Premium Bonds: Are they worth it? Discussion Area

BornSloppy

mrsS wrote: »

I have £11000 in bonds (£8000 bought in January) and have won £550 in total since January-I didnt really win much before this. Is this any good? I cant do the calculations sorry!

I got that for 1 year in my ISA so you're doing ok if it's just for 4 months? It's shocking that 60k in holdings has only won £4,900 in 3 years. I currently have £300 so expect to win nowt! Won £50 twice when I had £1,500 but that's a low amount over 5 years

clearvisor

I think it's a con, as Ive had a £2-00 ever since it started my mother-in-law brought it for my birthday, and I have never won a penny on it, Like the saying , "Apples to Orchards"

Paul_Herring

Something I had sent from Google news today (no, I don't have PB's listed there ):

Why even Premium Bond winners are losing out

Warning - very anti-PB item.

ManAtHome

About right - I have some, but less than 5% of my savings. Probably about the same as a middling savings account if you're a higher-rate taxpayer - worth a punt unless you insist on squeezing every last (guaranteed) groat out of your savings.

Plus, on the count of 3, we can all cash them in and give GB(H) a kick in the goolies...

bennyvdb

I'll go with that.
Why not start a national petition, maybe they will sort them selves out and give us a fair deal?
As I have said before I have the maximum in and do not get a good return, as I also have a £1 pound from the 50s' and not even had a sorry notice/
The more you have in the more you win, but not much, they just keep giving you £50 as a hook to make you stay in there.
Once when I asked them why punter in the south always got the best pay outs thet replied 'it's because there are more investers there'
load of old B*******s!:j

Browntrout_2

I sit with ~17,500 people every other week at football matches, say maybe 20 weeks a year, I buy a half time draw ticket and have never won the 1st, 2nd or the 3rd prize ever. The closest I have been is within about 40 tickets from the winner, which means someone walked in just a few mins before or after me and bought it.

The point of this post is that by sitting with thousands of people when the draw is made gives you an indication of how long odds of 24,000 to 1 are....very long. To compound that 87% of these prizes are the minimum £50 to £100 ones.

However being in a monthly recurring draw is better than the National Lottery, where I have heard you are seven times more likely to drown in your own bath than win the jackpot!

rhughes_2

Premium bonds, in common with other forms of gambling, attract people with a poor grasp of mathematics. The median return on premium bonds is zero and this is the return you will likely earn unless you have a large number of bonds. The larger the number of premium bonds you own the more your realised return will shift from the median towards the mean. However, they'll always be a horrible "investment".

bennyvdb

Premium Bonds are not an 'Investment' they are a pure gamble, where you cannot lose your stake!

Jonbvn

Dear oh Dear,

Judging by the content of your posts I guess that Gordon B has had the boys round to tell you to invest every last penny in PB's!

MSE Martin has had an article on this topic for a long time.

Sorry but you have no new news.

bennyvdb

Who, me or him?