WISHING

I would like to know you thoughts and experiances with PREMIUM BONDS.
Ive just brought some in mine and my sons name. Ive got the full amount and ive brought him half (this money will be used for his first car)
How much have you won ?
How long have you held them ?
Do you need to check them each month ?

I will try it for a year or so and see what kind of return i get !!
Can but try

Your thoughts please !

RON

I think your name sums it up, if you think you're gonna get rich, you are indeed wishing, still, if you can afford not to get the interest on the money for a year, why not!

Jonto

We deal with premium bonds at work, i work in insolvency, and we never realise them untill then end of the case, in case they win, as the funds will fall into the bankruptcy estate, some people don't win anything over a 3 year period, others, like postmaters, has won over 1k in 4 months !

Tiggs

as long as you hold enough you will avarge a return comparable with a good high st bank. you have as much chance as winning big as you do with any lottery (but you dont help minority, one legged, travelers with PB's)

be aware if the bonds are your sons he may decide that he doesnt share dads like of cars and instead uses the money to get off his head on crack for a few years!!!

T

MartinM

Actually got a cheque from ERNIE for £50 this morning

I'd say that we've done slightly better than normal interest rates over the years but it's probably skewed by the £500 we won about 6 months after we invested £5K.

We don't bother checking - in fact I wouldn't know where to check.

If they're recent purchases and the address is correct, they'll come to you.

Allegedly:
- if a man comes to the house in the first few days of the month, sit down 'cos you've wom the biggie
- if a letter comes about 5-10th of the month asking confirmation of who owns the bonds, you've won a tidy sum
- if a cheque arrives 10-15th of the month, it's probably £500
- if a cheque arrives 15-22nd of the month, it's either £100 or £50

We've never had a man visit

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Had fifty quid last week, and a grand once but a fifty perhaps twice a year, dont know how many we have tho.

Bottomfeeder

I have some that my mum got me when I was born, how do i check if I have ever won anything (have moved several times since 1968)?

Red Scooby widdow

BF you can get the address either on line or thru the post office. Me the same , my dad bought me 1 (one) when I was likkle.... never won a sausage with it , but have recently invested in £500 's worth so I now sit and wait.Oh and you can update your address with them on yours, if you have won anything they should tell you.Mine's a glass of Merlot please !

WISHING

Thanks for all your advise.
So no big winners here then ?? Then again if you have one the million you would be sunning yourself on some exotic beach !!!!

GreenMachine

I was told that if you invest a reasonable amount the average return is about 6% per annum - not too bad at the moment Plus there's the added bonus of a shot at the big one....

Not sure what constitues a "reasonable amount" - over £1000 I would guess

speedking

Read this tread for more info.

6% return was some time ago

steve McCulloch

Yeah 6% was when interest rates were much, much higher and they could pay out more because the real return was lower with higher inflation

In todays markets if you have a fair bit of money to play about with - say a middle aged to retired person who has paid off the mortgage and has used up tax breaks - e.g. ISA allowances then dabbling in premium bonds is a very low risk affair - the only thing you lose is at a maximum the opportunity losses of gaining more money elsewhere or even simpler the erosion of your money by inflation - if you want to look at it this way........ of course the Government could go completely insolvent, etc - but thats highly unlikely - read 'no way'..............

You dont lose any money and the odds of winning overall are supposedly better than the Jackpot - on which you lose money......

If I has say £100k in cash, as part of my investments I would probably put in the £20k maximum into Bonds as part of the portfolio - you do get an average return over time of about 3% and have the chance of winning far more - its also tax free - so would be a good option for the 40% tax payers out there.........who,like me are getting totally totally hacked off with the Government taking an even bigger slice of the pay cheque!

T.J

I bought £400 worth about five years ago, won £500 on the first draw and nothing since. Odds of the jackpot are worse than the lotto but a least your money depreciates slower

brickboy

IMHO it's a good way of putting cash in escrow (e.g. for paying future tax bills etc) 'cos it's easily accessible when you need it, but not so easy that you dip into it all the time.

I've got a couple of grands worth and have had a 6% return over the 2 years. My wife, who's self-employed, puts her tax money into bonds so has a few grand. She's managed 9.5%.

We've both been luckier than average -- the thing to remember is that the return is TAX FREE -- which makes it better than a savings account.

lardypants

ive had 10k invested for 4 months now and only won 50 quid so far, planning on upping it to the max 20k in the next few months to hopefully increase chances

thecirsch

I was given some when I was born (36 years). In all that time I've only ever one once (50.00 ) and that was 12 years ago.

I live in hope

Ed