Which to cash first?

I need a good sized chunk of $$ of one of life's events that can't be avoided. Since this expense is for my daughter, I was planning to cash in some of her savings bonds to cover it.

My question: How do I decide which bonds to cash in? Do I base in on their current rate of return or the current yield? I assume I would take the ones earning the least currently, but here is the confusion: I have some that the current rate is 3.07% and the yield is 3.96%. I have others where the current rate is 3.25% and the yield is also 3.96%. Then there are others where the rate is 3.07% and the yield is 4.04%!

Which of these would you cash first?


Thanks....

----Paul in Southern NJ

Pssimon,

It is good that there has been some saving going on.
Yield is more important than the rate.

For savings bonds, there are some rules of which you should be aware.
One rule is, You will forfeit 3 months of interest if the bond is cashed before it reaches an age of 5 years.
Here is a link to some other facts about bonds.
[http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/mar/marsbomtoc.htm]

And here is the calculator used to determine a bond's value.

http://wwws.publicdebt.treas.gov/BC/SBCPrice