The Lemon Fool

AleisterCrowley wrote:The max holding is 50K I thought? How does one get to 80K ?

Get married ?!

aha! of course!

Bit of an extreme way to increase you holdings of course...


didds

June big winners not announced yet? Obviously not working weekends at NS&I

AleisterCrowley wrote:June big winners not announced yet? Obviously not working weekends at NS&I

I think it's always the first working day. The minor prizes come out at the start* of the next day, whether it's a working day or not.

* - literally the start, around midnight, sometimes half an hour or so before that.

Scott.

4th June

terminal7 wrote:4th June

The high value prizes (£1million down to £5000) will be online tomorrow morning (3rd June).

Officially the 4th for the minor prizes, though typically they appear about 11.30pm the day before (i.e. late tomorrow evening).

Scott.

AleisterCrowley wrote:June big winners not announced yet? Obviously not working weekends at NS&I

NS&I seem to be getting ahead of themselves.

June details announced dated 31 May
https://nsandi-corporate.com/news-resea ... e-and-kent

6 x £25 3 prizes each on £80K total, that makes a total of 6 to me

One of the two million pound winners only had £4216 in bonds. There's hope for many of us yet.

Only 2 x £25 on my £50k but better than nothing. Kent has done particularly well again. Bucks rarely features in the biggies.

Bouleversee wrote:Only 2 x £25 on my £50k but better than nothing.

Last year 5 x £25. This year 1 x £25. Congratulations! - You are a Winner!

There are good months and bad months even with maximum holdings. I'm in a fallow patch at the moment, 1 x £25 this month and absolutely nothing in May for a £50,000 holding but if I look at the last-6-month display for my prizes plus June for the total winnings over the last 7 months I've had 13 x £25 prizes over that period.

My working assumption is an average of 2 x £25 prizes a month and nothing else. I view the bigger prizes as coming from what is essentially a free lottery ticket that NS&I gives me every month and that I have almost zero chance of winning. On that basis I'm pretty much on-target, £25 short but that's still an annualised rate of 1.11% tax free, or 1.86% when grossed-up to account for not having to pay tax (higher rate in my case). This compares well with current instant-access savings account rates (about 1.50% gross is the best I could find). If I get back on track and end the year at an average of 2 wins per month the annual return will end up at 1.2% tax-free or the equivalent of 2.0% gross for a higher rate tax payer.

I consider Premium Bonds to be a very good home for some of my emergency cash but only if holding a substantial number when one can have reasonable expectations regarding the number of smallest-prize wins likely per year.

(On the grossing-up calculations above I assumed that an investor has other taxable interest income sufficient to absorb the 0% tax allowance for interest income, £1,000 for a basic rate tax payer, £500 for a higher-rate tax payer, so that didn't/doesn't come into play in my case.)

- Julian

...Agreed!

But don't say this kind of thing too loudly on some other threads on TLF, or you risk bringing down upon your head the wrath of certain well known HYP oriented advocates...

Julian wrote:There are good months and bad months even with maximum holdings.

I keep annual records based on the tax year and do not worry about blank/low months.

Full holding over at least the past 3 years has resulted in:

2016-17 £600 = 1.20%
2017-18 £425 = 0.85% (prize fund rate increased December 2017)
2018-19 £700 = 1.40%

I don't expect 2019-20 to match last year (I'm already down £175 in the first two months).

This compares well with current instant-access savings account rates (about 1.50% gross is the best I could find).

I compare against fixed term deposits. Merely for example, Close Bothers were/are offering 2.20% fixed for 2 years.

... or the equivalent of 2.0% gross for a higher rate tax payer

Greater still for those who are additional rate taxpayers or might suffer partial withdrawal of their personal allowances due to their level of income. Not that I've calculated the effective grossed up percentages.


Obviously the small "prizes" don't cover the inflationary aspect and the value of the capital is diminishing. I know full well though, from recent experience, I'm more than capable of losing capital on equity investments! Thus Premium Bonds remain part of my overall (un)balanced investments.

PinkDalek wrote:

... or the equivalent of 2.0% gross for a higher rate tax payer

Greater still for those who are additional rate taxpayers or might suffer partial withdrawal of their personal allowances due to their level of income. Not that I've calculated the effective grossed up percentages.
...

Absolutely! That effectively-60% tax band between £100K and £100K-plus-2-times-Personal-Allowance is definitely something to try and keep one's taxable income away from if one has that flexibility.

- Julian

Don't give up hope!

He wasn't put off by the 'squalid raffle' warning! Saver who bought one of the first Premium Bonds in 1956 finally scoops the £1m jackpot

This is Money

XFool wrote:Don't give up hope!

He wasn't put off by the 'squalid raffle' warning! Saver who bought one of the first Premium Bonds in 1956 finally scoops the £1m jackpot

This is Money

From the article But it wasn't that long-standing £1 investment that scooped the East Sussex saver the big prize.

I hadn't realised Premium Bonds first went on offer in November 1956. My initial £68 worth seem to have been bought in January 1957 or thereabouts and I had to wait until October 1958 until my first £100 prize.

4 x £25 this month, a slight improvement.

Bouleversee wrote:4 x £25 this month, a slight improvement.

I think that puts you at £175, as against my £100 of 'prizes' this tax year.

Plenty of time to catch up and anyway you beat me last year.

3 x 25 this month, max holding.