Savings Account or Premium Bonds?

Three to four £25 prizes a year is probably about right, as the chances of each £1 unit winning are currently 34,500 to one, for each monthly draw, and there are twelve draws each year.
With £9,000 in bonds if he wins three prizes a year so £75 that would be approx 0.8% ‘interest’; while if he wins four prizes a year so £100 that would be approx 1.1% ‘interest’.

Sorry, should have said, we are also about to buy some for our Grandson each month, instead of placing money in his money box as we want to place money where his father cannot get it. Most children's accounts seem to need a parent to be signee- so no use to us...as he would pressurise my daughter

My BinL had £9,000 in premium bonds - profit from a flat sale and looked after for him as he is special needs. He won 3-4 prizes a year...so either luck of the devil or you don't need to invest as much as you think.

With a stocks & shares ISA you’ve got to understand that in a crash the funds and investment trusts in the isa wrapper could easily halve in value and stay like that for years, then 10 or 15 years later they may emerge at twice what you originally invested. That was my experience of the 2008 crash, and another crash is probably overdue by now.

Good advice ShropshireMiss ?

We invested quite a large sum in premium bonds and we have " won " £25

I wish I went for Stocks and Shares ISA.!!
Anyway, second best thing - I’ve given quite a bit to each of my 3 children - they’re young and need the money now, rather than later.

Also don’t invest any money you can’t afford to lose. If it’s money you can’t afford to lose then you shouldn’t be investing it, you should be putting it in premium bond, cash ISAs, savings accounts.

I would say longer term as in 10 years or more, rather than medium term which is perhaps 5 years. Stocks and shares have been doing well for the last ten years since the 2008 crash, and that is historically a long time, so we are now overdue for another crash. If you need that money within the next five years probably premium bonds or cash isa, cash savings account are better, but if you are not looking to cash in for another 10 years plus then stocks & shares are the way to go. You can easily get 4% annual dividend income from conservative investment trusts.

I have premium bonds. I was puirchasing them to pay for my funeral, with the added bonus that I could cash them in if i had a financial crisis, also chance to win some cash. I have won a few £25 but nothing bigger. I then found the online company where you pay up front for a basic cremation, no mourners, no service just removal of body, cremated and ashes returned to NOK. So Premium bonds can be used by my family to enjoy once I leave them.

Managed Stocks and Shares ISAs have averaged 8 or 9%pa over the last few years, as a medium term investment they are easily the best option. You do have to invest for 5yrs plus but they can be cashed if you really need to. Savings accounts don’t 3C en keep up with inflation

Thanks for the info - we tried to encash them 6 years ago. Silly me thought that the local PO might help, but apparently they’d stopped doing anything with PBs a long time ago.

The PBs were a gift from my DF, definitely never cashed in, so I’ll draft up a letter for her to sign and take it from there.

Thoroughly agree. I've held PBs for years and the annual return, even at £25 or so each time, is always (slightly) higher than the savings interest rate. Because it is the luck of the draw, every PB supposedly has a chance of winning big. Obviously the more you have the greater the chance, but if you look at the monthly results some people do win with small holdings.

My late husband had the maximum amount of Premium Bonds and he once won £50,000!!! When he died, I was allowed to leave them invested for 12 months, during which time they won a total of £625 in prizes, a good return I thought. At the end of 12 months, I had to cash them in, so I reinvested in my name. So far, my return has been in the region of 2.5 - 3% per year, better than any other investment rate and each month the thrill of checking the results and the chance of winning big!

I put £50 a month into my PB's but am yet to win anything.... always optimistic though.

l do not buy lottery tickets so it my way of hoping to hit a jackpot without losing my stake. l do have the full allowance and l am still waiting for a phone call. My mil has won several largish wins with only £10,000. l have had one £1 bond since 1956 and sadly that was not productive either - but ever the optimist!

Sorry if someone has already mentioned but with PBs you can get your money out fairly quickly if something comes up another plus

I have the maximum holding of PBs and always win at least £25 a month.

Reading all your comments has made me feel really poor! But I’m healthy and happy so I can’t complain.

NS&I also have Green Bonds, but the downside is you have to tie the money in for three years.

Another for PBs. I have money in various useless investment/savings accounts including with the NS&I most earning less than 1% but the best return is from the PBs where I hold slightly less than the max. Any wins are reinvested immediately. It’s my ‘emergency’ fund ?

Thanks for all these views and suggestions. I'm a nervous investor having lost money in the past, so I'm sticking to something safe in my old age!

We are in our eighties and since we turned seventy plus we only have our money in joint accounts. For that reason only we don’t have more than a thousand in premium bonds an have finished with Isa’s as they are only available as individual accounts. When one of us is left alone it is so much simpler if things are in joint accounts as you only need a death certificate.

We both have the maximum amount in PBs and are happy with them. We win most months and the money is safe and easily accessible.

DH has worked out that we win about the same amount on PBs as we get on our other savings.
We have a Chase account that pays 1.5% like Shandy
There are only a few people that benefit from cash ISAs nowadays.....I agree with others and always consult Martin Lewis before doing anything financial.