Premium Bond Winner ?

Cornishsaver_3

First time I've looked at this thread so I thought I'd add a comment. My wife and I have each had the maximum for a few years now and invariably win a few prizes each month (£300 this month). Usually 50's with the occasional 100, but never a higher prize. When I worked out the interest rate for the past 12 months it came to 3.9% which is tax free of course. Is it worth it just for the remote chance of a big prize?

mayb_2

yes - not a bad return tax free and there is always that chance - of course as you have the maximum allowed you could put your winnings in to something else to make even more interest too. Well that's how I would look at it anyway - Martin does not agree.

jem16

Cornishsaver wrote: »

First time I've looked at this thread so I thought I'd add a comment. My wife and I have each had the maximum for a few years now and invariably win a few prizes each month (£300 this month). Usually 50's with the occasional 100, but never a higher prize. When I worked out the interest rate for the past 12 months it came to 3.9% which is tax free of course. Is it worth it just for the remote chance of a big prize?

3.9% is less than inflation currently at 4.8% so your money is losing its value in real terms.

Do you think it's worth it?

Cornishsaver_3

Thanks Jem. I think at the moment I will consider the 1% loss in value of the capital as the price to pay for a small chance of a big gain.

tkane

There is also the fun factor :T

susi333

I love to hear of the more fortunate PB holders. I have the maximum since last June and have only won £600 - all 50s except 1 x 100 - which I gather is less than I would have earned in interest elsewhere but......... at least I am certain that ONE DAY I could have a big win, and that's good enough for me. It would be different if I never had any wins but this is only slightly less with the chance of a lot more.

peterbaker

We are still in April (just!).

I have yet to see if anyone has worked out the likely percentage gain of premium bonds bought today for the duration of the month of May (when I assume the extra four one million pound prizes will be on offer.

I am someone else who maxed out for 5 years solid and was happy with my returns which were mostly multiple £50 prizes, and one or two £100s.

I think the most we got in a month was £350, and the least was nothing, but usually we got £150.

I was happy because most of it was stoozed credit card cash, and it was better fun than the lottery:-)

So then, has anyone worked out the likely winnings APR for premium bonds purchased today for the month of May?

andrewj100

If you know much about engineering you will know it is totaly impossible to create a truly random machine, everything has some sort of pattern to it and becomes more predictable over time as you collect more data. The "random" number generator may or may not prefer newer (or higher) premium bond numbers, it also may or may not prefer lower numbers. It is quite possible that the odds of a high number popping out vary depending on ambient temperature, humidity, the electricity coming out of the national grid (it changes voltage and frequency) or even sun spots.

peterbaker

Pardon me? Hope you feel better now andrew with all that off your chest:-)

But putting all that aside for a moment, you seem like a knowledgeable sort of chap, can you tell me how the theoretical return on investment for the month of May of any bond purchase I might have bought just before the end of April is affected by the four extra £1M prizes?

Kazza242

The Higher value winners list is now available for May:

http://www.nsandi.com/products/pb/winnerlist.jsp