Premium Bonds

[knitware]

With savings accounts and ISAs offering low returns I'm thinking of buying some premium bonds. Most of the press seem to think that they offer little, in the way of returns, but given all other options I think that they could be worth a punt.

Does anyone here have any bonds and would you recommend that I buy some.

I would buy about £3k worth to start.

[kam05]

My dad buys them- as you say, you don't earn any interest on premium bonds. My dad sometimes gets £50-£100 on his premium bonds.

Dad has about £10k in premium bonds.

[el_bandido]

Premium bonds are effectively reusable lottery tickets. Statistically, it will not give you a particularly good return but you might win a million quid. If you want guarantees, there are better ways to invest your money.

[Tango]

Due to the interest rates even Premium Bonds pay out less. I used to get £50.00 pay-outs on a regular basis, but now the individual cheques are down to £25.00. At the moment we are still getting a better return than is available from a savings account, but there's always the chance of a big win.

[knitware]

Premium bonds are effectively reusable lottery tickets. Statistically, it will not give you a particularly good return but you might win a million quid. If you want guarantees, there are better ways to invest your money.

I read that the return for bonds is around 1.5% but then you could always win a big prize. If I put 3K into a 3% account then, after tax, I would draw around £80 a year. It must be worth a gamble...

:P

£80, that's rubbish. Not too long ago average saving accounts were paying 6% and upwards.

[Bluesman]

Premium bonds are effectively reusable lottery tickets. Statistically, it will not give you a particularly good return but you might win a million quid. If you want guarantees, there are better ways to invest your money.

I read that the return for bonds is around 1.5% but then you could always win a big prize. If I put 3K into a 3% account then, after tax, I would draw around £80 a year. It must be worth a gamble...

£80, that's rubbish. Not too long ago average saving accounts were paying 6% and upwards.

I have several friends who work for Premium Bonds up in Blackpool and they are all categorical that unless you have the full whack which is £30K its not worth it, even then the odds are huge.

We have held the Max for 15+ years and our biggest ever win is £100.

Premiums Bonds are the single biggest investment pot in the world.

Mike

[BenIS]

Ive just cashed all of mine in. Had £2500 for about 3 years and not won a sausage!

[steve2006]

My partner has just five premium bonds since she was a child and has won one £50.00 prize in around 50 years still a better return on the "investment" than a bank account though.

[darkoracle]

BenIS - an interesting story about PBs.

I held a number of them a few years ago and then sold them to help buy a house. While I had them they paid out the occasional £50 prize on a reasonably regular basis.

After the house was bought, I was able to invest in exactly the same number of bonds but didn't win zilch for nearly two years. I wrote to the EARNI guys and suggested that my numbers had not been entered - and they got very shirty.

Gave me lots of tech speak in the hope of dismissing my concerns, but as a computer systems designer and programmer I knew a thing or two, and I wasn't satisfied.

I sold the lot again and re-bought the same number immediately. In the first month that they were eligible I had a win and I am now getting the same rate of return as I did with the first batch.

You could argue that as the numbers are randomly selected, that I was unlucky for two years, but i don't think so.

If you hold a good number of bonds (say 1000 plus) and have won nothing in the last year or two, consider cashing them in and re-investing in a new batch.