Premium Bonds - are they a good investment?

miaxmia

ericthekidstoner wrote:

if you've got bonds bought ages ago for less than £50 (the new minimum unit as far as I know) then you've effectively got a cheap(er) lottery ticket!

and what happens if you wanna sell... do u get £50 for it? good deal if you do

Sadly no you wouldn't get £50 back. Although the minimum you can purchase is £50 worth, that would give you 50 numbers in the draw, so each premium bond number is still only £1, it is just that you have to get a minimum of £50 worth now or is it £100?!

ericthekidstoner

ahh... so its still a pound a go...
sneeky of them to only allow ppl to buy 50 at a time then

bashdem

I must have no more than a few hundred quid in PBs but won £1000 when I was a uni student - probably the worst time to be handed a free £1000 (or the best depending on what way you look at it).

Even though I have had a great return percentage-wise - statistically it's better in the bank - but, there is always that chance of the big one. It's ok for a bit of fun if you ask me, but if you've got big bucks then look elsewhere.

Gordon_the_Moron

miaxmia wrote:

BUT you wouldn't do anything in life - I don't smoke (People might just as well set fire to a tenner, although I guess they get more pleasure from smoking) and I am not much of a drinker. By purchasing 30K worth of premium bonds, I would lose around 1K in a normal building society account, but chances are I will win something and it could be £500 or it could be £5000 pounds - people waste a lot more money on cigarettes and beer or whatever. I think "gambling" is a bit strong - it's not like going to the bookies and spending all your wages as soon as you get it!!

What you spend your money on is up to you. What I said was premiums bonds are a gamble, that is a fact. Put the money in a cash ISA you WILL earn interest, put them in premium bonds you MIGHT get a return you MIGHT NOT. If you need the interest for something it is a bad idea. If you don't need the interest and can afford to lose it then I would say it is a worthwhile gamble but a gamble all the same. I wouldn't say taking the interest from my ISA to the bookies wasn't gambling so why isn't gambling your interest on premium bonds gambling?

I didn't say they are a bad thing, I have 6k worth of premium bonds. Since I bought them I worked out the return at about 1.5 to 2 percent. Not great but the million pound winners will always make several thousand percent so there have to be some losers. I definitely think it is better than buying cigarettes, better than buying lottery tickets (I never spend my money on either) I do drink a little but what's up with that? I enjoy it, we all spend some disposable income on what we enjoy.

miaxmia

Gordon_the_Moron wrote:

What you spend your money on is up to you. What I said was premiums bonds are a gamble, that is a fact. Put the money in a cash ISA you WILL earn interest, put them in premium bonds you MIGHT get a return you MIGHT NOT. If you need the interest for something it is a bad idea. If you don't need the interest and can afford to lose it then I would say it is a worthwhile gamble but a gamble all the same. I wouldn't say taking the interest from my ISA to the bookies wasn't gambling so why isn't gambling your interest on premium bonds gambling?

I didn't say they are a bad thing, I have 6k worth of premium bonds. Since I bought them I worked out the return at about 1.5 to 2 percent. Not great but the million pound winners will always make several thousand percent so there have to be some losers. I definitely think it is better than buying cigarettes, better than buying lottery tickets (I never spend my money on either) I do drink a little but what's up with that? I enjoy it, we all spend some disposable income on what we enjoy.

Ah well I misinterpreted your reply - it sounded to me like you disapproved of buying premium bonds, but you have some yourself! There is nothing wrong with drinking, I was just using it as an example of what someone might spend their money on and get pleasure from, but which isn't a necessity, therefore you could invest that money and earn interest. And you could say drinking and smoking are a form of gambling - you are gambling with your health (don't get me wrong a little drink doesn't hurt anybody). Premium bonds aren't a necessity, but I will certainly get some pleasure dreaming of what I might do with a big win.