FAO Premium Bond Holders

[Zak33]

Imagine being this person
£25,000 36ZR846094 £1,300 Lincolnshire £100 Sep-04

That means they won £25,000 this month, and have £1300 of premium bonds, and they won on a number that they brought back in Sept 04 when they brought £100 worth.
5 years later it came home for them

The £1300 is still there... and they get the £25k tax free.

[jim]

well, the point of this thread was so that everyone knew that from Oct 1st the chances of winning got a whole lot better

In fact the winners list goes from 1,034,000 people per month to over 1.7 million winners per month. Not too shabby I don't think.

Wasn't that linked to the new £25 price more than anything though?

[Zak33]

£25 price? That category went up the MOST of course... but every single winning value band has increased in the amount of people to win except the £1million, which is still one person

[Saracen]

we shall see when I win my first...


£25

My parents bought some premium bonds many years ago. Over about 15 or 16 years, they won numerous small prizes, and a couple of decent ones - from memory, at least twice, £1000 prize. As their initial cash investment was £1000 (paid in in increments over a year or two), the £14k-ish they ended up with was a decent rate. Whenever they won, they took the winnings in more bonds.

By my quick calculation, had they put it in a savings account at a consistent 5% compounded, they'd have ended up with about £2500, not £14,000.

Was it a life-changing sum? Nope. Did they do pretty well out of it? Yup, looks like it to me.

Of course, they had a couple of decent wins but most of it was £25 here and £50 there.

What they did do was to track which bonds won and which didn't. They had a couple of blocks that over two or three years didn't win a thing. Twice, they cached those in and took out new bonds. I know, and they knew, that doing so kept them out of the draw for awhile, and that theoretically, every bond has the same chance every time, and that doing that made no rational sense. All I will say is that both times, without about 3 or 4 months of the new bonds going in, they started winning. So however irrational and daft it may have been, it worked for them.

Obviously, I'm not suggesting that just because they did well with that strategy, you will or I or anyone else would if we tried it. They may just have been lucky. But it was luck resulting from a limited gamble on funds they could spare.

One more perspective. Put it in premium bonds and you might win zip. But you might get a reasonable rate, might do well like my parents and just vaguely possibly might win a large chunk. Put it in a savings account and you can't win a life-changing sum.

It's a small risk of a small amount against a reasonable chance of a return, and a small chance of a life-changer. It's kind-of like buying a lottery ticket for a fraction of the cost. You almost certainly won't win big ... but someone will.

[Zak33]

looks like Saracen and I are due to retire together

Cheers love xxx

[Saracen]

looks like Saracen and I are due to retire together

Cheers love xxx

Well, great minds think alike. Or is it that fools seldom differ?

[matty-hodgson]

i think i have £200 in premium bonds from my grandma as a christening present but haven't a clue if i've ever won anything. i'll have to ask my grandma next time i see her .

and just a quick question.. how do the premium bonds people manage to hand out so much in prizes? where does the money come from?

[jim]

i think i have £200 in premium bonds from my grandma as a christening present but haven't a clue if i've ever won anything. i'll have to ask my grandma next time i see her .

and just a quick question.. how do the premium bonds people manage to hand out so much in prizes? where does the money come from?

The premium bonds people are the government, and they don't hand out very much in prizes. The overall interest rate really isn't very high at all, so it's just a good way of getting some extra money to play with a low rate.

[pollaxe]

My uncle has a lot of Premium Bonds and wins occasionally. Only ever £25/£50s.
I've got a few (I've no idea how many, they were presents bought for me) and I've won a couple of £25s but that's about it.

It's good news the odds/payouts have decreased/increased respectively but my family's luck is notoriously poor (for many things) so chances are we'll win even less.

[mmh]

I've been meaning to get premium bonds for a while... just signed up