premium bonds (merged)

cheerfulcat

pkrnts wrote:

I got this from the other premium bond thread floating around so credit to that person..
http://www.nsandi.com/products/pb/haveYouWon.jsp

If you modify the link by adding the following after .jsp :

?section=haveYouWon&holderNumber=xxxxxxxxx&name=check , replacing the x's with your PB holder's number, it takes you straight to your personal " Have you won?" page.

Cheerfulcat

Ivrytwr3

my uncle has a "bit" of extra cash (oil rig designer, flys to work etc) and advised me if i had any spare cash, to invest in PB then after 6 months withdraw and get a fresh set. Say's it worked for him!

Stonk

The proper answer is that "on average, you'll lose out by buying the PBs". Sure, you could win the Big One (or a lot of Little Ones). But on average you won't.

jobbingmusician

Above posters are right.

Think about it.....what PB do is to pay out the interest as prizes. In the long term you lose out slightly, cos the interest isn't great.

The really bad thing is the awful wait when you first buy your bonds. This full calendar month thing. It's always struck me as bad - they quote an annual percentage rate of interest which is paid out as wins, without mentioning this 'waiting period' as I remember it. So if you want the PB back in January, you are effectively cutting your interest in half!!!!! ('Average' wins on PB should pay you the going interest rate over a year...in theory....So in theory you should get only half the interest rate if your bonds sit there for two months, 'earning interest' for only one of the months)

Of course, you COULD win.....but not very likely, is it?

Stonk

Yep - it's no good holding PBs for short periods of time.

Doubly silly are those people who cash in their bonds and buy them back in the belief that large blocks stand a better chance of winning - (a) they don't; (b) you lose two months' interest.

black-saturn

I was wondering what everyone thought of Premium Bonds. My mum and boyfriend have both had them for years and never won a penny on them. Seems like you get a better deal with a high interest savings account to me.

rinoa778

Just wanted to share my first win! I have £200 worth of PB and got £50 in the post today. I had £100 from April 04 and bought another £100 for Aug 05. Will stick my winnings in my savings account. Perhaps buy another £100 next year depending on my mood and interest rates.

jonsbird

I have the maximum £30,000 Bonds, and in over 2 years have only won £50's most months, and just one £100.

So its not proving to be worth while as yet.

Hardly amongst the big winners, but for a while I will leave it there and see how it goes before moving it elsewhere

melbury

Years ago you had to wait three calendar months for the bonds to go in the draw, so one month isn't so bad! Trouble is they have just got too popular with too many people holding the maximum amount.

Maddie

Does anybody know what the funds are invested in?

I would quite like to invest my money in a reasonably ethical way, and thought this might be one way of doing it.

Just had a look on the nsandi website and couldn't find any info at all.