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

[Chris_H]

Burnham said:

Chris_H said:

The good old days. This is my statement from the first six months of 2007 when winning was easier. Happy days!!

Happy June, I bet that made for a good summer

It did. I treated myself to Sky HD! However, I sold all the PBs when they reduced the interest rate so much. They don't seem worth having now compared to then.

[A Scotsman]

My son was left £1,000 by my dad when he died and we bought him premium bonds with it. The first month they were entered in the draw he won another £1,000. Jammy little git!

We have about £30k worth and regularly win £50 or £25 and this month we won £100.

[S6PNJ]

craigb84 said:

Could be worth while for a couple of months before you can dump more money into the Isa in April.

Won't be much use. If you buy them now (Feb) they will be held for 1 clear month (Mar) prior to entering the draw in April so you could get 1 draw from them before chucking them into an ISA but you'd lose 1-2 months interest on wherever you have the money at the moment.

[ste_uk]

handy little calculator to show PB Vs ISA/inflation etc.... http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/premium-b...

Emjoy

[littlegreenfairy]

My parents check all the numbers (one less job for me!) and this month I thought I'd done well as was told I have £40 coming to me. Very excited as only ever win £25 every few months.

Nope, not a bean. Mum owes me £40.

[Burnham]

Yey, two envelopes for me today, £50 in total. I checked and online it said I'd not won..odd. Anyway, only had 30k in since mid Dec, so I'm happy with that ( for now).

[sturobturbo]

interesting to read. i had circa 1k for a year, got nothing. my dad has a decent amount, won 10k once and used to win all the time, for himself and my mum. but as noted here, there is a trend of wins tailing off in the past couple/three years.

stu.

[paulwoof]

why is everyone winning but me? even the small prizes.

i put £1500 in, and in the first month i wont 2x£100. i was over the moon,
since then im up to about £6000 in premium bonds from spare money ive been putting away and not even a nudge,

might start selling drugs instead

[condor]

paulwoof said:

why is everyone winning but me? even the small prizes.

i put £1500 in, and in the first month i wont 2x£100. i was over the moon,
since then im up to about £6000 in premium bonds from spare money ive been putting away and not even a nudge,

might start selling drugs instead

If you look at Chris_H's 2007 statement, you'll see that his monthly wins are in 2 separate blocks of bonds. The 61s look particularly lucky.
The wins I've had to date have been in what I'd call 'favoured' blocks - they just seem to be lucky ones.
I think I posted earlier that I was winning every month until I bought another £10Ks worth ..then nothing for 7 months! I've cashed in £9K of those bonds as they seemed to me to be unlucky. I know the draw is supposed to be random - but I do think there are lucky blocks of bonds...as Chris_H's statement also seems to suggest.

[Tiggsy]

Burnham said:

Yey, two envelopes for me today, £50 in total. I checked and online it said I'd not won..odd. Anyway, only had 30k in since mid Dec, so I'm happy with that ( for now).

So £25 per month invested or 1% pa

[5705]

condor said:

If you look at Chris_H's 2007 statement, you'll see that his monthly wins are in 2 separate blocks of bonds. The 61s look particularly lucky.
The wins I've had to date have been in what I'd call 'favoured' blocks - they just seem to be lucky ones.
I think I posted earlier that I was winning every month until I bought another £10Ks worth ..then nothing for 7 months! I've cashed in £9K of those bonds as they seemed to me to be unlucky. I know the draw is supposed to be random - but I do think there are lucky blocks of bonds...as Chris_H's statement also seems to suggest.

Just to clarify: the random and repeat nature of the draw and the huge numbers of investors means that such thoughts are not uncommon and are still 100% BS.

[Chris_H]

condor said:

If you look at Chris_H's 2007 statement, you'll see that his monthly wins are in 2 separate blocks of bonds. The 61s look particularly lucky.
The wins I've had to date have been in what I'd call 'favoured' blocks - they just seem to be lucky ones.
I think I posted earlier that I was winning every month until I bought another £10Ks worth ..then nothing for 7 months! I've cashed in £9K of those bonds as they seemed to me to be unlucky. I know the draw is supposed to be random - but I do think there are lucky blocks of bonds...as Chris_H's statement also seems to suggest.

I think it was less luck and more because I had twice as many of the 61 series!

[38911]

I really struggle with this sentiment that people keep quoting that "Premium Bonds is risk free because you can get your stake back at any time".

No it's not. Inflation is constantly eroding the value of each £1 sterling that you have invested, so if you're not earning interest at a rate of Inflation + x%, the money you get back will be WORTH less than when you put it in.

- Based on average luck, £10,000 in PB has a 98% probability of winning just £100 in a year.

- The VALUE of £10,000 will reduce by between £480 (CPI) and £420 (RPI).

So the COST of GAMBLING £10,000 on Premium Bonds is likely to be over £300 - or £5 a week.

Madness.

I can see the attraction of putting a token amount in for people who are higher rate taxpayers and have already max'd their ISAs out... but these people who have £30k in are stark raving bonkers IMO!

[craigb84]

38911 said:

I really struggle with this sentiment that people keep quoting that "Premium Bonds is risk free because you can get your stake back at any time".

No it's not. Inflation is constantly eroding the value of each £1 sterling that you have invested, so if you're not earning interest at a rate of Inflation + x%, the money you get back will be WORTH less than when you put it in.

- Based on average luck, £10,000 in PB has a 98% probability of winning just £100 in a year.

- The VALUE of £10,000 will reduce by between £480 (CPI) and £420 (RPI).

So the COST of GAMBLING £10,000 on Premium Bonds is likely to be over £300 - or £5 a week.

Madness.

I can see the attraction of putting a token amount in for people who are higher rate taxpayers and have already max'd their ISAs out... but these people who have £30k in are stark raving bonkers IMO!

I've been saying this to people recently. You have to make your money work for you otherwise it just devalues more and more.

So if £10k is worth (say) £500 less per year would it not be better to take a gamble on some solid shares....or is there no such thing?

[mark387mw]

38911 said:

but these people who have £30k in are stark raving bonkers IMO!

I have asked before, where should I put my £30k?

I would buy a nice classic car or a property but being overseas that won't work, I just want somewhere for my money to work which it isn't in the bank at the moment. Being no longer UK resident I can't top up my ISAs. Any other options?

[Steamer]

mark387mw said:

38911 said:

but these people who have £30k in are stark raving bonkers IMO!

I have asked before, where should I put my £30k?

I would buy a nice classic car or a property but being overseas that won't work, I just want somewhere for my money to work which it isn't in the bank at the moment. Being no longer UK resident I can't top up my ISAs. Any other options?

I've been thinking the same thing.

Maybe a Caterham for 12 months.

[theaxe]

38911 said:

but these people who have £30k in are stark raving bonkers IMO!

I have £30k in there, I don't fault your maths but I'd be interested in the other options since I need.

1. Instant access.
2. Somewhere to put my money for less than 6 months.
3. Somewhere other than ISAs.
4. To pay as little tax as possible.

I figured that my inflationary losses over 6 months will be neglible, plus I may get lucky and win something significant. Not sure how this is "bonkers", what are the options?

[BoRED S2upid]

Halifax are doing there only little prize draws at the moment with £5000 to qualify. I see this as the same as Premium Bonds.

[DSLiverpool]

Prize £50,000
107ML743622
Holding £1,000
Cumbria
Bond Value £1,000
Held since Feb-06

That was lucky.

[Luke.]

DSLiverpool said:

Prize £50,000
107ML743622
Holding £1,000
Cumbria
Bond Value £1,000
Held since Feb-06

That was lucky.

Wowsers.