Maturity

Every bond has a clock running from its issue date to its maturity date. On maturity day, the issuer makes one final payment — the face value — and the bond ceases to exist. All the periodic coupon payments in between are simply interest for lending money over that stretch of time. The length of that stretch is called the bond's "term" or "tenor."

Maturities span an enormous range. Treasury bills (T-bills) can mature in as little as four weeks. Notes typically run one to ten years. Bonds in the traditional sense often run 20 or 30 years, and some sovereign issuers have sold 50- or even 100-year bonds. Historically, longer maturities have commanded higher yields to compensate lenders for tying up money — and accepting more uncertainty — for longer. The pattern of yields across different maturities is called the yield curve.

Maturity matters because time changes risk. A lot can happen to interest rates, inflation, and an issuer's creditworthiness over 30 years — much less can go wrong over 3 months. This is why short-dated government bonds are often treated as close to "risk-free" benchmarks, while long-dated bonds are more sensitive to economic shifts. Traders typically watch government bond maturities across the curve to gauge market expectations.

Don't confuse maturity date with call date. Some bonds are "callable," meaning the issuer can repay early. That early repayment is not maturity — it's a separate contractual option that can cut a bond's life short.