premium bonds

[creativecelt]

I'm interested in buying premium bonds and I have 20k to invest. Should I buy 4 separate 5k batches a few days apart or buy 20k's worth in one transaction and therefore have consequetive numbered bonds?

[bednobs]

if it is completely random i cant see the difference. Each individual number has the same chance of wining

[kwicky]

Some years ago I bought �20,000 of premium bonds in separate batches from �500 to �2000. I won a �50 prize nearly every month but hardly any came from the �500 lots but mostly from the �2000 batch. In fact it seemed to prefer one particular batch which came up trumps time and time again. The reason I assumed was that people with similar numbers to mine were cashing theirs in so giving me better odds. The statiticians amongst us will deny this but there was something peculier going on.

[C-C]

A fortunate colleague purchased �10000 of premium bonds in one go and has had fantastic success which has averaged an impressive 8% return pa. He acknowledges that this is pure luck....but it does make you wonder whether he'd receive less in smaller batches.

[BigMac]

Have a look at www.nsandi.com where the odds etc are explained.

[WendyS]

I am sure that it makes no difference at all. The only reason I can see for buying separate batches is that it might be more convenient if at some time in the future you wanted to cash some of them in.