Reposting this from the other premium bond thread, because Mikeys dismissive tone about people using premium bonds is irritating me.
"I sort of resent my mum being called daft, or that her investments strategy is "ludicrous", Mikey.
Quite the contrary. She has done the math. She has tracked back all her winnings on her £30,000 investment over the last 5 years. In every single year, without exception, she has won, on average, £550. Given that she does not want to tie up her money in a long term investment bond, the best kind of rates she could have received would have been around 2% a year or approx. £600 a year. So - she has lost nothing compared to the best rates available for shortish term savings vehicles, and has had the chance of winning, each month, a life-changing sum.
She likes a gamble, does my mum. She sees this as a risk-free gamble, gives her something else to look forward to when the postman drops the post through the mailslot each day, and is secondary to other investments that she has. I think you are being unduly judgemental in your assessment."