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

[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.

[funinhounslow]

MWM3 said:

Nothing again on max holding.

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

But against that we have this

towser44 said:

Winner in Somerset with £100 total holding bought in March 1982. Won £50,000

£250 total holding in Manchester with a £25,000 win

Cambs, £10 total holding bought in 1977 with a £10,000 win

Someone in London with £25 bought in 1958 has won £5,000

Bedfordshire, £21 holding bought in 1967 with a nice £1,000 win

My favourite, Kent, £2 holding bought in December 1968 with a £1,000 win lol

OK a lot of those bonds were purchased some time ago but that £25 bond purchased in 1958 has exactly the same odds of hitting as a similar purchase made in Feb this year.

The odds of a single bond winning are about 21,000/1 so even with a max holding the odd duff month is to be expected. Isn’t this the nature of a random draw?

Edited by funinhounslow on Saturday 6th April 09:09

[DSLiverpool]

I’ve pulled £10k and put it back in, no rhyme or reason but ultimately I want 5 tranches of £10k for no reason other than trying something.

[funinhounslow]

DSLiverpool said:

I’ve pulled £10k and put it back in, no rhyme or reason but ultimately I want 5 tranches of £10k for no reason other than trying something.

By doing that you’ve missed a draw which is much more significant.

It doesn’t matter if your bonds are in one big “lump” or lots of smaller ones - “random” doesn’t mean “equally distributed”

The odds of rolling 1,2 or 3 on a die are the same as 2, 4 or 6…

[MWM3]

funinhounslow said:

OK a lot of those bonds were purchased some time ago but that £25 bond purchased in 1958 has exactly the same odds of hitting as a similar purchase made in Feb this year.

The odds of a single bond winning are about 21,000/1 so even with a max holding the odd duff month is to be expected. Isn’t this the nature of a random draw?

Edited by funinhounslow on Saturday 6th April 09:09

The odd duff draw ... yes.

But 3 out of 6 ... not so much.

Should have won 14.2 prizes with average luck over that time frame and have had 8.

[tertius]

MWM3 said:

The odd duff draw ... yes.

But 3 out of 6 ... not so much.

Should have won 14.2 prizes with average luck over that time frame and have had 8.

A year or two ago I had five blank months in a row on max holdings.

[daytonavrs]

toon10 said:

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.

Yeah sorry I should have added for accuracy sake that is for this year only and noticing a distinct drop in wins, far more than their announcement about 4 point something interest it's been better in the past.

[northandy]

bunchofkeys said:

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

I was putting 50 a month in when I started… I went 3 years before a prize 😂

£200 on max holding this month

[sunnyb13]

another nothing month.

£20k pulled out and into isa. thank you very much,

[the tribester]

sunnyb13 said:

another nothing month.

£20k pulled out and into isa. thank you very much,

My wife has done the same. The excitement of the day interest is paid will not match Premium Bond day!

[22]

the tribester said:

My wife has done the same. The excitement of the day interest is paid will not match Premium Bond day!

I think this plays a part. I never check how much interest I get on savings - just know that I do (& for tax returns etc). But I always check my premium bonds each month - usually with disappointment, but it's the chance of something better.

[Johnnybee]

I've won £100 this month but haven't had an email confirming this or the funds paid into my bank account. I know they don't pay out immediately but it's never been this late before. Has this happened to anybody else, before I contact them?

[Gtom]

We had nothing in February or March but we got £625 on £41k this April.

[GTPork]

Johnnybee said:

I've won £100 this month but haven't had an email confirming this or the funds paid into my bank account. I know they don't pay out immediately but it's never been this late before. Has this happened to anybody else, before I contact them?

Mine landed in my account on Tuesday 9th

[Prolex-UK]

GTPork said:

Johnnybee said:

I've won £100 this month but haven't had an email confirming this or the funds paid into my bank account. I know they don't pay out immediately but it's never been this late before. Has this happened to anybody else, before I contact them?

Mine landed in my account on Tuesday 9th

Same here