A bond issue (particularly a municipal issue) in which a certain proportion (installment) matures at regular intervals (e.g. each year) until the entire issue is retired. These maturities are known as serial maturities. Each bond certificate in the issue has an indicated redemption date. A typical offering consists of as many as 20 or more different maturities. When borrowers issue serial bonds, different interest rates are attached to bonds maturing at serial maturities. Although serial bonds cannot necessarily be retired at the discretion of the issuer, the issuer may be permitted, on some occasions, to retire the debt at the same time.

Serial bonds are distinguished from term bonds in which the bonds in an issue have the same maturity date. Municipalities often issue a combination of serial bonds and term bonds.