2 thirds of PB holders have never won anything....Which report...just for info really..

mebu60

edgex said:

Premium Bonds should be treated as either a savings account or a lottery;

put a large sum in, or make regular sizable payments, just as you would with a savings account
or
buy the equivalent of £1 a week as if you're playing the lottery. At the end of the year you'll have at least £52, unlike the lottery.

You should also set it to automatically reinvest any winnings in additional PBs, so you compound any winnings.
There's also the tax advantage, useful for those that have already used their ISA allowance.

Lotto £2.00 Wed & Sat. Euromillions £2.50 Tue & Fri.
Minimum PB purchase £25.00.

Can't reinvest winnings once you have max holding of £50k. 

Agree re the tax benefit, particularly for those paying higher rates. 

Nasqueron

gravel_2 said:

I have 5 PBs from when I was 2 years old and have won nowt. I imagine there are plenty in the same position skewing it down.

I was much the same, had 6-7, did win £25 once in about 40 years, I bought a few more a few years back just to round it up to £25 or something like that

OldScientist

Assuming the prize rates never changed, holding £50k for one year would produce exactly the same probabilities of winnings (about £1950 with median luck) as holding one bond for 50000 years (or indeed, collectively for 50000 people each holding a bond for a year only 78 or fewer would expect to win a prize each year with median luck).

comeandgo

I held 400 bonds for 12 years, never won a penny, I then bought to the full 50k, as did my husband.  We win something every month now.

Albermarle

comeandgo said:

I held 400 bonds for 12 years, never won a penny, I then bought to the full 50k, as did my husband.  We win something every month now.

You will probably find you win nothing for one or two months of the year, and more than expected some other months. Then once in a lifetime you might win a bigger prize, although much more likely to be a few thousand than a Million ( the chances of winning a Million are astronomically small)

agent69

I had £5 worth of bonds as a christening present and won nothing for the next 60 years. When I added £49,995 to it I found I was winning nearly every month.

pbcpdeveloper

My current winning streak is 21 consecutive months, my best is 27.

Dizzycap

pbcpdeveloper said:

My current winning streak is 21 consecutive months, my best is 27.

AWESOME

I purchashed £50 of PB each month for 2 years and won nothing. The moment I stopped buying, I had a £50 win?! 

Not won anything since, but still holding the old bonds

inkydolphin

Hard to take the Which article seriously if they think you get paid in beans... ;-)