To put money into Premium Bonds?

[Florence1960]

My Dad always had them and loved getting the odd win. If you had a bit of spare money, would you invest in them?

I’ve done cash. Only won once £25 in 6-7 years tho.

I do. I don't think it makes "sense" from an investment pov but then returns on risk free savings are so low atm anyway, the difference will be negligible and there's always the possibility....

No experience of them per-se but experience in the financial sector, and I'm about to open one for my little girl. From what I've read it seems like a reasonable choice in a market which is flaky and low interest bearing.

Things have changed quite a lot in the last few years - the amount of prize money given out has decreased hugely. We have some already that we are leaving alone but we won't be buying any more....

Most savings accounts are currently paying about tuppence ha’penny per decade so it’s as good a place as any for some savings at the mo, IMO.

@QuantamBaby

Things have changed quite a lot in the last few years - the amount of prize money given out has decreased hugely. We have some already that we are leaving alone but we won't be buying any more....

That's because interest rates have fallen so much, the prizes are essentially interest paid in a different way. In a world where you can't get 1% on savings, unless you have huge savings it's not going to make much difference.

Yes I have bonds and win £25 maybe 9/12months

One day may win the big one

Someone has to

Unlike the lottery

www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/premium-bonds-calculator/#result

This is quite fun to play with to give you an idea of the likelihood of winning.

Well starling bank is now charging customers to hold their savings...and interest rates are so low. ,why not? who knows!

We have about £20,000 in Premium Bonds. Won very little so far but keep hoping!

No, I’ve never had a win.

I have 10000 worth and usually win 25 or 50 a month

I have some. I find them a useful place for short term investment. I use them to hold the money I expect to need to pay my tax bill. I’ve won £400 in the last year (with approximately £25000 of premium bonds).

Following

I’ve £3k in recently as saving rates were pants so why not. I’m not prepared to risk it with stocks/shares so I’m happy to try

My partner has over 20k and regularly wins £50-£100 a month most months.

We use them. We are retired and have a good amount of savings. So, 4 reasons that we use....we both exceed the tax allowance for interest and use are ISAs for investments. If we put the money in a saving account we’ll pay 20% tax...in premium Bonds any win is tax free. Premium Bond wins are worked out based on a equivalent % rate of interest...I think that is at 1.4%...so if you have average luck that’s the level of wins you would expect. Actually that is quite high compared with banks right now, but even when it was lower the tax boost made it higher.
2nd reason: it is easy access...easy to take out and then buy again. ( have to be a bit careful around timing when buy bonds re prize qualifying period
3rd reason- secure, Gov protected
4th reason- and this makes a difference. The more you have in the higher chances of winning something bigger than average luck. Every £ equals 1 draw number...so if you invest £25 you have 25 chances out of whatever million chances it is. But if you invested £5000, you’d have 5000 chances every month....at the maximum of £40000 you have 40000 chances of winning anything or the big prizes.

So people commenting that they barely win is in part that they have small investments. Between DH and I we win a £25 every month for last 18 months, and this month we had 5 wins of £25 between us, so a nice £125 win.

If you aren’t using all your tax saving allowance and only have small sums..then probably not worth it. Go to MSE website...Martin Lewis explains it clear and there’s a ready reckoned of what you might win on what you invest

It obviously is the luck of the draw. I have some money in Premium Bonds which I put there about a year ago because given the pitiful interest rate available I thought it would be fun to do some very safe gambling . I've won the equivalent of the interest I would have earned in a year so far so I haven't lost out so far. I might have done something different if saving was in any way worth doing at the moment.

Sorry, should say at least £25 per month over 18 months...we’re averaging an equivalent rate of interest tax free at 1.5% right now so we’re happy with that

I win about £25 a month, most months but I do have quite a bit in there.

Yes, we get regular wins, two of our numbers are very lucky. It works out about 8-9% interest over the past 2-3 years.

I’m the main earner and my job is precarious so over the last few years I’ve put money into PB every month to build up our emergency mortgage / living fund. We’ve not needed it so far but I’m very happy that it’s there and is safe. Over the last 5 years we’ve seen a return of around 1.6% but I think the largest individual prize I’ve won is only £50. I keep hoping for the big win (first job would be to pen a resignation letter to my lecherous, misogynistic boss!!)

There's a long running thread on the Money Board about premium bonds. I'm thinking of moving my savings to buy bonds.

We have a decent amount of bonds and win around £25-£75 a month. Far higher than the interest we'd receive in a savings account.

DS has around £2k in his savings account and I am about to buy premium bonds with them. Interest rates are non existant so I'd rather the chance he won something, even just £25 would be an improvement!

Over the last couple of years I've won £25 eight times. My investment during this time has varied from £4K to £17K.
I don't play the lottery so this is my 'gamble' each month, I love checking the app to see if I've won.
Now the minimum investment is £25 a time it's also encouraged me to save money instead of spending.