Ernie & his bonds - anywhere better?

Lendusapund

Ive had some cash tied away in Prem Bonds for around year & theyve done dismal.

Anyone any better places to put the money? (other than spending it cos Im totally off that).

cheers

calleyw

That depends on how much we are talking about. And what sort of risk do you want to take. How quickly might you need access .

Do you have 3-6 months in instant savings account as an emergency fund.

Have you used your ISA allowance this year. £3K this year.

With £30K in preimum bonds that equates to about 13 prizes a year with average luck.

If you have less than that odds go right down.

I have at the moment about £1k. I will leave it there as you never know when you might win the biggie.

I don't need the money and it is dead easy to get the money out.

Yours

Calley

dunstonh

Anyone any better places to put the money?

At the moment you are getting zero return as there is no interest or investment element. So, in real terms the value of your money is going down. However, you are gambling with it in a form of lottery go get a potentially better return than a bank or building society account.

At the moment that gamble isnt paying off.

Depending on your tax situation, attitude to investment risk (which is not a "i dont mind taking risk" vs " i dont want risk" but more of a sliding scale) and the other things mentioned by calleyw, the answer will be different from person to person.

Have you used your ISA allowance this year. £3K this year.

That is not correct. The ISA allowance is £7000. You are referring only to the optional CASH ISA element.

p3gg

Expanding on what both the above posters say (calleyw and dustonh), my view on it is that it's a matter of balance -- think about how much your total savings are, then think about how much of that total you're prepared to "gamble" (i.e. not inflation-proof) in the hope of a big PBs windfall: in other words, hold premium bonds as part of a balanced portfolio of savings and investments.