£1000.... Premium bonds or Bitcoin

[thebraketester]

Probably an obvious question? Our 10 week old girl has been given £1000 to be put into premium bonds, however something tells me that its pointless and would probably be best placed elsewhere. £1000 now is still £1000 in 10 years time so worth effectively less.

Would BTC be a good option for long term investment? Missed boat? I am not risk averse but obviously it would be nice not to lose it

Thanks.
Rich

Edited by thebraketester on Saturday 2nd January 21:03

[bitchstewie]

thebraketester said:

Probably an obvious question? Our 10 week old girl has been given £1000 to be put into premium bonds, however something tells me that its pointless and would probably be best placed elsewhere. £1000 now is still £1000 in 10 years time so worth effectively less.

Would BT be a good option for long term investment? Missed boat? I am not risk averse but obviously it would be nice not to lose it

Thanks.
Rich

Why only those two options?

[Defcon5]

bhstewie said:

Why only those two options?

Which are about as far apart in risk as you could possibly imagine

[thebraketester]

Haha... yes I see your point. No real reason to be honest, BTC was just the other thing that came to mind after the initial PB idea. Totally open to other suggestions. 10+years investment length.

Edited by thebraketester on Saturday 2nd January 21:04

[xeny]

Take a look at this thread : https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[bitchstewie]

thebraketester said:

Haha... yes I see your point. No real reason to be honest, BT was just the other thing that came to mind after the initial PB idea. Totally open to other suggestions. 10+years investment length.

Very similar thread here

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

If you want something hands off and "set and forget" I'd perhaps look at a cheap global tracker.

Not suggesting a small amount in Bitcoin couldn't have its place as it does seem to be making its way into some more mainstream investment holdings.

Respectfully I guess it comes down to whether £1000 being £2000 in ten years (assume a global tracker returns 7% p/a) is enough of a reward to stop you thinking it's worth taking a greater risk but there may be < £1000 there in ten years

[condor]

If the giver gave the money with the express wish that it be put into premium bonds, then that is what should happen. Don't you think?
Could be that once the child's PB account is open that it's seen as PB's are an easy gift to make for others going forward.

[thebraketester]

condor said:

If the giver gave the money with the express wish that it be put into premium bonds, then that is what should happen. Don't you think?
Could be that once the child's PB account is open that it's seen as PB's are an easy gift to make for others going forward.

A conversation would be had before doing anything else, of course. And yes your description is exactly what we intended. I’ll check out the above, thanks.

Edited by thebraketester on Friday 1st January 12:45

[chip*]

OP initial query raise some questions for me, so hopefully someone with BC knowledge can clarify for me?

- if you purchase a BC, can you actually designate the legal owner to your child?
- is BC easily transferable? e.g. Say the BC owner pass away, how do you access the deceased BC holding?

[vulture1]

Wondering if the shoe shine boy moment is coming?

[Magicmushroom666]

Bitcoin isn't owned by a person, but rather by an online or offline wallet where it is stored. This is accessed with a log in, so could be used by anyone with the details.

[tertius]

Magicmushroom666 said:

Bitcoin isn't owned by a person, but rather by an online or offline wallet where it is stored. This is accessed with a log in, so could be used by anyone with the details.

Err, where to start with this, a bitcoin (short code BTC by the way not BC) is an asset so of course it can be owned by a person. The confusion arises I think as bitcoins themselves only ever exist on the Bitcoin blockchain ledger, held in “addresses” on the blockchain. Addresses are accessed and controlled by public and private keys. Public keys allow anyone to see the balance and transactions to/from any address and to send bitcoins (or more usually fractions thereof) to that address. Private keys allow the controller of the address to actually send from the address.

Accordingly what is becoming really important with bitcoin and inheritance is going to be managing the transfer of the private keys. Wallets are a simply how the address keys are stored and managed. Often they are software tools that make it easier to manage private keys and their associated addresses, create new ones and so on but that isn’t really essential - you could write out a private key by hand on a piece of paper, give it to someone and they now have control of the address and any bitcoins it holds.

So if you were lucky enough to own some bitcoin you could create a new paper wallet (simply a piece of paper with the private and public keys printed on) transfer the bitcoins to that address put it in an envelope and leave them there. Then in your will simply leave the envelope to your kids (or whoever).

Keep that piece of paper f***ing safe as it is like cash! Though actually I think there are ways of password protecting paper wallets though I’m not familiar with the details. However then of course you need to make sure the password and the paper wallet (kept separately of course) get to the right person somehow.

Probably better asking here if you want to seriously consider bitcoin: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

(Apols for the wall of text - all written on my phone!)

[elanfan]

Stick it in a junior ISA and put it in Ceres Power and/or EQT and forget it.

[tertius]

chip* said:

OP initial query raise some questions for me, so hopefully someone with BC knowledge can clarify for me?

- if you purchase a BC, can you actually designate the legal owner to your child?
- is BC easily transferable? e.g. Say the BC owner pass away, how do you access the deceased BC holding?

Tom, see my later post - in short, create a paper wallet, send the BTC there, keep the paper wallet safe give them the paper wallet.

PS hope you are well!

[Mr Pointy]

thebraketester said:

condor said:

If the giver gave the money with the express wish that it be put into premium bonds, then that is what should happen. Don't you think?
Could be that once the child's PB account is open that it's seen as PB's are an easy gift to make for others going forward.

A conversation would be had before doing anything else, of course. And yes your description is exactly what we intended. I’ll check out the above, thanks.

Premium Bonds have a very poor average return & Bitcoin is just gambling (& subject to Capital Gains Tax). Either a JISA or a SIPP would be my choice.

[BobToc]

Yep, long-term equity tracker and forget about it.

[craigjm]

Bitcoin is gambling as said you may as well just go and stick it on black at your local casino once a year

[bitchstewie]

craigjm said:

Bitcoin is gambling as said you may as well just go and stick it on black at your local casino once a year

Whilst I agree with this in so much as I wouldn't entertain doing it with more than a token amount there are serious investment houses that seem to be using some bitcoin as part of their portfolios.

Still red or black but with a 1-2% downside v an unlimited upside presumably.

[chip*]

tertius said:

Tom, see my later post - in short, create a paper wallet, send the BTC there, keep the paper wallet safe give them the paper wallet.

PS hope you are well!

Hi DW,
I am pretty au fait with standard regulated products (Equity, FICC, plus structured products etc. ), but BTC is still an unknown entity for me, so appreciate your detailed response.

Ps. Once this batflu blows over, I will try organise a meal with all the usual suspects from the old car club again.

Edit to add: having read the above, BTC sounds a bit like the now defunct bearer bonds (which actually paid a coupon) which was popular with the crims! i.e. physical ownership of the certificate / key for BTC represents the legal owner!

Edited by chip* on Saturday 2nd January 12:26

[ReallyReallyGood]

I invested a small amount in BT about 5 years ago. Worth 70% less today.