premium bonds.

[Dodgy69]

Anyone got any ? I've been told if you can afford a good few grands worth, it's payback is better than savings account. True or false ?

[kendo57]

i looked at my online account and the last two years i got 1.8% return.

[Wreckless Rat]

Wins have defo dropped since the interest rate was dropped, still earning more than one of my cash ISA's, which has about 2x the amount in PB account.

[v8-powered]

Just going to drop some cash in them too, as you say as good if not better return than savings accounts....

[Mr. Dazzle]

Gonna get some...we have a chunk of cash we keep available for emergencies, separate from larger investments.

It makes far more sense to have premium bonds at the moment, especially if it's just money you're sitting on for a rainy day. Should have done it ages ago.

[KungFooBob]

I've got £25,850.

Since August 2018 I've 'won' £250.

I've never had a prize over £25.

I did once get two £25s in the same month.

I put £50 a month in by direct debit and all winnings below £500 auto re-invest.

They're not performing how I hoped, so I'll probably use a chunk of them to bring the mortgage down at the next renewal.

The wife won't let me re-invest them in a Panigale.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Even that pants performance - 1% in 2 years - is not far off better than you'd have got on a high street savings account.

It IS better than most savings accounts at the moment.

[KungFooBob]

Martin Lewis has a calculator on his MSE webshite that works out how much you'd win based on average luck.

If I had 'average' luck I should be getting £500 a year return.

[Skub]

The wife won't let me re-invest them in a Panigale.

Tell her,as a public spirited citizen,you feel it's your civic duty to contribute to helping the economy. She'll probably agree right away.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Martin Lewis has a calculator on his MSE webshite that works out how much you'd win based on average luck.

If I had 'average' luck I should be getting £500 a year return.

But you've still got your looks...

Ah.

[MingtheMerciless]

Mrs M and I have bonds (though mine is much diminished after recent building works) and I hadn't won anything for years and the month I draw 90% of them down I win £25. Mrs M on the other hand has about 19K invested for 5 months so far and has won nearly every month.

My luck is a disease (though I suspect I may have a bit more left than Rossi after the weekend).

[Rockburner]

My father has the maximum amount you can have. He gets regular checks, 2 or 3 a week reliably, but I'm not sure what the actual return is. He's had them ages.

[Couchy]

Had nothing off mine in nearly 2 years, stopped me spending on bikes though lol

[Trogladyte]

Mine have done well. I had about £5k for a good few years and got zilch. Then last year I upped it to something much more substantial, and got £5100 in the first month. Since then I have never had a month without a prize. So over about a year I have had over 10% return. I realise that it's lucky that I got a single larger prize, but hey, I'm smiling.

[Jody]

I've been buying them at a rate of £500 a month for nearly three years.

Wins have been few and far between, and only ever £25.

Going to pull all the money out and put it in peer to peer lending when I'm back in the UK.

[Rockburner]

Had nothing off mine in nearly 2 years, stopped me spending on bikes though lol

IT'S THE END OF DAYS!

[Mr. Dazzle]

Going to pull all the money out and put it in peer to peer lending when I'm back in the UK.

Is peer to peer safe? As in, is it protected by the FSCS schemes* etc. I'd guess not, but I genuinely don't know.

We have "traditional" investments for the money we actually want to grow, but we also assume that's untouchable for years at least.

I'm thinking Premium bonds are just for immediately available emergency cash in case my roof blows away or something.

*tautology

[Taipan]

Got a few. Quid in them and had it on au.to reinvest. Finally set up an online log in and found I'd won £1400 over the years. Took the auto reinvest off and have won a few times since, mainly £25s.

[Mr. Dazzle]

We have "traditional" investments...

What are traditional investments?

I only invest in companies that make bowler hats, cheddar cheese and starched collars.

[cheb]

Are there any companies that make starched collars and cheddar cheese?