Noob Q: Market Value of 30-Year US Treasury Bonds?

[ppk]

For the bond portion of my PP, I've started purchasing 30-year US Treasury Bonds. From what I understand, one generally sells these bonds about 5 years before they hit maturity, so in valuing them, my primary concern should be their current market value to buyers.

I purchased the bonds through Treasury Direct and would presumably sell them through the same place.

I'm pretty confused about how to determine their current rate since not all 30-year bonds are commodities, in that they have different interest rates based on when they were created. When I supply the CUSIP associated with my bonds to various websites, they tell me how much I paid per $100 for the bonds, but not their current market value. I need a solid $ value so that I can track the percentage that the bonds represent in my portfolio when rebalancing. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

[Austen Heller]

You could use the value of the ETF 'TLT' as a proxy.

Or you could calculate the bond value yourself, described here:
http://gyroscopicinvesting.com/forum/bo ... /#msg20819

Also, you don't want to hold your 30-yr bond until 5 years before maturity; you want to sell it with 20 years before maturity, and replace it with a fresh new 30-year bond.  That's what Harry Browne recommended.

[fnord123]

You can find them at the WSJ: http://wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3020-treasury.html

You can also look them up at Fidelity: https://fixedincome.fidelity.com/ftgw/f ... chTreasury