How much should you have in premium bonds to make it worthwhile?

[Mnetter72]

I’ve seen people say you need atleast £20k to make premium bonds winnings worthwhile. I have a couple of hundred to invest, is it even worth it?

F

depends what you mean by worthwhile.
Holdings over about £15k mean on average a prize most months, but because it’s a random draw there are a few large wins for small holdings every month.
Wins are tax free so if you’re a Higher rate taxpayer the average return can be lower than the “best buy” bank accounts but still be better value for some.
It’s easy and fairly quick to access the money so is good for an emergency fund or to save for a tax bill.

A few hundred won't get you any guaranteed (or even likely) regular returns, but someone has to win big every month so you never know! Might be a bit of fun.

We gave my DS £500 in premium bonds as part of his 18th birthday present. He’s 25 now and never won a penny 🤣

I put £500 in probably about 7 years ago and it has returned £25.

Before anyone jumps it isn’t strategic or my life savings. I just didn’t do anything with it!

My DM has saved 50k over the last 20-25 years working as a carer in premium bonds. She wins money pretty much every month. I think there is a calculator on MSE where you can work it out.

I have £25 as gotta be in it to win it 😂 There is an app that does a Big Reveal each month.

I think you can have lucky blocks. My late relative had £500 of them, and won regularly, several times a year. It got to be a standing joke between her and the bank when she went to pay the cheques in. Again!

I've had £100 since 1997. Never won once.

If you’ve got a couple of hundred that you’d otherwise spend on lottery tickets - you’re better off with premium bonds.

If you don’t pay tax on interest, you’re better off putting them in a savings account.

When I had £19K in PB,s I was winning between £50 and £150 per month….gave our daughter £9k toward a deposit leaving me with £10k and in the space of an entire year won just £150…. Then spent another £5k on a few home improvements and have won absolutely nothing now for so long….will be in a position to invest another £10/11k next month and will still be putting them in PB,s , and keeping everything crossed … HTH xx

I have full holdings and win most months, sometimes a small amount and the largest I’ve ever won was £500.
DH has about 30k invested and he also wins most months but not usually as much

I had £40k for a year while saving up for something, I won 2 x £25. Was most disappointing.

I have the max and win almost every month.

If you're not in you can't win. Why not wack £200 into Premium Bonds as it's certainly not going to do much anywhere else - the worst that can happen is you win zero, mediocre you might get £25 over a kzillion years, and you'd still be doing better than jamming it into a savings account. Or maybe, just maybe, you get lucky and win up to a £milllion.

It's a good bet to store £200 I think.

I’ve seen very small amounts win big prizes on premium bonds, but statistically it’s unlikely. I’ve had between 20 and 40k in there at anyone time and done pretty well. Most I’ve won is around £800 although last month I won absolutely nothing.

There’s a thread I do in money matters for pb

i don’t have a lot. But often win

someone with £100 holding in March won one of the million X 2 prizes

so it can Happen

Martin Lewis did a piece on this and said it wasn’t high odds overall of competing with a saving account.

My dad had the maximum. He won most months, including a win of £50,000.

DS has £600, built up over the last 16 years. He's won £200 in the last 7 years.

I have £50k due to an inheritance , starter with around £30k in August and have won £625, last month won £225 . Husband now has £50k so will see what he wins in May. We only have until March next year , as we are paying off our mortgage, any winnings are going into a savings account for next years holiday.

From memory it’s about 1/22,000 chance of your bond winning each month. I had £42k in last month and won nothing, £37k this month and won five prizes totalling £250

I had £10k in there for a couple of years and didn’t win every month - had below average returns, probably £50-100 every few months?

We’ve remortgaged to fund renovations and I parked some of the cash in PBs to make it up to £50k (the max you can hold) and I’ve won £150-300 every month so far (and my returns are more than 5x what they were when I had £10k).

It only really makes sense if you don’t have a tax-free interest allowance / have already maxed this out.

Once you’ve paid 42-47% on your bank interest, premium bonds might work out a better option as tax free.

What a waste of money. You’re effectively gambling when you could have that same money in an ISA / investment fund that performs well. We’ve had returns of c25% on our fund

If you want a guaranteed return, buy a bond instead https://www.nsandi.com/british-savings-bonds

Premium bonds are tax free, so they're a good option if you have already maxed out your tax allowances and ISAs, and it's a bit of fun. But if you definitely want to increase your cash, buy a bond with a guaranteed return.