€25k invested in prize bonds

€75 last week

This year on 35k total €475

If you list all your prizebonds on their www do they notify you by email if you win?

Anyone ever get email notification?

eur 6000 since may 2012,
won 3x75 since.

good return so far!

Winnings from today's draw: €0
Total winnings since Feb 2012 on €12k: €75

I have about €10,000 in PBs. Have won 8 x€75 (€600) since June 2007. I get €50 worth each month by Direct Debit. However, I notice that all winnings have been from blocks of consecutively numbered bonds. So in Jan 2012, I cashed in all the small blocks of 8 bonds and reinvested the proceeds in another block of consecutively numbered bonds. Since Jan 2012 I have won 3 x €75. Last win was in June, so I'm probably due another win fairly soon.

Winnings from todays draw: €0

Total winnings since Feb 2010 on €500: €150
Total winnings since Feb 2011 on €50: €0

€0 again this week!

Winnings from last draw: €0
Total winnings since October 2008 on €18K: €1200

Date of previous win: Sept. 14th 2012
Date of previous win: Sept. 07th 2012
Date of previous win: July 13th 2012

imme wrote: »

Agent Smyth wrote: »

€46900 invested during 2012 winnings 4x €75

:eek: x 46900

Surprised that someone would 'invest' so much in prize bonds.
Each to their own I guess.

Have just over a grand in PB's myself, with 2 or 3 €75 wins in the last 5 years.
Keep thinking I should cash them in but don't.

Better than giving it to the bank i suppose!

alb wrote: »

Well, you can suppose it is, but maybe it isn't.

based on numbers in this article: http://thedailyedge.thejournal.ie/8-things-you-probably-didn%E2%80%99t-know-about-prize-bonds-477753-Jun2012/

You have 25333/1 odds per week, per bond to win 75.
That's 487/1 per bond, per year.

if you have 1000 euro worth of bonds that's 1000 /6.25euro each = 160 bonds
160 bonds with a 487/1 per bond chance, per year = 1 in 3 chance of winning once in a year.

So based on the 75euro prize, 1000 euro worth of bonds will on average win 25 euro in a year. That's 2.5%.

10000 savings at 4%, minus dirt on interest of 30% would make 28 euro per year.

There is of course the chance of winning the big prize with the bonds, but also the chance you win nothing in the year. I do think prize bonds are a better option than lotto tickets but I'll buy neither and take my guaranteed interest 'win' every year instead.

Agreed. Putting funds on deposit in a bank is a far better option in my opinion.

Page 17 of the Prize Bond company's annual report states that the prize fund is set at 3% of invested funds.

"The Prize Fund is determined by calculating interest on the eligible fund at a rate determined by the National Treasury Management Agency. Since 1 September, 2007, that rate has been 3.0% per annum."
http://www.prizebonds.ie/downloads/AnnualReport2011.pdf

Most people will earn approx 2.5% per draw, but the average return for everyone will be 3%.

I would rather take the 3% average return with prize bonds than the 2.8% return from a bank.

Adotsy wrote: »

Most people will earn approx 2.5% per draw, but the average return for everyone will be 3%.

I would rather take the 3% average return with prize bonds than the 2.8% return from a bank.

How do you figure that? 3% is the average return in prizes across the whole fund but it is heavily skewed towards the larger prizes. Of that 3% 1% goes on the top prizes and the remaining 2% goes on the €75 prizes.

Based on the fund value there are a total of 231,664,000 individual prize bonds. With 385,078 prizes handed out in the last year, each bond has a 601:1 chance of any payout - steep enough odds.

With prize bonds there is a very high chance you get no prizes, with a bank there is certainty in interest rates. A small amount in prize bonds makes sense as they're reasonably easy to convert and hold their value in a low inflation scenario like we have now. But for large sums of money the amount of interest forgone by holding them means they don't make as much sense. If someone is in a position to set aside a large amount of cash like €40k for a while then other products like Post Office Savings Bonds make more sense.

Winnings from today's draw: €0
Total winnings since Feb 2012 on €12k: €75

Winnings from Fridays draw €0
Winning on €1k since June 2012 €75

I'm happy with my returns (about €950) from the prize bonds since I bought 4000 this time last year. I had 2 x SSIAs running in the bank on extended term as the manager predicted returns at the time of 27% (! I know!). At the end of the term I went in and without any apology or excuse he said you have 0% interest...nada!

I won't go down the road about how I feel about the banks...but if I invest further in the Post Office Saving Bonds are they more secure than a bank?