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 😄

@bouncydog the black one ("prize checker") used to be the cream one but I just noticed it's now black on my iPhone. Don't know which update changed it though.

@bouncydog There is no black NS&I app in the Apple App Store. Do you mean this one?

These are the apps I can see on the iPhone App Store. One black, one cream.

Might show up differently in dark mode (it's a black icon on my phone screen but still cream in the App Store)

Like this:

Those are the two that I can see. There is no blue one.

The one labelled "NS&I" in my screenshot is the blue one, it's very dark blue though.

Most people do not earn mumsnet salaries and our only priority is putting our savings into a place where it will grow enough to function as a true financial safety net.

But shuggles if you want guaranteed interest then PB is probably not for you and I assume you don't have them anymore.

Counting down the days everyone. Fingers crossed for a lucky start to 2025.

It's not guaranteed interest that I need. It's growth. Money does not grow enough in premium bonds.

I have my money in stocks now. The growth that I have seen in my money so far is equivalent to about 9 - 10% a year. I know my stocks could go down in future, but so long as I hold my money, the value will recover again. I wish I had invested in stocks years ago instead of premium bonds.

Where do you keep your easy access savings for emergencies etc?

I use premium bonds for these (have 3 months expenses saved atm and working towards 6 months) and save longer term in my ISA. If you’re a higher rate tax payer and have maxed out ISA savings then premium bonds are a good option imo.

As PP I also use PBs for instant cash savings with the bonus of tax free winnings.

My pension is the long term investment in the stock market, my ISA is for tax free savings but PBs have the added fun part.

Since everyone should have 3 - 6 months of their salary as readily-available cash, having 3 - 6 months of pay in premium bonds actually isn't a bad idea.

Most people are not higher rate tax payers (including me) and maxing out annual ISA savings is virtually impossible for over 99% of the population. Though I suppose this is mumsnet after all, where salaries in the top 5% are the norm rather than the exception.

TBF I see this thread as somewhere for people to share the excitement of whether they have won each month rather than a thread to encourage people to invest in PBs versus other savings.

There are a lot of reasons why PBs might not be the best thing for some people but for those that have invested it's nice to share the monthly excitement and disappointment.

Yes, that’s what I mean 3-6 months in PBs - in my case it makes sense.

I think if not a higher rate tax payer than it’s possible that some savings accounts may be a better bet than PBs (I think moneysavingexpert has the details).

But even if it’s not necessarily the best returns, a lot of people enjoy the fun anyway.

@JumpinJellyfish I think if not a higher rate tax payer than it’s possible that some savings accounts may be a better bet than PBs

What's the connection between tax rates and PBs?

Higher and additional rate taxpayers pay more tax on savings interest, whereas premium bond “winnings” are tax free.

So as an additional rate tax payer I only get 55% of the interest on other savings accounts, so 55% of the headline rate. With the recent drop in most savings interest rates, this makes PBs much more competitive, even for those without average luck.

The theory is that as a high rate tax payer, if you’ve maxed out your ISA allowance, then PBs make more sense as the winnings are tax free. You only get £500 in allowance as a high rate taxpayer so if you win more than this over a year it’s worth more in your pocket as you’d have had to pay 40% tax on any interest on a regular savings account.

@JumpinJellyfish Got it, thank you.

Yep @RubbishDay That's why I started doing pb threads

It's the what if ........

But then I don't have £50k in them so prob unlikely to ever win the million or £100k

But

I do very well out of them for the small amount I have and which will drop again end of jan when I pay my tax bill and start saving again

As my late DM used to say about playing bingo, you can play the maximum number of tickets but only ONE can win.

I always think of her saying that when people talk about PBs. I have the max so yes I have better odds but only one (or rather two bonds for the million) can win. You never know 🤞

I invested the full £50K 5 weeks ago from a property sale. How do I check every month any wins? January 2025 will be my first 'live' month!

You need ns&i prize checker found in App Store

cream

I, recently, visited a couple who are close friends with my DH and I. We hadn't seen them much, this year, because they were away on several high end holidays (Chins was one). He revealed he had won £50k and had 'blown it' on their holidays. I was both delighted and jealous at the same time!
She then added she had won £25k in Decembers draw.
I admitted I was green with envy. Was that bad?
My DH and I revealed the most we had won was £200 between us in December and had never won an individual prize of more than £200.
We both think we must be due a biggish win soon! 🤣

Fucking hell. I’ve had 20k in premium bonds from an inheritance for the last 18 months.

Want to know the grand total I’ve won in prizes?

£0

Yep, that’s right. JACK SHIT.