Premium Bonds Article Discussion Area

Stingo

Had 30K and thought I would give it a go. Decided to pull out 20K for a better investment elsewhere. As a stroke of very good fortune on the last draw before the 20K is released back to me , I won £20K.
Happy Days

Midnight_Cowboy_2

Following the change this year in how the prizes are allocated, I don't think Premium Bonds are as good value as they have been before. It may be worth having a small holding for a bit of fun, but the odds are ridiculous, far worse than the National Lottery even.

Midnight_Cowboy_2

lingwood wrote: »

That is a very good post Dissillusioned.

That is how I viewed my PB, yes I have cashed them in for other reasons, but when I get things sorted out I will set up another DD for £50 per month PB.

It is better to put £50 a month in PB than under my pillow, and more so than £50 per month on lotto tickets

You would be better off by putting £50 every month into a savings account, and then if you fancy a flutter just buy a £1 lottery ticket each week. The odds of matching six numbers on your National Lottery ticket, and potentially winning several million £, would be vastly superior to those of winning a £1m Premium Bond prize.

Gorgeous_George

You need to 'invest' £3,467 in PBs to be staking £1 per week on them.

GG

Midnight_Cowboy_2

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

You need to 'invest' £3,467 in PBs to be staking £1 per week on them.

GG

Yes, although there are may ways to reach a notional figure for this. The method I use is based upon the difference in the premium bond rate for the mass prizes (89% of the prize pot, which is your likely average return - the other 11% is reserved for the big prizes and is effectively your fee for entering), and the best current savings rate. That gives me a notional figure of £4388 in PBs equal to £1 a week on the lottery. However, the PB odds of winning a £1m+ prize are much worse than the lottery - about 3 times worse, for that amount of PBs.

longview_2

So, I've taken my lump sum out of PBs and invested in an internet savings account, accruing £50 net a month.
If gambled on the lottery, is it best done monthly or lumped on in one go annually?
I still have my first lottery ticket from the launch and remember the anticipation in a pub full of prospective millionaires, only to be part of a big group of losers and vowing never to purchase one again.
I remember also the outcry about where the money was going in this non-profit making organisation, fat-cats paying themselves huge wages and bonuses to administer the whole thing.
I think I will leave the money in the bank and treat myself to a day out at the races!!

Paul_Herring

longview wrote: »

If gambled on the lottery, is it best done monthly or lumped on in one go annually?

Neither?

Wally75

longview wrote: »

So, I've taken my lump sum out of PBs and invested in an internet savings account, accruing £50 net a month.
If gambled on the lottery, is it best done monthly or lumped on in one go annually?
I still have my first lottery ticket from the launch and remember the anticipation in a pub full of prospective millionaires, only to be part of a big group of losers and vowing never to purchase one again.
I remember also the outcry about where the money was going in this non-profit making organisation, fat-cats paying themselves huge wages and bonuses to administer the whole thing.
I think I will leave the money in the bank and treat myself to a day out at the races!!

Longview - I am in the process of experimenting with something similar. My wife does PBs, so have seen how infrequent wins can be. I decided to start a (kind of) comparison with the lottery. I decided £1 a day is small enough not to notice, so place 28 lucky dips once a month on one draw. I started this four months ago and so far expenditure has been 28 x 4 = £112 and winnings have been £30. Obvously the odds are still stacked against me, but in a way I treat doing this as part of a diversified portfolio of cash, bonds, equities and lottery (ordered in increasing risk order).

If I remember, I might update on progress every now and then.

Cheers

Wally

Midnight_Cowboy_2

longview wrote: »

So, I've taken my lump sum out of PBs and invested in an internet savings account, accruing £50 net a month.
If gambled on the lottery, is it best done monthly or lumped on in one go annually?
I still have my first lottery ticket from the launch and remember the anticipation in a pub full of prospective millionaires, only to be part of a big group of losers and vowing never to purchase one again.
I remember also the outcry about where the money was going in this non-profit making organisation, fat-cats paying themselves huge wages and bonuses to administer the whole thing.
I think I will leave the money in the bank and treat myself to a day out at the races!!

Interesting, I havent looked into the stats for buying multiple tickets at once. I know there are a number of systems around (eg. having a constant 2 numbers and every other number across 12 tickets gives relatively good odds for 3 and 4 number wins) but I cant help thinking that in reality, you are just increasing your chances from 1 in 14 million to 12 in 14 million, ie. barely any different at all!

Personally, I play £1 a week. I do it by DD out of my bank now rather than going to the shop every week, althought its less exciting:) £1 is not much to risk, and gives me the best value increase in odds, from 0 to 1 in 14million!

From a purely psychologcal perspective, I dont like the idea of putting £52 into one draw. I know its the same as £1 a week, but if I had £52 in my hand I would rather go out for dinner than bin it on the lottery!

diadeb

I've just calculated my winnings for the 09/10 tax year. It was a bad year up until the point they increased the winnings - since then I have been winning every month. I have a bit less than the full amount and it totalled 1.12%, not great but its tax free! I expect this year to improve somewhat, maybe towards the previous years payout which was 3.08%.

I look at PBs as a way of keeping some important money out the taxmans reach and of having a gamble at the same time. I do love the letters arriving - much more fun than seeing the miserly interest that's added by the building societies!