If we had a decent caretaker PM he’d be telling the two potential future PMs to broker an amicable deal or he’d push something through himself without consulting them on it.
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I’ve shifted the majority of the energy-related stuff over there. I await retribution.
(Or “well done, Graham, you’ve our best interests at heart” 
).
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This really isn’t a suitable way to judge the likelihood of future returns from premium bonds exceeding what you’d get from a top easy access savings account. That’s not how probability works. It’s more likely you will get less, regardless of what’s happened in the past.
Of course, it is possible you will get a lot more. But not likely.
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I think you’re all working on the basis that people are rational and thinking about this logically.
People are clearly more motivated by the potential of winning a large prize than the guaranteed smaller returns.
The website even describes it as a fun way of saving. It would be interesting to know how many people actually save in any another way outside of premium bonds.
Quite so.
But as far as Premium Bonds are concerned, I’d suggest that’s an example of “not spending” as opposed to “saving”. I’d expect interest, no matter how small” from the latter.
What about people who use these automatic savings apps like chip and plum. Usually no or little interest but the people using them still consider it saving.
A lot of people who “save” don’t care about interest as what they save will most likely be just short term for things like holidays. In those cases interest doesn’t really matter.
If you’re then going to save long term then surely investing is the sensible thing as the return on savings accounts is so low. People don’t have their pensions in savings accounts because it won’t grow in any significant way and will lose value due to inflation.
I do find it interesting that people are so scared of investing but everyone’s pension is invested. Why is it okay for that but not for any other money they have 
And it is.
I disagree. Savers want some return on their funds even if it isn’t much (and poor returns have been the case for many years).
I don’t disagree.
I’ve nothing against investing, but it’s not for me. I don’t like the idea that I could lose some or all of my money. But that’s a personal position.
Good luck to all those who do.
Plum is used by my fiancée and I for DD creation. It seems quite powerful but I prefer a manual approach personally.
Blackmore Bond collapse: FCA failed to act before people lost life savings Blackmore Bond collapse: FCA failed to act before people lost life savings - BBC News
That’s why I personally won’t invest, because I’m basically scared of losing everything 
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I think that’s a very extreme example and hardly typical. Most people who invest don’t lose everything. The FCA have said only experienced investors should be investing in mini-bonds. I don’t even know what a mini-bond is which is exactly why I wouldn’t go near it.
If they’d have done any research they would have known they shouldn’t have invested in that. They just saw the 10% and jumped on it. People invested their life savings into this. That would be like investing your life savings into a startup like monzo. These people were reckless.
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Some more information on the new chip prize savings account:
- There will be no interest on this account, as with premium bonds
- You’ll be able to hold a maximum of £85,000 in this account
- Tax exemption is as of yet unconfirmed - unfortunately we don’t offer tax advice, in these cases we recommend seeking advice from a professional
- Withdrawals will be simple and fast
With regards to the rates of winning, this is a little more complicated. I can say for sure that in the first month there will be one “Grand Prize” of £10,000 and hundreds of smaller prices. However, the winners will be selected randomly - this means that the win rate is completely dependent upon how many people enter the account, and how much is deposited per person. We will be monitoring the account closely, and be as transparent as possible with the data without compromising on user privacy.
Pretty pathetic really. Why would you go for this over premium bonds?
Well they would argue faster deposits and withdrawals, no login issues and you can deposit a maximum of £85,000 over £50,000.
I don’t think the NS&I service is that bad though. If you do everything via the site it works fine.
Nor me. It’s far from the best experience but it’s perfectly functional.
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I haven’t yet ead in detail about the Chip’s new offering.
However, an alternative to Premium Bonds is not a new idea and many of them pay interest as well..
Nationwide have also similar accounts..
Worrying that they are just about to launch this and can’t provide an answer - it’s quite simple.
Makes me wonder if they have thought of the other issues around running a prize draw
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Windfall Bond has been withdrawn to new openings. The Family’s customer-facing IT systems are retro-arcade-game level of outdated… Still think providers like Coventry, Family, Yorkshire et al should get whitelabel from Starling or someone. Probs too difficult and or expensive.
Anyone who has any savings left, after the energy companies take their cut, Shawbrook Bank are now offering a 1 year fix at 3.26% (annual interest), 3.21% (monthly interest)
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I thought my Atom 1 year fix at 2.2% was good a couple of months ago. Oh well…
Generally speaking, I’m refraining from fixing at the moment. Using Zopa and watching what’s occurring.
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