premium bonds, any good, sucess stories needed

[onlyjoking9329]

having cashed in our rubish endowment we were looking at putting money into premium bonds, have looked on there site and it sounds good, but would be good to hear other peoples thoughts,we need to know if winnings are comparable to interest rates, thanks

i looked at a website once which listed all the winners (cant remember the name) and what was evident was that the majority of winners had their bonds for 2 years or less (and I mean major winners)

thanks for quick responses, we are looking at putting in 20k but may do a monthly set sum too, so we would have some new ones each month, does that sound like a good plan

doubling your money sounds good to me, i think we will try .the only thing we have to lose is garenteed bank interest but i do like the idea that we may win each month.

But you may not win - the premium bond winnings pool is currently set at 3.2% of the investment pool, so no, not really comparable to the best interest rates. OF course you could be lucky and get a 100% return, or you could be unlucky and get 0.

IMO - best places for cash (presuming you want to keep it in cash)
£3,000 each in ISA - check www.moneyfacts.co.uk for best rates - this gives you a tax free return
Regular investment of £20-500 per month into Abbey Fixed rate monthly saverhere whcih pays a fixed rate of 7% for the next 12 months. Halfax have a similar product as well.

If you want to take a bit of a risk, try a VCT (Venture Capital Trust). THis is quite a high-risk investment (invests in small business), but has a HUGE tax advantage at the moment. For every £1 you invest (and keep in the fund for 3 years) you get a tax rebate of 40p. This is regardless of whether you ever actually paid 40% tax. A number of firms are launching these at the moment. As I say it is high-risk, but even if the investment loses 40% over 3 years you are still in profit because of the tax refund

thanks prufrock, we already have ISA's we are not tax payers either , we have a high interest internet account, we dont want to take much risk but need money to be available if we should need it, so dont want to tie it up in anything long term.

I have just worked out that dh and I have had £8000 back on £30000 invested over 9 yrs - just under 3%.

not great results then, mind you we dont mind if we dont make anything, we just dont want to lose,
i had the endowment for 14 years and it ended up being worth 400 quid more than i have paid in to it!

We have had a few bonds for nearly 30yrs and have won zero, zilch, nothing in all that time!!

i supose it depends how many you have, the more you have the more the chances of winning

same here suedonim

My gran has the full £30K and has won £50 per month (on average) for over 12m
Which is £600 If she invested it at 5% she would have got £1500.

But as the tax man is going to get 40% (or what ever) of what ever she gets now - inheritance tax- we don't see any advantage in giving it to him

thanks for all the info, will think about it all

My Granddad had some premium bonds and a few months after he died, he won about £50 - and they wouldn't let my Gran have the money. They just kept it! Mean, mean, mean .

I have £6 worth of bonds that my Gran bought for me when I was born, never won anything but I live in hope! She would be soooo pleased if I ever did win.

DD (19 mos) has won £50 twice! I don't think they're a great return but as my mum bought them and they cost us zero they're pretty good for us!

hello, had about 210 in bonds for around 10 years, didn't win a thing and have got my money back. I guess it is worth putting some money into it as you don't lose your investment but be aware that like me you could get no return at all!

I won 500 quid once.... long time ago (pre kids- 6-8 yrs)(would have been more useful now!)

currently have about 300 in bonds- and not won a sausage.

btw.. that win did come shortly after purchasing new bonds... so is it related? and if so.. how?

yes it seems strange that new bonds win more than old bonds