<prompt> Human: Helping my girlfriend move out of her parents this weekend. Her Mom handed her all of her important papers from the safe, including about 20 100 EE federal bonds, one for each year for Christmas from grandparents. Girlfriend asked me what I thought she should do with them. Went to government website to check currently value. Each year variously obviously, but, is there a general thing she should do with them all?I told her mostly its just a super safe investment if she holds them til they mature. The ones I looked up all had interest rate lower than 1. One of them was 4.She doesnt have emergency fund, starting her first post college job Monday. No debit, including no student loans. Does it make sense for her to sell is that the right term? Any of them that are below 1 interest so she can add to her savings? Currently she has maybe 2,000 in there. Does it make sense to hold onto the 4 one? Still has another ten-ish years til maturity. Also, I tried explaining the overall way interest rates impact bond yields to her, but, could someone explain it to me just so I know I have it right? Linking to a source for me to read is great too. Thanks for the help!  <response>: Silly that she got handed them after she was DONE with college since the interest on those bonds is tax free if used for education expenses. If she has had any education expenses this year, she should definitely cash out the lower yielding ones. However realize that the bonds are guaranteed to double in value after a certain number of years when they mature. You would have to do the math to see if the tax advantage of using them now is worth sacrificing the boost in yield when they mature.The bonds yielding in the 4 range are worth holding on to until maturity. 