Premium Bonds

Premium bonds are a thing many people hold - it used to be quite common for Grandparents to buy them for their grandchildren when they were first born etc., I have a few friends who hold £2 in premium bonds, have held them for 30 years and have won zero in all that time. I had a small amount of premium bonds and won a few £50's over the years then decided to return the little pink form and get my money back (you can do this at any time and they will send you a cheque). The idea is you buy them (now the minumum you can buy is £100 and the maximum £30,000). Anyone over 16 can buy them, but they can be bought for the under-16's by a parent or grandparent. They ...  Read the complete review

Premium Bonds are the best form of gambling- the only type that I know of where you can get your stake back win or lose. Admittedly if you leave the bonds invested for any length of time the value you get back will have been eroded by inflation- but that is still more than you get back if you lose on the lotto, horses, bingo etc. When I was about 10 my father won, what was then the top prize of £1000- that was enough to go on a lovely holiday to Switzerland, buy a new carpet and reinvest £500 into bonds- not like winning the top prize of a million today- but very very welcome- I think it was the first "proper" holiday we had ever been ...  Read the complete review

Premium bonds are not at all user friendly, it takes a month for your money to be invested and there is a long form to fill in both when buying and selling and it is necessary to send paper forms despite all the account details and details of coupons (if any) being available online. Access to the online service is poor with much longer codes needed than with banks plus you can't select your own entire log in info as they want your holder's number. The yield is currently 1.8%, this is historically low in absolute terms but relative to RPI inflation of 0.1% and the low returns available on cash else where this is probably the best time to own them thus ...  Read the complete review

Premium bonds are a way of investing your money which most of the population hasn't realised how good they actually are. A premium bond is an investment with the post office where basically you exchange real money for bonds, these bonds are given numbers and are entered into a prize draw every month, with there being two £1 million prizes every month, with over £1 million of seperate prizes at various amounts. The regular amount is around £50. The best thing about premium bonds is that they are tax free, soo no matter how much you win, it is all yours and none of it can be taxed off you. The conditions for this are: The minimum ...  Read the complete review

I have had Premium Bonds all my life. A lot of people say they are a waste of time, but in the current climate, is that still the case? It has been reported widely that the number of prizes available has diminished. Equally, the interest on my savings account and ISA has also diminished at roughly the same rate. At one time, I had around £10,000 in Premium Bonds. At that time, I was regularly getting at least £50 nearly every month. This is certainly comparable with any high interest savings account. Towards the end of her life, my grandmother had the maximum you could in the Premium Bonds (which at the time was £30,000 I think). She had a prize ...  Read the complete review