Investing term
What is Maturity?
The date a bond's face value is repaid and the loan ends. Can be months, years, or decades away.
Maturity is the date a bond's loan ends — when the issuer repays the face value and makes the final interest payment. It can be months away for a Treasury bill or decades away for a long government bond, and it's fixed when the bond is issued.
Maturity shapes a bond's risk. Longer maturities generally mean more sensitivity to interest-rate changes and more uncertainty about the distant future, so they usually pay higher yields to compensate. Maturity also offers a kind of certainty: hold a sound bond all the way to maturity and short-term price swings become irrelevant — whatever the price does in between, you receive the face value back on the maturity date.
Maturity is when a bond repays its face value — anywhere from a 1-year bill to a 30-year bond. Longer maturities usually pay more yield but swing more in price along the way.
For example
A 10-year bond matures a decade after issue; on that date you receive your $1,000 face value back, ending the loan regardless of price wobbles in between.
Learn it by doing
That's Maturity in theory — it clicks when you use it. Practise it hands-on in a free, interactive lesson (Stage 4, Stocks, Bonds, Cash & Alternatives).
Try the free lesson →Why it matters to you
Maturity matters because it lets you match a bond to when you'll need the money and to your view on interest rates. A short maturity is steadier and returns your cash soon; a long maturity locks in a rate for longer but swings more in price. It's also the reason holding to maturity tames volatility — the fixed payback date means paper losses along the way simply don't matter if you wait it out.
⚠ Buying long maturities for money you'll need soon
A long-dated bond pays more, but its price can swing sharply if rates move, and selling early — before maturity — can mean a real loss. If you'll need the money in a couple of years, a bond maturing well after that exposes you to price risk you can't wait out. Match the maturity to your time horizon.