Premium Bond Higher Prize Winner?

Middle_of_the_Road

MACKEM99 said:

My team has never lost a European Champions League match.  

Really don't see the need to be disruptive, regardless of how accurate or scientific this discussion may be.

Swipe

I've won a higher prize

For a valid poll it should have been £5K or more. I won £1125 this month and have only ever had a single £500 prize prior to that, and I've held the max premium bonds for about 10 years.

Middle_of_the_Road

Swipe said:

For a valid poll it should have been £5K or more. I won £1125 this month and have only ever had a single £500 prize prior to that, and I've held the max premium bonds for about 10 years.

Maybe, but there would be fewer replies in the positive.
Congratulations on your win this month, you were certainly due one.

mebu60

MACKEM99 said:

My team has never lost a European Champions League match.  

No, but based on your user name I'm guessing they have lost in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup.

Pathfinder000

I wish I could win £500.  I think the most i've ever seen is £25.

Someone on one of the Reddit subs thought that having £21k in PB was the point where you got a prize almost every month, but given the number of low level prizes, is it any more efficient than picking a mid level dividend ETF or stock that pays monthly?

GDB2222

Never won £1k or more

Pathfinder000 said:

I wish I could win £500.  I think the most i've ever seen is £25.

Someone on one of the Reddit subs thought that having £21k in PB was the point where you got a prize almost every month, but given the number of low level prizes, is it any more efficient than picking a mid level dividend ETF or stock that pays monthly?

The prize fund on premium bonds at the moment is 3.8%, so that’s the average annual return across all bond holders. It’s tax free, and capital is not at risk. So, you really can’t compare it with an ETF. 

Exodi

Pathfinder000 said:

I wish I could win £500.  I think the most i've ever seen is £25.

Someone on one of the Reddit subs thought that having £21k in PB was the point where you got a prize almost every month, but given the number of low level prizes, is it any more efficient than picking a mid level dividend ETF or stock that pays monthly?

22,000 to 1, so £22k to attain a 1 prize per draw average.

 https://www.nsandi.com/products/premium-bonds

The comparison couldn't be any more apples v oranges, but generally I don't think premium bonds should be used if your intention is to maximise your returns.

Considering the prize rate on premium bonds is 3.8% (and this is skewed by the larger prizes), it would be better comparing it to other savings products, like Cash ISA's or easy access accounts.

I personally dislike premium bonds and think they're mainly used by people to effectively gamble (it's essentially the same as putting your money in a savings account, and then using the interest to buy lottery tickets every month, but affords less guilt this way). There is a extremely small section of people they could be useful for, but nowhere near reflective of their current popularity. But instead of bombarding you with my bias, MSE's stance:

"For most savers with average luck, and who don't pay tax on savings interest, normal savings will now be even more likely to beat Premium Bonds. This is because savings give you a guaranteed return in the form of interest – so if you get the top easy-access cash ISA rate of 5.25%, you'd get £52.50 in interest a year for every £1,000 saved.

Though this interest rate can go up and down over time, you know exactly what you'll earn at any given point – so it still provides more certainty than Premium Bonds, where many saving the same £1,000 would win nothing.

Many people often think: "I'm likely to get the prize rate (or thereabouts) – and there's a small chance of winning a million", but this isn't correct. You're actually likely to get quite a lot less than the new and current prize rates of 3.8% and 4%, and there's a negligible chance of winning a million."

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2025/02/premium-bond-prize-cut-april/

Zanderman

Never won £1k or more

Not sure I see the point of this poll because, as many have pointed out, there are far too many variables, primarily how many bonds people have (a few, or thousands?) and also how long they've had them (one year? 50 years?).  Without also tagging that information the poll gives nothing particularly useful.

Also of course forum members are not a cross-section of society, so any results here will merely reflect MSE forum members and to be fair, the poll states that, that it's just 'those on the forum'. But actually it won't even reflect those, but only those who visit the savings board.  Which won't be all, and indeed may be a minority as a lot are much more active elsewhere on the forum.

[For information I have one bond (i.e. one £1) bought many decades ago when I was born. Never won anything with it. Mrs Z-man has a lot more, but no big wins]

Ocelot

MACKEM99 said:

My team has never lost a European Champions League match.  

Have they ever played one?

eskbanker

Ocelot said:

MACKEM99 said:

My team has never lost a European Champions League match.  

Have they ever played one?