... We got a form from the post office for our first purchase and sent it off to the National Savings address provided .
2 - For £100 you receive a bond with a block range of 100 continuous numbers .
3 - Maximum purchase is £30,000
4 - Numbers are drawn monthly at the start of each month. ... Read review
PREMIUM BONDS' HISTORY * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * After the second World War the government were looking at ways to control inflation and encourage people to save . Premium Bonds were introduced by Harold McMillan in the 1956 budget . They went on sale on the 1st November 1956 and so have just , last year , celebrated their 50th anniversary .
At the start you could buy premium bonds from £1 upwards , which was quite a lot of money then . The bond you held had an allocated number and these numbers were put in a draw and randomly selected by ERNIE once a month . ERNIE stands for Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment . If you are lucky enough to win anything the amount is paid tax free .Of course the government has had all the money invested to play about with .
MY BACKGROUND * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * As my family were not well off we initially had no dealings with premium bonds . My Mum paid a weekly charitable subscription to the spastic society ( I know it's very unpolitically correct these days , but they were called that then ) in the 1960's . For your weekly charitable donation there were small things you could win . Low and behold , after they had only been around as a prize for a short time , she won a £1 premium bond . You'd have thought she'd won the crown jewels , but there you go :)
Personally I had no further dealings with premium bonds until a few years ago , thoroughly disillusioned with occasionally playing the lottery and wasting money , I decided to buy premium bonds each year instead . Buy this time , and currently , the minimum investment is £100 .
PREMIUM BONDS * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 1 - You can purchase on-line or ask at your post office . We got a form from the post office for our first purchase and sent it off to the National Savings address provided .
2 - For £100 you receive a bond with a block range of 100 continuous numbers .
3 - Maximum purchase is £30,000
4 - Numbers are drawn monthly at the start of each month. Numbers are usually made up of a combination of letters and numbers .
5 - There are a selection of prizes from £50 to £1,000,000 .
6 - Although it's a random selection obviously you must have more chances of winning the more bonds you hold .
7 - If you inherit bonds you only have a limited time to transfer them over . One year I think .
8 - You need to remember to inform them if you change address .
9 - When you want to / need to cash them in , if you have bought £300's worth , you will get £300 back
10 - You need to be over 16 to buy premium bonds , but if you are under 16 they can be held for you by parents , grandparents or a guardian .
11 - You can opt to have any winnings automatically reinvested .
12 - Minimum purchase is £100 but you can buy £50's worth as a regular standing order .
13 - I'm told you are notified of any winnings via the post , at the beginning of a month , by way of a blue envelope . Please let me get one in March :)
14 - Results can be checked on teletext , the internet , in the papers , by phone and there is an "unclaimed prize " telephone line .
15 - Unless things have changed there is an alloted time before you can win anything back . It used to be the first 6 months .
PRO'S AND CON'S * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * An obvious downside is your money is not instantly available . You would need to check how long it would take to get your cash back if you cashed the bonds in .
We bought these as there is a gamble there ,where you may win good money , but at least the money you paid out is safe . The downside is , if you bought £10,000 twenty years ago and never won anything , your initial investment has lost a lot of money .
I don't have vast amounts of money to play with but I still accept that the first £100 I invested was worth a hell of a lot more then than if I cashed it in now . So really I have lost money by not winning anything . However if you played the lottery each week for £2 you would spend £104 in one year , probably still not win anything and have lost your initial investment . For me Premium bonds have the element of the gamble , with a safe side .
The prizes have been revamped lately to give you more chance of winning and the Jackpot has been increased . All this has been necessary with the amount of competition around nowadays I should think .
I have copied the information below to show you why to my mind premium bonds are not a viable option to save large sums of money , but as a bit of fun , with little risk I think they are fine .
"Prize Value- Number of Prizes - Odds of Winning (per £1 Bond)
£1 million 2 17,000,000,000 to 1 £100,000 16 2,125,000,000 to 1 £50,000 34 1,000,000,000 to 1 £25,000 65 523,000,000 to 1 £10,000 164 207,000,000 to 1 £5,000 329 103,000,000 to 1 £1,000 4,082 8,300,000 to 1 £500 12,246 2,800,000 to 1 £100 232,487 146,000 to 1 £50 168,411 29,000 to 1"
Although ISA's pay back a tax free sum there aren't that many other investments that do . My initial money is safe and you never know I may get one of those blue envelopes through the post on !st or 2nd March . Looking at the odds above I could realistically have a small win for £100 bond or a large win . More than likely I won't but you never know .
When you look at the results on teletext there are still people who hold maybe only £4's worth who win the £1,000,000 . Now that's got to be a good return .
For me I can only see them as worth investing a large amount in , if it's for a short time . However the choice is yours , you can't lose can you ?
P.S - As premium Bond are backed by the treasury and held in the government's National Savings Bank they should be safe . Shouldn't they ?
Advantages: Risk free lottery Disadvantages: Return relies on having "average luck"
...are an almost-lottery run through National Savings and Investments, and backed by the government itself. I had until recently paid scant attention to them, until a chance conversation with my mother revealed that I had in fact owned a set of Premium Bonds since my 1st birthday, when my parents decided that some money given as a gift by my grandparents would be better placed into the bonds than into the savings account that they had opened for me. ... ...the Treasury, and according the National Savings and Investments website, your current odds of any one bond winning a prize are 24,000 to 1 (the odds were 11,000 to 1 back in 1993). By way of comparison, the odds of any £1 ticket winning a prize in the UK Lotto are 54 to 1, and the odds of any £1 ticket winning the jackpot in the same game are 14 million to 1. Mind you, there were only £4 billion invested in the bonds in the early 1990s - the explosive ...
Collingwood21 09.04.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of National Savings and Investments Premium Bonds
Advantages: A better chance of a big win than the National Lottery, Disadvantages: but it's still a very slim chance!
National Savings and Investments offer several tax-free investments, including a Cash-only ISA, National Savings Certificates, Children’s Bonus Bonds and Premium Savings Bonds. This opinion covers investments made in Premium Savings Bonds.
*****
“Serious Fun” is what National Savings and Investments used to call Premium Bonds. I start to worry when an institution like NS&I tells me that something is going to be fun. I worry even more when they ... ...numbers, send your application to National Savings and ask if they would issue 3 consecutive Bonds for £300 each.) The minimum investment is £100 (and then in units of £10) and you can download an application form to complete and send by snail mail at http://www.nsandi.com/products/pb/index.jsp?section=print
Anyone over 16 can buy Bonds for themselves, and parents or grandparents can buy Bonds for children under 16. The child assumes full control ...
SueMagee 17.12.2002 (01.05.2003)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of National Savings and Investments Premium Bonds
Advantages: An excellent way of saving for your child's future without incurring any tax liability. Disadvantages: Interest rates are not up with the best.
...to advise people to buy National Savings Children’s Bonus Bonds, but in the current economic and political climate I’ve come to the conclusion that they’re a good way to save for your child’s future. I’ll tell you a little bit about them before we go any further.
Children’s Bonus Bonds can be bought from any Post Office or direct from National Savings & Investments for a child under the age of 16. They can be bought by anyone on the child’s behalf ... ...Just before the bonus date National Savings will write to you and tell you about the guaranteed rate for the next five years (or until the child reaches 21) and it’s up to whoever is controlling the Bond whether they leave it invested or cash it in and put the money elsewhere. The fact that the rate of interest is fixed is useful when the rates being paid are high, but is of dubious benefit when rates are low, as at present. The Bond must be repaid, ...
SueMagee 31.01.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of National Savings and Investments Premium Bonds
Advantages: You can't loose because you can have your money back Disadvantages: No interest paid
...Premium Bonds form part of National Savings network, which also has its own website at www.nationalsavings.co.uk if you need any further information. You will find Premium Bonds under Tax Free Investments as any money that you do win is tax free.
If, sorry, when you win ERNIE’s office, based at Lytham just outside Blackpool, will get in touch with you. This is of course providing that you have notified them of any changes of address. Any unclaimed ...
SusanLesley 29.09.2001 (24.10.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of National Savings and Investments Premium Bonds
Advantages: Fun way to invest money Disadvantages: You might not get good returns
Until a couple of years ago I had heard of Premium Bonds, but had little idea about what they were and how they worked. Last year I came into a little bit of cash and instead of wasting it on crap like I normally do I decided to invest it. I put a little bit in an ISA and decided to buy some Premium Bonds as well as a friend had some and she always seemed to be winning – plus the idea of potentially winning money each month appealed to me as well.
... ...lottery and a savings account rolled into one. The difference between this savings account and the normal ones you get is that your money doesn’t get guaranteed interest each year; instead your premium bonds are entered into a draw each month with the chance of winning prizes that range from £50 all the way up to £1,000,000 tax free with a wide range of prizes inbetween. Obviously the million pound jackpot is on most peoples minds when they invest, ...
fryera2 13.06.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of National Savings and Investments Premium Bonds
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Advantages: Good interest rate and convenient to use Disadvantages: No online facility to date
of money and have watched it grow, even over just six months. Ok, it may not have the highest interest rate out there, but at least with a name like NationalSavings you know your money is safe!
The only real disadvantage I have found with this account is that it cannot be accessed online but hopefully NationalSavings will consider this in the not too distant future.
As well as ISA's, NationalSavings can offer PremiumBonds, Ordinary and Investment accounts, Childrens Bonds, Income Bonds and Savings Certificates, to name but a few.
I would definitely recommend NationalSavings to anyone who was looking for a hassle free, safe way of saving. ...
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