Which of our Series I Savings Bonds should we redeem?

We need some advice on cashing in Series I bonds. We are purchasing a new house and we need some cash. We have approximately $30,000.00 in I bonds and we would like to cash in about $8,000.00.

Tom's response

Each Series I Savings Bond has its own base rate, which is fixed for the life of the bond at issue and varies from 1.0% to 3.6%. Consequently, some Series I Bonds pay a lot more interest than others, so you need to be careful about which ones you redeem.

My book, Savings Bond Advisor, gives every issue of I bond an Alert Recommendation, which is a letter grade similar to your kid's report card, that can help you decide which I bonds to redeem.

The ones you redeem must be at least one year old. You forego the last three months interest on any that aren't at least five years old - this amount has already been deducted from the bond redemption values displayed by our calculator.