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?

I look at the high value list every month and would say you need at least £30K in holdings to get on there. Preferably the full £50K (the majority of winners in that list have this amount. On the PB’s thread on here, most of the winners have holdings of £10K. Generally speaking, PB’s are a bit pointless if you only have a tiny amount.

On balance I would say at least £30K.

I have £50.000 which is the maximum . It's down to luck . I've had the max for a few years and have never ' won ' any more than a high interest a/c would have given me . Mostly it's around the same or lower .

Makes sense if you want easy access cash and you don’t get / have used up your savings interest allowance.

Unless you have maxed out your isa allowance etc premium bonds are useless, they do not grow, even a regular saver account would bring a higher return.

Some of us don’t give a shit about financial growth, it’s the tiny chance of winning big that keeps us hooked.

I put £100 about 4 years ago and won 2x £50 in 6th months - very lucky - although I’d rather win the lottery!

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/premium-bonds-calculator/ This will tell you all you need to know. There is no point at all in investing a couple of hundred quid- average return each year will be 0. The only situation in which that's worth doing is if you're looking for a gamble rather than an investment, in which case it's a better idea than the lottery.

How much interest over a year would £200 accrue in an ISA? £4? So fuck all.

You may as well stick it in a Premium Bonds account.

I had £50k in there a few years and hardly won a thing. Mum has £12k and wins far more often than I ever did

Dh and I both have full holdings as we have maxed our ISAs. It will all come out to pay off our mortgage in the autumn when our repayment penalties and interest rate expire. For us at our current age and stage it's just a safe place to stash some cash with (low) interest free returns and easy access, but has the fun of the 'what if'. Over a year we get about the same as we would in a savings account. Even with 2xFH, some months one or both of us gets nothing at all. We've had £500 between us a couple of times in the two or three years we've had them, and an average of £100-£150 a month between us. You do need to understand the odds and be happy with the depreciation and absolutely tiny chance of winning. (DH is much less happy with the above and essentially humours me as it's relatively short-term).

Yep, you’ve nailed it.

I agree with @curiositykilledthiscat- I view it like playing the lottery. I’ve had £100 in premium bonds for about 10 years and won £25 once. Like the lottery, if you have more tickets, you’re more likely to win, but I only ever buy one ticket for the lottery knowing this. It’s a nice dream. Set against that, unlike the lottery, your money isn’t spent, at any point I can get my £100 back. I may have missed out on a tiny bit of interest, but not enough to worry about.

This

it’s hardly gambling as don’t lose what you invest

yes I may lose a few pounds of interest if in a high interest account - but talking literally pence and pounds

its not like the lottery where you spend £10 weekly and lose that money if don’t win

not sure all understand pb tbh

I have £100 that my nan put in as part of her will for me about 15 years ago

I've won twice...not significant amounts, but enough for a very nice treat for us all

I think people are trying to answer OP’s question about the level at which premium bonds are a worthwhile investment. Whether they’re a decent way to have a punt is a different question.

As I said I don’t have a lot. Over 4 figures and always Under 5 figures

depending when I’ve paid my tax as I’m self employed how much over a thousand

many say to max out isa first. Then out into pb if went to possibly win

if you want to always get some money then need a high rate interest account with it 4ish % at the moment but that also gets taxed

so many will reinvest their pb winnings so no tax paid

I do win a fair amount. Pure luck

My DS was given Premium Bonds by his GPs (he was difficult to buy for!), usually £25 at birthday and same at Christmas. So after a number of years he had a few hundred, and this didn't really win anything. But his grandmother died and left him £20K, so we put that into Premium Bonds for him. Now he's 16 we've amalgamated the two accounts into one that he manages himself, and it's not doing too badly. His account actually wins quite a few times a year - the winnings are reinvested so it's building up nicely. He's got about £34K in there.

I said on another thread this week, we all won something this month, £125, £150, £175. DH and I have maximum holdings and we win roughly ten months out of twelve, similar figures as mentioned but once I got over £1000. We are all hoping for a really big win, you just never know.

You might get a reasonable win with £200 but the chances are pretty low to be fair. If you don't need to make more out of it (ie decent interest), it's worth a pop as you're still in with a chance to scoop a big prize. It happens!

The last 10 months - I've won £1,025 , one NIL month ,
biggest prize month was £325 (£100 + £100 + £100 + £25) ,
quite a few £50 prizes - my first eligible month
was Oct 2024 and July 1st 2025 I had 2 x £50 prizes - my average
balance is about £22k

@ShodAndShadySenators do you invest, having a spread of money is always best . Investing it will lead to higher returns.

I was just looking at this the other day - I inherited some money last year and whilst thinking about what to do with it I decided to buy the full amount of premium bonds.

I have just passed the one year anniversary of holding them and my experience is that I won prizes in 11 of the past 12 months - the prizes have ranged from £25 to £1000.

Adding it all up in total I won £3325 which is a return of 6.65% - marginally better than the 4 or 5% I am getting on my savings account. The value of premium bonds to me is that I can access the money easily with no penalties for withdrawals (plus of course there is the chance of winning big - I dream!)

If you want guaranteed returns you would be better off buying company or govermment bonds or if you want a bit of risk buy equities/ unit trusts etc - these will all probably give you a better return, especially over a medium-long time period.

I have 10k in and would say I win £25 a few times a year and a bigger amount say £150 maybe once a year. Biggest ever win £200.

Whereas my youngest is 2, started with £500 in PBs and has 'won' £150 in total (across 3 different draws). My eldest is 4y and has had similar 'wins'.

Yes, we do. We don't have all our savings in PB, as you say it's better to have the risk over a wider portfolio

I’ve had £800 in pb for over a year won nothing .
my dh has 10k and wins small amounts I would say every 3 months

No. I have the maximum £50,000 and I get fuck all. £25 to £50 a month. Im withdrawing it soon..