Premium Bonds

[PinkDalek]

I take it this (then) unclaimed £100,000 wasn't yours:

A Premium Bond prize of £100,000 that has been unclaimed for seven years belongs to a winner who was last listed as living in Australia.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/pers ... rizes.html

[Halicarnassus]

I take it this (then) unclaimed £100,000 wasn't yours:

A Premium Bond prize of £100,000 that has been unclaimed for seven years belongs to a winner who was last listed as living in Australia.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/pers ... rizes.html

Unfortunately no!

[CommissarJones]

IMO they are currently a very poor place to keep funds.

Agreed. I used to own Premium Bonds and did reasonably well out of them, but sold my entire holding (£29k) at the end of 2008 because it seemed to me that PBs clearly would be a less attractive investment after the Bank of England slashed Bank Rate to near zero.

[AleisterCrowley]

1% is pretty much par for the course for risk-free cash investments
I think my Investec High5 (which is the average of the 'best accounts') pays about 0.9%

[XFool]

1% is pretty much par for the course for risk-free cash investments
I think my Investec High5 (which is the average of the 'best accounts') pays about 0.9%

Yes. I wish all these people claiming "it's a lousy investment" would tell us where they are keeping their dosh at 5%+ on cash! And it's tax free - which seems to be becoming more and more important one way or another.

Of course there are shares, but that's a different discussion.

[NeilW]

for those with Premium Bonds don't forget there is the Premium Bond Probability Calculator which links to an article discussing whether Premium Bonds are worth it.

[poundcoin]

Yes. My parents bought 2 for me in 1956. Never won anything, neither has my sister who was also bought 2.

Lousy investment

--kiloran

I'm the same but got my two premium bonds on a works saving scheme in the 60s . Can't remember the finer details but a group of us used to chip in a few shillings each week and in turn one of the "members" would receive a premium bond .
Never won a thing and always think it strange that I have never had any communication of any sort from NS&I , even it was trying to sell you more bonds .
I say no communication , I have the white holders card issued when I changed address in 1990 .
Last week thought I would check my 2 "precious" bonds online but couldn't do it as I don't have an online account .
Tried to set this up giving address and holders number etc but failed as they said they didn't have enough info !
Prompt said print off an online form and post it off to Glasgow . The information on the form is just the same as I gave online !
The stamp cost 54p so now I reckon my "investment" is showing a 25% loss .

[Halicarnassus]

One of the benefits I find is the accessibility that is beyond the impulse but easy enough to access within a few days. Bank accounts are just too handy even though the returns might be similar.

[swill453]

Last week thought I would check my 2 "precious" bonds online but couldn't do it as I don't have an online account .

You can check if you've missed a prize without registering, just go here https://www.nsandi.com/prize-checker , select unclaimed prizes and put in your holder's number.

Or is that not what you meant by "checking"?

Scott.

[Halicarnassus]

You can also subscribe to emails and normally winners are notified between the 6-8th of the month.

[poundcoin]

You can check if you've missed a prize without registering, just go here https://www.nsandi.com/prize-checker , select unclaimed prizes and put in your holder's number.

Or is that not what you meant by "checking"?

Scott.

Ah thanks , didn't spot the arrow for the drop-down box .
Just selected unclaimed prizes and entered my 50 year old numbers and guess what .....zilch !

[Halicarnassus]

I was actually worried for a time that if I won a significant PB prize I would get hamstrung as a non UK resident. But I found out that just like ISAs you can keep em even when outside the UK permanently.

[XFool]

for those with Premium Bonds don't forget there is the Premium Bond Probability Calculator which links to an article discussing whether Premium Bonds are worth it.

Thanks for reminding us.

"The underlying probability calculations behind this easy-to-use tool were designed by a post-doctoral cosmology statistician. Each month it runs for six hours, just to calculate the new odds!"

Mind you, my one minute scribble on the back of an envelope always seems to get me much the same answer!

[jtr63]

We have some of my parents' money in Premium Bonds following a b2l house sale in 16-17 awaiting a CGT bill that will need to be paid by Jan-18. A safe haven with a (small) chance of beating the cash account and a little bit of fun attached.

John

[Halicarnassus]

....and a little bit of fun attached.

John

Quite. I do anticipate the beginning of the month to see if I've got a cheque in the post

[BobbyD]

Line up everyone with £1,000 worth of Premium Bonds in order of their year's winnings, and the person halfway along would have won… not a penny! In fact, you'd need to walk past two-thirds of the line until you hit the first £25 winner.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/premium-bonds

Not what I would call a great return...

[swill453]

Not what I would call a great return...

Well you must enlighten us as to where you can get a "great return" on your £1000, with guaranteed security and guaranteed no loss of capital.

Scott.

[OZYU]

It depends how you define 'no loss of capital'.

We measure such things against RPI, and as you can see, in our case, a definite loss of capital over that period, which is just a short sample since we stopped purchasing new bonds and just let winnings be re invested.

2004 Worse
2005 Better
2006 Worse
2007 Worse
2008 Better
2009 Worse
2010 Worse
2011 Worse
2012 Worse
2013 Worse
2014 Better
2015 Worse
2016 Worse

Overall re invested premium bonds's IRR has lagged RPI by -0.54% over that period.

Not that this slow capital leaching it will put us off, for us(as for many I am sure) it is a near cash buffer for a rainy day. And there is always the odd chance of a decent win, last one was in 2008!

Oxyu

[swill453]

It depends how you define 'no loss of capital'.

I simply meant in pound note terms. If you put £1000 in it will never go below that.

Oh and instant access is another criteria I should have mentioned.

Scott.

[XFool]

Line up everyone with £1,000 worth of Premium Bonds in order of their year's winnings, and the person halfway along would have won… not a penny! In fact, you'd need to walk past two-thirds of the line until you hit the first £25 winner.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/premium-bonds

Not what I would call a great return...

"Line up everyone with £1,000 worth of Premium Bonds in order of their year's winnings" - There's the problem, right there.

Due to the quantified nature of Premium Bond winnings, if you are going to carry out yearly interest rate comparisons with a bank or savings account (and why not?), then you need to have at least a minimum amount invested to reasonably expect, at the current odds, at least one prize a year. Plainly £1000 is currently simply not enough. So, IMV, the above comparison doesn't really make a lot of sense.