Premium Bonds

I won £25 once. They are worth it in some respects as they are tax-free investments, and as they are with NS&I they are Government backed and therefore as safe as you can get really deposit-wise. On the flip side, they are not inflation proof as your capital doesn't grow, and unless you are lucky enough to win then the returns can be poor or non existent. Most people hold them for the 'excitement' of potential wins rather than for accumulating any real returns on them.

I think the best way of getting a lot out of them is if you invest the maximum £30K. If you were planning on buying a few you're unlikely to win a lot.

I'd stick the money in an ISA instead.

ISAs are always a good option, you can invest up to £15k p.a under the new rules too. Only problem with an ISA is that if you need access to the capital once it is withdrawn it has lost its ISA status and you can't replace it, whereas with Premium Bonds they are still tax free and you can withdraw and reinvest when you need to. ISAs are more inflation proofed though returns on cash ISAs are pretty poor at the moment.

I love premium bonds. We have all our savings in them. You can now invest up to £40,000 each and that will go up to £50,000 next year. We don't have a huge amount of premium bonds but we tend to win £25 most months (sometimes two times a month) and it's worked out at us earning more money from it then we would in a savings account.

I also think they're great because your money isn't at risk - what you put in is exactly what you get out. Plus you can gat your money instantly rather then having to save for a year or ruining your interest rate.

My daughter has some which H's dad has bought for her. So far, she's not won anything.

I remember my dad telling me about his friend Alan who was winning all the time and my dad was peed off because Alan had ONLY got £13,000 worth!!!! My jaw hit the floor and my dad burst out laughing when I asked how much exactly he had in Premium Bonds...!

I have had something like £5 in Premium Bonds since I was born and have never won anything. My dad inherited a fair sum a few years ago and put it all in Premium Bonds before giving it to me and my sister for our weddings. They'd get £25 every other month.

I thought that would probably be the case! Our daughter has £20 worth from when she was born and never won anything either!

I think the minimum you can buy is £100.

They are worth it if you can afford to put plenty into them. My OH has invested the maximum amount in them and wins an average of £50 per month. At current interest rates that's better than if he'd stuck she same amount in the bank, plus he says there's the excitement factor of possibly winning big which you don't get with a bank. (Frankly if thats the most excitmement he has in his life I'm doing something wrong!)

https://www.nsandi.com/prize-checker/winners

There's the list of this months big winners (it doesn't list all the winners of under £1000). Most of them do have a lot or bonds, but there are still winners with only a few thousand. I love the 5th one down - they have £14 worth of premium bonds and have won £100,000.

My experience is they are a waste of time but l would say that as l have never won anything in 34 years!

I have a few thousand invested and win £25 every few months. I added up my winnings over the past couple of years and on average it worked out about the same as if I had put the money in an ISA. I like the buzz of finding out if I am a millionaire at the beginning of every month.