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Sandra is a former banker who has been investing in savings bonds since she was in her late 30s. While she had heard about savings bonds through her job at the bank, it was when she was looking for a way to finance her daughter’s education that she purchased her first set. She bought them to use as collateral on a loan she was getting to cover the tuition and other expenses.
Linel Franklin, Senior Operations Officer at the Central Bank of Barbados confirms that government securities like savings bonds are accepted as collateral on mortgages and other types of loans.
In the more than 20 years since then, Sandra has continued to buy savings bonds and has increased the size of her investment. She uses the interest they earn to pay for travel or if there is an emergency, but she makes a point to reinvest the principal whenever her savings bonds mature.
The Central Bank’s decision to make savings bonds available year-round is something that Sandra welcomes. She says that when she first started buying savings bonds not everyone was able to get them. “You had to be a high value customer, have a friend in the bank or be a banker yourself.” She says the new approach increases the number of people who can benefit from this type of investment: “It allows anyone to get bonds rather than needing to have a connection and to have to put your name on a list two or three months in advance.”