How to know value of US bonds bought in 1986?

The US Treasury has an interactive web site that can help you. See:

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/BC/SBCPrice

Please be aware that all US Savings Bonds stop paying interest after 30 years, so be sure to cash them in by 2016 or 17.

And to further build on the link posted above, which is where you should go...

I recently cashed my bonds too, and besides simply how much each bond is worth now, you should be aware of what interest rate they are giving. If you don't need the money badly, and have some paying 4%+, you might as well keep some tucked away until they fully mature. It'll beat whatever rate they accumulate sitting in your bank account. I had some paying 6% and such, so I didn't bother to cash them yet.. But the ones paying only like 1-3% really weren't worth holding onto another few years.

It also helped that I was cashing the bonds to put into the stock market, so those lost interest years have already been made up.... But something to keep in mind.

Here is a link to the US Treasury website Savings Bond Wizard where you ac determine the value of your EE bonds any other savings bonds you may own:

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/tools/tools_sa...