The Department of the Treasury announced last month that starting Jan. 1, there will be only two ways to purchase U.S. Savings Bonds: by ordering them via your income tax refund (assuming you get a refund), or by ordering them online at Treasury Direct. Paper bonds will no longer be sold at banks.

The Treasury says the move will save taxpayers $70 million over five years. That's good. But since internet access and a bank account (to transfer the money from) will now be needed to buy a bond, the change means that a sizable portion of the U.S. public - those without computers and internet access, and those without bank accounts - will be shut out. And that's unfortunate, since bonds are a safe means of earning decent interest on relatively small amounts of money. You can buy a savings bond for just $25; most certificates of deposit, on the other hand, require a $1,000 minimum.

The Treasury Department is spinning the change like this: "Savings bonds are very much a part of this country's history and culture, and will remain a part of America's future – but in electronic form," said Public Debt Commissioner Van Zeck. "It's time for us to take a 1935 model and make it a 21st century investment tool."

But a column in The New York Times offers a different perspective.

And while I'm on the subject: I buy bonds for my children and grandchildren via Treasury Direct, and it's a user-friendly website - save for one feature: There's no easy way to review your holdings. Unless you have kept a printout of each bond purchase showing the letter/number code associated with it, it's impossible to tell at a glance who owns which bond (you have to click on a link for each and every bond you've bought, a ridiculously cumbersome process).

I've sent more than a few emails to Treasury Direct complaining about this. Treasury Direct emails back to say it is pleased to have my input. But it still hasn't done anything to make it easier to figure out who owns which bond.