Business and Wealth

There is controversy about premium bonds and if they are really worth the investments. If you calculate the odds of winning per bond and the interest rates for regular savings accounts, the argument could go both ways. On the positive side a premium bond gives the saver a chance to win over a million pounds if they are the two lucky numbers picked during the monthly lottery. The flip side of the coin is that there are thirty six billion losers each month. There money stays the same, it does not loose its value, but there is no interest to generate profit. So the government, in all actuality, is using thirty six billion pounds worth of British money for free.

People who are skeptical about premium bonds contend that the reason the odds are so against the majority of the investors is that the distribution is skew by the way it awards the prizes. This would allow for the majority of the investors to have little to no chance of winning a cash prize. Their earning potential of their money would actually decline because they would not be earning the interest rate in a regular savings account or the rise of the earnings if the money was invested in stocks.
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Premium bonds marked their fiftieth anniversary in November 2006. They have been the most popular form of investment in British history. Premium bonds are bought and kept by over 40% of Great Britain’s populations. Where traditional investments yield a small return over time, premium bonds yield no return at all but give the investor a chance to win a monthly lottery. This popular investment strategy have made millionaires out many British citizens and at the same time provided the investors that didn’t win a secure place to save their money and help out the national treasury. They have the option of pulling out the money at any time without loss. Here are some bizarre facts that surround these popular bonds.

From its conception until the late eighties there was even a beauty contest to celebrate the premium bonds program. The National Saving and Investment agency, the department in charge of the bond program, held an annual Miss Premium Bond competition in which employees of the agency entered during the annual Civil Service Sports and Social Club Day held in Lytham St. Annes. Just like regular beauty pageants, the competitors would walk down the catwalk flaunting their looks and style. They would smile politely to the judges and then answer questions related to the pageant. No other investment company has ever sponsored such an event.
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Premium bonds have come under fire from various groups. This government plan to give a saving opportunity to the common man allows people to buy premium bonds for a chance to win a fifty to a million pound cash prize. Unlike American lotteries, the money that you invest to buy the bonds can be used again and again during the monthly drawings. The bonds you invest in, the more you have a chance to win. The can buy up to thirty thousand premium bonds in your lifetime and the cash winnings can add up nicely if you are consistent.

Some religious groups find this is a way to gamble. Most protestant worshippers think that lottery or any other money for chance activities is prohibited by the Bible. What they do not know that you can’t lose money in the premium bond market, you only invest. If you win a cash prize fine, otherwise you can take your money and cash in the bonds with no penalty. The cash prize just adds the element of gambling to savings with the chance that you will forfeit your original investment. The random picking of the bond numbers is just making the activity fairer to all investors.
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Premium bonds are the British answer to the need for savings and the fun of gambling. Each bond you buy will have a specific number. The number of the bond is put into a numbers generating machine and monthly thousands of numbers are chosen randomly to receive a cash prize in lieu of interest. The investment is completely safe and you can cash in your bonds at value when ever you wish. There is a thirty thousand pound cap on the investments so large corporations cannot buy millions of bonds to skew the chance for the common man to win.

There are ways to improve your odds. For example the more bonds that you buy and hold the more chance you will have in winning a cash prize that can equal as much as one million pounds. Statistically you have about 23,000 to one shot with a one pound premium bond. By buying more bonds, your odds of winning increase significantly. The system is designed to choose number randomly so the more numbers you have in the system the more money you will make as a cash prize. You can even sign up for a monthly fifty pound savings program where you can have the money automatically drawn from your regular checking account.
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Premium bonds, the most successful savings program in British history, has given the common man a chance to win up to a million pounds in a lottery based drawing that draws the numbers from the bonds themselves. Other countries are starting premium bond programs but there are distinct differences between them. The forty plus years of the British system has made millionaires out of two people a month and has given several other millions cash prize in lieu of interest. The great thing about the British premium bond system is that you can withdraw your investment anytime without penalty or loss of money.

Based off of this model, the Canadian government now has started a similar program that has very distinct differences. The Canada Premium Bond is a safe and secure investment is a bond that has interest and even a compound interest. In comparison to the British system that offers no interest the Canadian system offers a guaranteed rate of return and offers a higher interest than the common Canadian Savings bond which is a completely different investment opportunity. They can be redeemed once a year; where as the British premium bond can be cashed in at any time.
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