

They don't disappear, but how can you get them in a hurry if your custodian fails?

[TacticalCoder]

> How are you holding those bonds?

Can't bonds like these just be hold in custody at the bank, like stocks? They're property title no? Should my bank in the EU go bust, AFAIK, my stocks are mine. Isn't that the case for short-term US treasuries?

As for physical certificates, didn't the entire world move to digital certificates about 20 years ago? I remember my family having those old physical certificates where you'd cut some pieces of the paper out of them and then you'd go at the bank to get your dividends. And there wasn't much security: you stole these and they were literally yours, with nobody who could verify who they belonged to. These physical "bearer" certificates have been the plot of a great many movies but I think it's now (mostly?) a thing of the past?

[gadders]

My point is, if your bank goes bust, how long will it take you to get your stocks or shares back?

Supposing whatever caused your bank/broker/custodian to go bust was also causing the value of your bonds/stocks/whatever to drop and you wanted to sell asap. How fast do you think you could do that?