MSE News: Premium Bond chances of winning cut – are they really worth it?

Stompa

theFirstCasualty wrote: »

but ...real inflation is running at about 8%

Fortunately that's just nonsense.

Archi_Bald

theFirstCasualty wrote: »

I have an above average number of legs!

Are you a centipede, perhaps?

Your assertion that inflation runs "at about 8%" is, as Stompa already said, fortunately just nonsense.

I think you might have a point though - - - - "just saving you are dead certain to be losing money". What do you suggest people should do instead of saving money?

Naf

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Are you a centipede, perhaps?

Most people have an above average number of legs.
Just have a quick think about how an average works, and what that means in this context...

Most people have 2 legs; because there are many with fewer, but almost none with more, the average (mean) must be less than 2. Thus most people have more than average.

bowlhead99

theFirstCasualty wrote: »

...real inflation is running at about 8% (see american treasury web site

I did see the website, you must be reading it badly.

and same true here

Different countries have different rates of inflation so you can't say the same is true for UK even if it were true for US

so save at 1.7% and lose 6.3% or use an isa and lose at 4.3%

If inflation moved the price of goods to £108 from £100 as you suggest; and your spending power were to decline 4.3%, you could only buy 95.7% of the £108 goods, so you must have £103.36 in your pocket. There are no new ISAs paying 3.36% AER, so I suspect this is more poor understanding or bad maths on your part.

...this is George Osbournes policy , he s paying off the national debt by depleting savers money through inflation (shhhh)

there has always been inflation hence this is not an Osbourne-specific policy

so you might aswell take the gamble and probably get 1.5% and maybe get a win ; just saving you are dead certain to be losing money

You won't probably get 1.5%, as this time next week the rate drops to 1.3%, and that rate assumes you hold every bond and win every prize including the jackpot which makes up for the other prizes being very small. Unfortunately even with £26,000 of bonds you will only on average win one prize per month, and at that rate it could take you a couple of million months to win.

Sorry Martin, it's that basic maths stuff you keep going on about ... (I have an above average number of legs! shd have been my pen name)

I have more than the mean number of legs when compared with my fellow humans but no more the median or modal number. But I probably have fewer than all of these types of average if we're counting other mammals and arthropods. Don't worry, you can brush up on these cool facts together with your basic maths and comprehension skills when the summer holidays finish and you're back in class.

theFirstCasualty wrote: »

Last edited by theFirstCasualty; 24-07-2013 at 6:43 PM. Reason: comprehension

Didn't really work out from where we're sitting.

Heinz

Adding my wife's and my own Premium Bond holdings together, our winnings were 1.41667% (equivalent to 1.77% gross for us as standard rate tax payers) Jan-Dec 2012 and 1.21% (equivalent to 1.5125% gross for us as standard rate tax payers) Jan-Dec 2013.

Certainly not a great returns (but they compare favourably with current 'instant access' rates). However, as the holdings are not our 'main savings/investments', we're happy to keep them on the offchance of a big win (particularly now that the National Lottery, since the doubling of ticket prices, no longer gets any of our money).

N.B. Neither of us won more than £75 in any month.

brewerdave

Heinz -my wife and I did a little better - 1.8% ( equiv. to 2.25% gross) for calendar year 2012 and 1.91% this year ( equiv. to ~2.35% gross)
Just made an executive decision to keep them running for another year -now all I need to do is persuade her indoors that the lottery is money down the drain!!:rotfl: