<prompt> Human: When I was growing up, my grandparents often gave me savings bonds for birthday and Christmas presents. Today Im in my mid 20s, the bonds are about to begin maturing, and I estimate that the present value of all the bonds in my name is around 20k. These are series EE government savings bonds, held in paper form in a safety deposit box. I am trying to figure out a way to deposit them into a retirement account so that they can be cashed out and reinvested into equities. But I dont want to have to declare them as income and thus increase my tax burden for whatever year I cash them out. Any advice on how to proceed?  <response>: Cash some of them them in, and that same year increase your 401k or Traditional IRA contributions. The two acts will even each other out.You may need to spread it out over a few years, depending on how much space you have left in tax deferred retirement plans each year after your normal contributions. 