Premium Bonds - Has anyone ever won big?

Just opened an email and iv'e won £25.but no one i know has won big.

That's all I keep getting, £25's

As I said it probably competes with general savings and today's cash ISAs but I don't see big prizes getting paid to anyone I know, even though there are many each month.

I also know 2 people who have won the lottery, £5.8 million and £3.2 million but I've never known anyone to have a big win on the premium bonds. The bigger lottery winner done the lot on women, booze, drugs, gambling and bad business decisions and is now pretty much potless!

How do you define big? £20k+? I don't know any big winners but there's no conspiracy.

A cousin of Mrs Nick's was a member of multi-million pound Lottery winning syndicate. Her share was over £600k.

sounds like your mate had a good time slippy

I'm not saying there is Nick but with most of us around the age of 50 then surely someone must know a winner of (yes) £20k plus. Everyone I know gets £25, the odd £50 and one £100 that I'm aware of. You know a lottery winner, I know two and so does slippy but not one of us know a premium bond winner?

Having premium bonds must be like supporting Spurs Aspro.........you never win fxxk all

How many prizes are there each month over £20k?

Fwiw, I've won a PB prize of £500; 2 x £100; several of £50 (up until a few years ago that was the smallest prize) and several £25's.

Your £500 tops my list then Nick because that's the highest I'm aware of in 50 odd years. Nice one!

...trust you Dan!

Yes, it was a surprise!

If Dan's right, it may be worthwhile buying some PBs in 2021.

There are 1,900 prizes above £500 with the bulk of them being £1,000 (1728), after that it is £5k (92), £10k (46), £25k (18), £50k (9), £100k (5) and £1m (2)

Typo Nick surly you meant 3021

i reckon that people who invest in premium bonds reckon theyre a bit more financially savvy than those that do the lottery,so are less likely to publicise a big win.btw if you go on the web site there are quite a few big prizes that remain unclaimed for whatever reason.

Cheers Aspro at least you have a sense of humour unlike most of the lads on your thread

I'm not saying there are not winners but I'm curious at to why I, along with everyone I've asked, knows no big winners at all. I'm sure they're out there but in a lifetime one would think that a small number of people would know at least one between them.

*as

That's per month?

The other thing to consider is, how many people have a significant holding of say, more than £10,000?  I would guess the majority of prizes will be won by people holding £20,000 - £30,000

That is per month Nick

My old man had £20k, his friend had the max £50k and I know of at least 50 people who hold the maximum (old clients) and not one of them won. If my clients had won I'd have been the first to know as they would have wanted investment advice

I don't know the answer, Aspro but I'd be pretty certain there's nothing untoward going on.  If there were, it would be a massive scandal - millions of people defrauded for decades.

But where money is involved, and lots of it, I suppose you can never completely rule it out.

the £1m winner in march 2018 had only bought them in january,thats luck.

I'm with you Nick but enough people have viewed this thread and nobody has yet confirmed they know a decent winner. With an average age of around 50 on here it does seem a little strange, but I do agree that the scandal would be phenomenal.

I often hear people saying that recently purchased bonds win more often than older ones.

NS&I dismiss this as rubbish.

Well we'll soon see Nick, I purchased mine in March and April... let's hope I'm wrong in this

GL, Aspro.

I recall reading a review of different types of investment in one of the decent newspapers. It was about 20 years ago but it's conclusion regarding Premium Bonds was: "for rich people who have run out of other places to put their money".

btw, I should add that I wasn't taking their advice. ie I'm not rich!

Thanks Nick, and you!

When I done my financial planning certificate Premium Bonds were considered an essential part of planning, more for the average returns competing with inflation and being tax free. A maximum holding held its own against most savings plans and was considered a good investment that should be considered in any portfolio; in fact, if I had not considered it during my exam I would have failed!

mathmatically buying £26,000 worth should guarantee a prize every month.nick,thats how i view them but they are quite a nice solution for a present when a new baby is born.

I have no issues with the returns that do compete with tax-free cash ISA's so I'm happy to invest in them. I just don't know anyone who's won a decent amount, hence the original post. Surely someone on here will know someone before all is said and done.

I did win a grand once, but that back in 1996, in the good old days, when interest rates were around the 7% mark, and the prize fund was accordingly much bigger.

I remember it well, because I'd been backing Tom Tate's Lo Stregone for the Grand National, at 25s and 20s, enough to win a good five-figure sum. He'd then gone and won the Haydock Grand National Trial, and was down to 5/1 fav for the big one. All was looking well, until one Thursday morning, when I switched on Teletext as usual for the racing headlines. While waiting for the set to warm up, I checked through my mail, and among the envelopes was one from Lytham St Annes, containing the giro for £1,000 (along with a host of smaller prize cheques - as I said, those were the days). Then I glanced up gleefully and disgustingly smugly at the headlines on Teletext ... top of which was: LO STREGONE TO MISS NATIONAL.

The worst was yet to come. I went to Taunton races that afternoon, and apparently Eddie Fremantle had told a mutual friend of ours, Rolf Johnson of the Express, just not to mention Lo Stregone to me ... just don't say anything about the horse at all. So I walked into the track, and the first person I saw was Rolf, whose first words were, inevitably: "Ey oop, tha's terrible bad look wi' Lo Stregone. You moos' be absolutely gooted. Terrible look. 'Ow you feelin' about it, then?"

I mean, I love Rolf. He's one of the characters and the faces who made going racing such a pleasure back then. But I could have cheerfully strangled the Yorkshire git at that moment.

Re Aspro @17:26 and BB @ 17:26:

You're right but I reckon most people invest because of the thought that they just might win big

I think that's the attraction Nick, it most definitely enhances the decision making.

We're now up to a £1,000 win from screaming

While waiting for the set to warm up

A Sony Trinitron ... state of the art, son!

Aspro


what do reckon would happen if EVERYONE decided to withdraw their premium bond holding?

Well that's very unlikely and a strange question too that's not really on-topic, however; considering there is in the region of £50bn held it would definitely cause a ripple. What's your point Delta?

no point, just often had that thought that there isnt £50bn or whatever sitting ring fenced somewhere and if enough people got a wobble in years to come  ...


and there arent many FA's [ex] on here to ask

I suppose its questioning, even tho FP3 wants it to be advised and known as a secure investment, there may be potentially some risk to all your capital being returned on a run ...

* FPC3

It's very unlikey. Very safe - backed by the Treasury - and a decent rate of interest (payouts/investments).

You could say the same about other forms of government-backed savings/investments - savings accounts, savings certificates, bonds etc etc

I'm no "expert" in this one field but my basic understanding (FPC3 - enough to offer information and advice based on attitude to risk) is that Premium Bonds are paid in for the government to borrow if they so desire... and they do. In return the government pays interest on these loans and, in the case of premium bonds, they are paid in and spread out to achieve the prize money.

The government guarantees these funds so at least the initial investment is secure and the statement is 100% guaranteed, however; with 50bn+ all being withdrawn at the same time then I doubt the government could cope with an immediate one-off payment (the ripple) and I have no doubt the economy would feel this.

With all this said it is a very unlikely event and they are still considered one of the safest investments around because they are government backed.

You could ask:

What if no one bought the next issue of Gilts?
What if millions of customers withdrew their money from Barclays Bank?
What if there was a mass sell-off of shares in Tesco?

FPC doesnt tell you to advise those 'nick

You seem knowledgeable about FPC Delta, are you in the industry or linked to it?

Jack of all Trades, Master of none, Aspro ..

You must have FPC3 too then

had 20k for 5 yesrs nothing much so far bout £150 in total

That seems very low Capt; you should have received circa £800-£1k in that period.

auto re invest might pull out soon

Most of you probably know this but one of the Mail's online money sites has a monthly list of where the big prizes went (county, size of bond, size of holding, etc).

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-1637084/Premium-Bonds-winning-numbers.html

@SlippyBlue -- when you say your mate did £5 million in bad business decisions, was this a business he was already in, so the money just meant the company went bust later than it would have done otherwise, or did he set himself up in a new business he knew nothing about?

My uncle copped £100,000 on the premium bonds in 1988. He wasn't exactly skint to start with.
The week after my Mrs's cousin won £250,000 on the pools.

It was just after we'd got married and my uncle was selling/trading in his old Lada for £1100 against a new car. Then when he won, not wanting complete charity, we offered him £800 for it, which looking back, was a bit generous but all we could manage. He said no!
Then phoned back and said, OK then you can have it for £1000.

Finally, after all these years, a winner of repute. Considering the hundreds of years between us all and only £1k (before today) known that is some achievement.

I read somewhere that the chance of winning the million is equal to being in the monthly draw since Stonehenge was built, if I read the article correctly. Nevertheless, £100k or even £20k should have grabbed our attention before today, one would think.

Good to hear Study, it now answers my question.

I've got £75 back out of £2000 over 12 years.  Works out as a loss of £780 as £2000 12 years ago is worth £2842 today

In terms of gambling and ROI criteria I've risked £842 and got £75 in return.  Complete and utter mug

Jun 6, 2018 -- 10:31AM, Ramruma wrote:

@SlippyBlue -- when you say your mate did £5 million in bad business decisions, was this a business he was already in, so the money just meant the company went bust later than it would have done otherwise, or did he set himself up in a new business he knew nothing about?

He did give quite a lot away but done about £2 million opening bars and restaurants which were not managed well, that and freeloaders and losing a lot buying property abroad and basically complete and utter stupidity put pay to the rest. I'm still very close friends with him although he doesn't live near me in London we still keep in touch and meet up as and when we can and he's a happy bunny believe it or not!

Nice to have £5 million to lose

Two years on, anyone with any big wins to report?

My biggest prize remains £500 (twice), and currently on an Ed Moses style run of 61 consecutive £25 prizes, which is a bit frustrating when there are all those bigger wins out there.