Is it worth doing anything with £1000?

Premium bonds have their place, whatever your income. If it’s a choice between putting £1K in a savings account to gain a guaranteed £50 after one year, or the minuscule chance of winning big with PB’s with £1K worth of bonds, I would do the latter. You don’t lose your ‘stake’. But the must powerful way to make money is with compounding.

Vanguard.

This is more ‘real life’ post compared to posters complaining about the raise in little Apollo’s private s hood fees, where can their find a summer dress for around £300, which power supply for the new SUV, how much should their tip the cleaner at Christmas.
Yes, many many times in my life £50 seemed like a distant dream and I’m very happy that the original poster has some cash to save, no matter how much!

I’d suggest premium bonds because whilst they don’t make “sense” from an interest point of view, the psychology behind them means my lump sum is much more likely to say intact.

if I have a big month spend wise, I don’t mind moving money out of savings because it’s only going to be worth pennies that month in interest. But if I have to dip into premium bonds- that £100 was the one last month which was going to win me the million. Might be illogical, but it works for me!

This is what I would do, and it seems OP has other savings.

It is but it’s only for existing customers. I’ve just transferred the contents of my NW savings account into that bond.

Yeah this - what's the alternative if you don't think it's worth the bother.
Unless there's something you actively need to buy why would you save it automatically, and for the sake of a few seconds in the highest interest account you can?

No idea why people are suggesting premium bonds - the chance of winning big or even making close to the £50 of interest you'd definitely get is low - their average return has decreased significantly recently and the less you have the less likely you are to win - the people who regularly make anything like the average (which is still much less than 5%) have much higher holdings. Mse has a probability calculator - direct quote
"With average luck, you would expect to win roughly £0 over 1 year if you have £1,000 of Premium Bonds."

Premium bonds only make financial sense once you have already maxed out an isa and are over the taxed interest rate in a current account (and usually if you've also overpaid a mortgage). Guaranteed money almost always beats possibility even more so when the possibility of matching the guaranteed money is pretty low.

That doesn't make it a stealth boast.... She's asking what she should do with £1000. It's not like she's complaining she only has £1million in her current account, how is she going to make it until next day day

If I was you op I would be putting it in the highest interest easy access savings account that you can. I'm assuming from your messages you probably don't have an emergency fund, so I would use the £1000 as a kick start to that and if you can afford to put a bit extra away each month. It saves you getting out debt when things like broken boilers, car repairs etc come up unexpectedly

I have never had an emergency fund before and I have started one recently while I'm also paying off debt from previous emergencies because I'm fed up of having to get another credit card or loan every time something happens

you might “only” get £50 by saving it, but at the end of the year you also still have your £1000. If there’s nothing you desperately want, surely you’d save it anyway regardless of the interest rates, so as just not to fritter away so much money?

personally I’d 1) premium bonds it. You might not get any “interest” but even one prize and you’d be ahead of the game.
and 2) I love rounding up spends, (a lot of banks do it for you automatically) I’d use the £1000 to kickstart a savings account and then transfer a few rounded up transaction amounts over there each month.

I also suggest premium bonds. You can set up an online account and access your money at any time. There is no risk of losing your money, as it is backed by the government, and there is a chance of prizes (some very large ones).
Statistics say that with larger amounts invested, the number of wins annually averages at around 5%.
I don't have much in my account at the moment, having just moved house, but I have had several wins a year in the past and they did average around 5% of my investment.

What i'd give for a spare £50 right now, let alone £1000

Stick it in Premium bonds? You may get more of your £50 but you won't lose your £1000

Open a separate current account with a bank that doesn't tend to offer switch deals. Use it as a dummy account for bank switches (so it doesn't affect your main current account). Check cashback sites for extra cash rewards.
I made about £800 in the first year doing this, plus extras such a night away, and other rewards. Your cash is safe, and available if needed. That's about an 80% return on my £1K.

https://becleverwithyourcash.com/

Invest at least in a stocks and shares ISA and forget about it for a few years.

I'd stick it in Vanguard Lifestrategy 100 (because that's what I already do with my savings!). Opened my account in 2020 and it's been quite lucrative so far. Relatively high risk though.

£1k I'd stick in our instant access joint savings. £5k plus I'd put in an ISA.

I’d pop it in premium bonds as you might get lucky. Or an ISA and get into the habit of topping it up every month if your able.

I didn’t realise these still existed!

I’d buy premium bonds

Your bank will have some fixed rate savings accounts, easiest to just use one that your bank offers already if you are not bothered about the odd extra percent of interest

If you think you might need it, put it in an instant access savings account, look for the highest interest you can get while still having access. I get about 4% on mine.

an iSA doesn’t necessity mean you can’t access your money. You’ll get higher interest rates on ones that are less accessible but should still get a decent rate on something which allows a couple of withdrawals per year. Or stick it in premium bonds.

Premium bonds are not the best option.

Avg return is ~3.8% (worse if you hold a small amount) and you can get savings accounts with better interest rates.

Assuming you don’t have much in savings already, you probably have a sizeable tax-free interest allowance too.

If you aren't going to need it for a year just put it in a fixed rate savings account surely

Premium bonds. You only need 1 win of £25 and you've probably made more than an interest

Haven't you got any other savings to put it with and benefit from compounding?