Premium Bonds - Not a bean for months now!!!!

[bunchofkeys]

markymarkthree said:

bunchofkeys said:

markymarkthree said:

bunchofkeys said:

9 months of nothing so far. What a pile of horse poo.

How many bonds do you have ?

Not many to be honest, just putting £100 a month on there to see if it does anything.

£100 a month for only 9 months. Says to me you would be very lucky to have a win.

Better returns if i dumped it on the lottery.

[cuprabob]

bunchofkeys said:

markymarkthree said:

bunchofkeys said:

markymarkthree said:

bunchofkeys said:

9 months of nothing so far. What a pile of horse poo.

How many bonds do you have ?

Not many to be honest, just putting £100 a month on there to see if it does anything.

£100 a month for only 9 months. Says to me you would be very lucky to have a win.

Better returns if i dumped it on the lottery.

I very much doubt it. At least with PB you won't lose your stake.

[Mark-C]

cuprabob said:

bunchofkeys said:

markymarkthree said:

bunchofkeys said:

markymarkthree said:

bunchofkeys said:

9 months of nothing so far. What a pile of horse poo.

How many bonds do you have ?

Not many to be honest, just putting £100 a month on there to see if it does anything.

£100 a month for only 9 months. Says to me you would be very lucky to have a win.

Better returns if i dumped it on the lottery.

I very much doubt it. At least with PB you won't lose your stake.

This last point is key - you will never be down on Premium Bonds. Over a period of time you will get an OK-ish against the market interest rate equivalent but also the (slim) chance of a big lump sum.

[daytonavrs]

Very poor results so far, on a large sum its 1% so far I calculated.....
can see taking money out to ISA forthcoming

[toon10]

daytonavrs said:

Very poor results so far, on a large sum its 1% so far I calculated.....
can see taking money out to ISA forthcoming

That's below what I'd expect. For reference I've had 35 draws to date on max holdings. I've won on 31 of the 35 occasions and I'm at 5.5% overall. My brother consistently wins more than me although I'm not sure what that equates to percentage wise. I'm up more on my ISA to be fair but the bonds are my emergency fund rather than an investment.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Mark-C said:

cuprabob said:

bunchofkeys said:

markymarkthree said:

bunchofkeys said:

markymarkthree said:

bunchofkeys said:

9 months of nothing so far. What a pile of horse poo.

How many bonds do you have ?

Not many to be honest, just putting £100 a month on there to see if it does anything.

£100 a month for only 9 months. Says to me you would be very lucky to have a win.

Better returns if i dumped it on the lottery.

I very much doubt it. At least with PB you won't lose your stake.

This last point is key - you will never be down on Premium Bonds.

Not true. Why do people propagate this myth. You can lose your stake. Your stake is the interest you could get on your money, not the money itself.

If you have £50K in PB, you could currently get a guaranteed £2500/year. That £2500 is your stake. You are gambling that money in the hope of a better return. You could go the year and win nothing, and you'll have lost your £2500.

[Mark-C]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Mark-C said:

cuprabob said:

bunchofkeys said:

markymarkthree said:

bunchofkeys said:

markymarkthree said:

bunchofkeys said:

9 months of nothing so far. What a pile of horse poo.

How many bonds do you have ?

Not many to be honest, just putting £100 a month on there to see if it does anything.

£100 a month for only 9 months. Says to me you would be very lucky to have a win.

Better returns if i dumped it on the lottery.

I very much doubt it. At least with PB you won't lose your stake.

This last point is key - you will never be down on Premium Bonds.

Not true. Why do people propagate this myth. You can lose your stake. Your stake is the interest you could get on your money, not the money itself.

If you have £50K in PB, you could currently get a guaranteed £2500/year. That £2500 is your stake. You are gambling that money in the hope of a better return. You could go the year and win nothing, and you'll have lost your £2500.

I was specifically referring to the previous point about being better off chucking it on the lottery. I also don't think your definition of "stake" is correct in gambling terms.

And even that £2500 is losing versus inflation ...

[MrBig]

I pulled almost all of mine out to maximise my cash ISA allowance, I think I've left £1500 in there, having won nothing in decades, and just found out I've won £50 today

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Mark-C said:

I also don't think your definition of "stake" is correct in gambling terms.

If you buy premium bonds, you are obviously taking a gamble. What is the stake when you buy PBs, if not the interest you would have earned had you not bought them and stuck the money in a savings account?

[alscar]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

If you buy premium bonds, you are obviously taking a gamble. What is the stake when you buy PBs, if not the interest you would have earned had you not bought them and stuck the money in a savings account?

Opportunity cost ?

[funinhounslow]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Not true. Why do people propagate this myth. You can lose your stake. Your stake is the interest you could get on your money, not the money itself.

If you have £50K in PB, you could currently get a guaranteed £2500/year. That £2500 is your stake. You are gambling that money in the hope of a better return. You could go the year and win nothing, and you'll have lost your £2500.

It is very unlikely £50k in premium bonds wouldn’t generate a win over a year.

Also PB wins are tax free; only the first £1000 of savings account interest is.

PBs make sense to stick “emergency” funds - secure and instant access.

For me - and I suspect many here - I’m happy to “gamble” the guaranteed returns of a savings account for the excitement of checking the results every month. It’s a harmless flutter, it may not be financially logical but it’s a bit of fun…

[Legacywr]

£100 on £50k.

[Legacywr]

£100 on £50k.

[Hondashark]

funinhounslow said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Not true. Why do people propagate this myth. You can lose your stake. Your stake is the interest you could get on your money, not the money itself.

If you have £50K in PB, you could currently get a guaranteed £2500/year. That £2500 is your stake. You are gambling that money in the hope of a better return. You could go the year and win nothing, and you'll have lost your £2500.

It is very unlikely £50k in premium bonds wouldn’t generate a win over a year.

Also PB wins are tax free; only the first £1000 of savings account interest is.

PBs make sense to stick “emergency” funds - secure and instant access.

For me - and I suspect many here - I’m happy to “gamble” the guaranteed returns of a savings account for the excitement of checking the results every month. It’s a harmless flutter, it may not be financially logical but it’s a bit of fun…

I wouldn't exactly say it's harmless, if you bought 24 lottery tickets a week, 1250 a year.
Some would say you have a bit of an addiction.

It's just because it's hidden behind a "savings account" and spending money that you don't physically have and is only theoretical.

I've never had annual returns over 1% on PBs, so in theory I spend hundreds and hundreds a year on "lottery tickets".

[funinhounslow]

Hondashark said:

I wouldn't exactly say it's harmless, if you bought 24 lottery tickets a week, 1250 a year.
Some would say you have a bit of an addiction.

It's just because it's hidden behind a "savings account" and spending money that you don't physically have and is only theoretical.

I've never had annual returns over 1% on PBs, so in theory I spend hundreds and hundreds a year on "lottery tickets".

£25/week on lottery tickets. I wouldn’t do it but I wouldn’t consider that an excessive amount. How much does the average bingo or slot machine player spend in a week? £25/hand at blackjack wouldn’t raise an eyebrow at most casinos. And then there’s online betting…

So in comparison to the alternatives I’d say PBs are harmless. I’m assuming all those with substantial holdings also have well padded ISAs and/or SIPPs…

[Hondashark]

funinhounslow said:

£25/week on lottery tickets. I wouldn’t do it but I wouldn’t consider that an excessive amount. How much does the average bingo or slot machine player spend in a week? £25/hand at blackjack wouldn’t raise an eyebrow at most casinos. And then there’s online betting…

So in comparison to the alternatives I’d say PBs are harmless. I’m assuming all those with substantial holdings also have well padded ISAs and/or SIPPs…

Lottery tickets are £2 each.

[MWM3]

Nothing again on max holding.

That's 3 times over the past 6 draws. Something doesn't seem to be stacking up.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

funinhounslow said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Not true. Why do people propagate this myth. You can lose your stake. Your stake is the interest you could get on your money, not the money itself.

If you have £50K in PB, you could currently get a guaranteed £2500/year. That £2500 is your stake. You are gambling that money in the hope of a better return. You could go the year and win nothing, and you'll have lost your £2500.

It is very unlikely £50k in premium bonds wouldn’t generate a win over a year.

Also PB wins are tax free; only the first £1000 of savings account interest is.

PBs make sense to stick “emergency” funds - secure and instant access.

For me - and I suspect many here - I’m happy to “gamble” the guaranteed returns of a savings account for the excitement of checking the results every month. It’s a harmless flutter, it may not be financially logical but it’s a bit of fun…

I agree. Between the wife & I, we hold about £97K in PB. But I'm not naive enough to think that the £97K is my stake and I can't lose it. My stake is the interest I'm foregoing on that money, and I certainly can lose. Last year, our return was 3.1% . Got some money in a PO Bond paying 5.7%. Even allowing for the tax on the interest, I lost.

[Hondashark]

My PB have returned under 1% for the last 2 years. One of my pension funds returned 29.2% this year, the other 25% and the other 14%. So I know where I should have stuck my money. Although that wouldn't have helped me buy a house this year.

[peter tdci]

£75 on £50k for me this month.

Just looked back and my return for the last 12 months is just over 3% - it was as high as 3.6% a few months ago. I've had 2 months with nothing in the last 12 and have had 30 individual prizes.