PREMIUM BONDS DEC 2024 .......

[Blondeshavemorefun]

New thread and I've been asked to give some basic info. Feel free to add stuff

PB have been about since 1957

Been 30yrs (April 2024) since a million was then the highest prize

nsandi-corporate.com/news-research/news/30-years-premium-bonds-ps1-million-jackpots#

Each bond is £1. You have to buy in minimum of £25 so means 25 chances to win every purchase

Odds of winning £1 million on Premium Bonds at face value are 1 in 2,489,469,818 if you have £25 in PBs.

However most people have more than £25 so the odds depend on how much you do hold.

If you have £100 the odds in any given month are 1 in 49,563,028

£1,000 in PB the odds are 1 in 4,954,991

£50,000 in PB the odds are 1 in 96,839

To win anything odds are 1 in 22000

So providing you have more than £100 you have better odds than winning the lottery 😄

And obviously far better than the lottery - you don’t lose your stake !!!!!!

Bonds have to be in for a clear month before going into the draw

If you want to cash bonds in then usually takes 3 days to go into your account

Winnings can be reinvested if holdings are under £50k

This means they will go into the next months draw without losing a month

Or sent to named bank account if winnings take over FH /want winnings in bank account

More info here

www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/savings/types-of-savings/premium-bonds

The best time to buy premium bonds is on the last day of the month, as this means they are only held by NSI for one month and one day, without being entered into the prize draw.

PB to me is the fun and thrill each month of what if I win big and a millionaire - to then hoping win thousands to a day or two later being grateful if win £25😂

I have nowhere near the maximum and probably never will unless I win £50k + on pb

But only takes one £1 to win that million !!!

I love seeing the low holdings win high amounts

We've seen over the years £100 win £100k and £50 win £25k and even £1 won £10k

Maximum is £50k per person so some do have all for family- mum dad and 2 kids so £200k etx

Those on the thread are varying from few hundred /few thousand - to 20/30k to full holdings of £50k

Everyone is welcome to join in whether small or full holdings

One would expect if had full holdings of £50k to win something every month and think over the year to earn the same as if in a high interest account to win around £1925 in prizes

If have £5k average luck is £175 winnings a year

Obviously some people have better 'luck' than others and some worse - Ie full holdings and not winning anything a month or two or even longer

PB odds calculator below

moneymarvel.co.uk/calculators/premium-bonds/

Or this one is quite good as shows the interest rate of the winnings - obv anything over 5% is good as if in an account you wouid be taxed so be more like 3.75%)

In August 2023, NS&I hiked the prize fund to a 24-year high of 4.65 per cent from 4 per cent, a level not seen since 1999.

But it has been steadily falling since, with the last cut to the prize fund to 4.4 per cent from 4.65 per cent in March

From Dec 2024 it will be at 4.14%

www.candidmoney.com/calculators/national-savings-premium-bond-calculator

From google (august 2023) - The consistent winners are the 1.16 million people who have the maximum £50,000.

They hold almost half of all premium bonds and, at current odds of 1/22000 can expect a monthly stream of tax-free prizes: two a month and three almost every other month, 28 or 29 a year totaling £1,925

From google (Jan 2024) Tho equally With Premium Bonds, for every person who wins £1 million, a lot of people have to win nothing. So the median average will always be lower than the mean average.

This means that, with average luck, most people will win less than the prize rate each year, regardless of how many bonds they hold

To work out your own personal % rate

Take your total prizes, divide it by the number of months and x by 12.

Then divide that figure into your total holding and x 100.

So say £500 prizes in 6 months / 6 x 12 = £1000.

Holdings £30,000 = 1000/30000 x 100 = 3.33% interest rate.

But many on here do have £50k and then consider moving it to an account that pays 4% if their bonds aren't doing very well as would then def get extra money

But remember savings /interest get taxed

PB and their winnings don't

So they do dither whether to pull out from pb and put in high interest account if not winning anything so that they will def earn x amount of interest

But then lose the what if won a million or £100k

If you have PB but not sure if you have ever won esp if moved about a lot

you can write to NS&I. Include these details in the letter:

	Current name

	Current address

	Premium Bond holder number 

	All previous addresses where you might have registered bonds

	Your signature 

You can send your letter to:

NS&I,
Sunderland
SR43 2SB.

There are 2 apps afaik

Cream - prize checker and if won previous month will show a pic - which we all get excited over 😂😂😂

Blue - the app its self works but the showing early often doesn't work for me but those who reinvest their winnings say it shows if won the day before app shows 🙀🙀🙀

Seems the higher the winnings the earlier it shows and can be from 6pm the night before the app shows

And to confuse things I have a White app that is a bookmark - which shows info/list 😄😄😄

Now this has been debated on MANY times but seems to be correct

When do we find out if going to get a visit from AM 😂

The two winners of 
the £1million prizes will be contacted by Agent Million (AM) 😂😂 the day before the first working day of the corresponding month.

There may however be 
exceptions to this, such as when the first working day of the month is a 
bank holiday, for example.

So

Day before first working day - Millionaire knock /call

First day of working month - list showing all winners million to £1k winners - which I always put up for those who can't find it

Day after first working day , including weekends - cream app showing all winnings

You can also check to see if have won via this link with your holders number

www.nsandi.com/prize-checker

Hopefully I've covered everything

Good luck one and all 😄

The app shows winnings in the last 6 months. Is there anyway of looking at yearly wins?
Thank you

I KNOW for a fact I have PB as they were given to me by my grandparent. I had them in the original envelope & it has gone missing. I had my belongings in storage before a house move & think it must have gone missing around tgat time but I have written to them with all my details & they say they have no record of them. Very frustrating! Is there anything I can do?

Go to prize winnings in the blue app. I can see my two wins from the last twelve months.

Yes I had mine from when I was born a LONG time ago. I contacted them and they found them.

https://www.nsandi.com/help/lost-touch-with-nsandi/get-back-to-premium-bonds

This should help

I’ve put my savings in premium bonds all my life. Most months I get £100 prizes or more. I’ve taken money out when needed, but have put in £100 a month by standing order for decades now — it mounts up steadily without having to do anything. Well worth while.

No

Sometimes PBs for a child might be recorded under the name of a parent (or even a grandparent)

Can I ask if the agent Millionaire actually phones you? what if they don't have your number or you don't answer, do they then write to you?

@allthemiddlechildrenoftheworld I love reading small owners winning

Same, my parents always went on about the premium bonds my sister and I had. I tried to trace my but it only came back with the current ones and then when my dsis did a trace they found £5 worth. If she had £5 worth then I would definitely have had the same.

Plus we both believe it should have been more.

I had £10,000 in premium bonds for a few years and I'm fairly certain that I won no more than £200 in total. So I effectively lost money due to inflation.

Better to put your money into stocks and shares, and you will see a much higher return.

From an administrative perspective you'd be better off dividing the money equally and being under the £50K limit, as you can both reinvest any winnings automatically. If one of you has Full Holdings, any winning would have to be paid manually into the other account. I have to do this for DH and it's a bit of a pain.

I buy £50 every Xmas and birthday for my grand niece. She is only 5 so hopefully it’ll accumulate with maybe a win or two.

You could lose the whole £10k if you invested in stocks and shares - you never lose your investment with PB even if inflation does erode its value somewhat

@happinessischocolate You could lose the whole £10k if you invested in stocks and shares

You can only lose the whole £10k if you do high-risk investments (such as investing in a single stock, or a small number of stocks) or if you employ the "buy high, sell low" technique. If you invest your £10k in a simple index fund or ETF, then it will not be lost so long as you don't sell at a loss.

you never lose your investment with PB even if inflation does erode its value somewhat

Most people underestimate the effects of inflation. If you have £10k at year 0 and still have £10k 3 years later, then in real terms, that's a larger financial loss than most people think.

@shuggles I don't know what the prize rate was when you had your 10K worth of PB's, but it probably won't be far off the current rate of 4.0%. I just checked and with average luck over three years you'd get £975 in total as winnings on £10K. So this suggests that you had below average luck with your £200 winnings.

Agreed. And I like putting my money into a state enterprise, where it’s doing some good.

@shuggles is right about underestimating the effects of inflation. If you had bought £10k of premium bonds 3 years ago in 2021, without any wins and taking account of the high rates of inflation over that time, it would have the equivalent buying power of around £8320 today. So you would need to have 'won' £560 on average each of those 3 years just to effectively break even.

The inflation issue would also affect any cash sat in a bank.

But equally putting money in stocks and shares has to be a long term action and be prepared to ride the peaks and troughs that affect the stock market.

Personally I have a mix of savings and investments and PBs are part of that.

@Blondeshavemorefun I just wanted to say thanks for setting our so clearly the pros and cons of Premium Bonds, have just invested my first £10k and am looking forward to February's results! Good luck in December and January, everyone!

Most welcome @LatteLady

Can somebody please advise where to get the blue app - I’ve only got the cream one with red writing! Thank you.

Go to the App store and type in Premium bonds in the search box???

(lots of question marks as not sure if this works for everyone, but it does on my phone)

Thanks - only option is the cream app I already have or a black one which is NS&I (iPhone).