Premium Bond Winner ?

Fiveboy

£25 win this month with a £20,000 holding.

rb10

Fiveboy wrote: »

£25 win this month with a £20,000 holding.

... you could also call this a £15 loss this month.

You'd have got £40 in a savings account (after basic rate tax).

Murphybear

I invested £5000 in May this year and won £25 in August - good start!

Oldbiggles

Oh dear! September draw …. Nil….Nought…Nuffin.. Think I’ll write to Ernie to complain.

:sad:

utab007

rb10 wrote: »

... you could also call this a £15 loss this month.

You'd have got £40 in a savings account (after basic rate tax).

RB10, you are comparing apples with oranges.

Okay, so to get £40 per month after basic tax on £20k you would need to go for 5 year fixed rate at 3%. With Premium Bonds you can sell up all or part of your bonds at anytime if you need access to your cash.

I have recently bought some premium bonds for the first time. I think everyone understands it's not going to give you a regular income. But I think over the year there is a reasonable chance I will get the same as an easy access account and the slim chance of a big prize. So I reckon it's worth a shot with rates so low at present.

Ifts

utab007 wrote: »

RB10, you are comparing apples with oranges.

Okay, so to get £40 per month after basic tax on £20k you would need to go for 5 year fixed rate at 3%. With Premium Bonds you can sell up all or part of your bonds at anytime if you need access to your cash.

You don't have to lock your money away in a 5 year fixed term bond to get 3% on £20k, you can get 3% with a Santander 123 current account on balances up to £20K (you are allowed to have 2 accounts per person, so can get 3% on up to £40k) and its easy access.

If I was starting off and only had £20K I would put it in a Santander 123 account so I could get the 3% on it.

As for comparing apples with oranges, Premium Bonds are a bit like Marmite.

Myself I don't mind PB's (I currently have the max) esp for HRT payers and being part of a diversified portfolio so it suits me. Also as you say its money that is easily accessible should I need it in a hurry.

I did cash mine in some years ago and put the money in to a fixed term bond but thats when rates were a lot better than they are now (at the time I was reluctant locking up but glad I did now), so instead of missing out on the ~1.7% rates currently available on easy access accounts (I already have 2x 123 accounts) I don't mind having the max in PB's but I would most likely cash my PB's in if fixed term rates shot up (wishful thinking!).

You pays your money (and you takes your choice), so good luck with your Premium Bonds.

Fiveboy

I started building my premuim bonds fund from October 2012 starting with 1k, now I have 20k having only won £75 pounds. So it's not been a good investment for me, like gambling only bet what you can afford to lose, in my case interest money.

Caprylate

Brand new to PBs. Put £3,200 in July, got an email a few days ago saying I'd won £25. Thinking I might try and bring the total up to 4k in a few days time and then drip feed a little bit more in each month.

utab007

Ifts wrote: »

You don't have to lock your money away in a 5 year fixed term bond to get 3% on £20k, you can get 3% with a Santander 123 current account on balances up to £20K (you are allowed to have 2 accounts per person, so can get 3% on up to £40k) and its easy access.

Yes, I'd forgotten about the Santander 123.

Ifts wrote: »

You pays your money (and you takes your choice), so good luck with your Premium Bonds.

I've been a saver all my life. I have a savings deal ending shortly and trying to decide what to do with the cash. Part of this has gone into Premium Bonds. I will put £80k into four Santander 123 (myself and wife). I was thinking of putting most of it into a 2 to 3yr joint fixed rate account and rest into shares. Any thoughts?

Ifts

utab007 wrote: »

I've been a saver all my life. I have a savings deal ending shortly and trying to decide what to do with the cash. Part of this has gone into Premium Bonds. I will put £80k into four Santander 123 (myself and wife). I was thinking of putting most of it into a 2 to 3yr joint fixed rate account and rest into shares. Any thoughts?

If you are happy with that then thats whats important. Like you I would not fix for longer than 2 or 3 years at the present rates when rates are only 2-3%.

There is this thread on here - High yield FTSE 100 stock recommendations? (post 2 has good links)
that has a few pointers what shares some other forum users are holding.

It would be difficult for me to give you individual share tips for the danger of being accused of ramping but here is a good site for share info -

http://boards.fool.co.uk/Index.aspx

Ive taken tips from fellow posters on MSE as starters and done my own homework and bought into that stock. Always do your own homework though, never buy a share only because you got a tip from someone.

I also have 123 accounts and premium bonds. I do have some fix term bonds that are running till about 2015, they were from when rates were +5%. Most of my funds are in individual shares (and I am happy with that) & BTL, with rates low I would rather buy shares that have good dividends but there is only so much that I feel comfortable with putting into equities.

I hold shares for growth and income, only thing I wish I had done differently from day one is use my full S&S ISA, CGT can be a problem but I rather it be that way round.

Best of luck with your investments.