€25k invested in prize bonds

They must do some mighty shake-up of the bag of bonds that brings mine near the top, at the start of the year, and then they fall down into the depths of the bag as we progress through the year. Another €50 today!😏 Good luck to all others

Small win with €50 today, last win 17/9/2021, first win this year obviously

Prize Bond bought July 2020

Winnings to date (no winning records kept pre 2005) €2,075 on €12,200 (including reinvestments) worth of PB's bought monthly over a 25 year period plus €20,000 bought in Feb 2016 (six €50 wins on the February 2016 purchase), plus €20,000 bought in July 2020 (two €50 wins on the July 2020 purchase), plus €30,000 bought in October 2020 (two €50 wins on the October 2020 purchase).

Winnings 2011 €75

Winnings 2012 €150

Winnings 2013 €200

Winnings 2014 €100

Winnings 2015 Zero

Winnings 2016 €200

Winnings 2017 €250

Winnings 2018 Nada, Zilch, SFA

Winnings 2019 €250

Winnings 2020 €150

Winnings 2021 €150

Winnings 2022 €50 (and counting)

Roll on next Friday for a big one

Of course they're comparable, they're both financial products. The main difference is your (potential) return of 0.35% per annum and my 267% return since my post on 11 January 2021. I love how you tried to patronise me with your little horse racing metaphor too lol.

You should try reading a book or two to expand your financial literacy beyond the State Savings website.

I don't have an ego. I do have three degrees though, one of which is in economics. Cryptocurrencies are an asset class, no different to equities, bonds, cash, fine wines, art, etc.

Why do you conflate one's education with their ego?

OK, let’s just agree to differ. I’m very sceptical of cryptocurrencies, which I think are mainly based on smoke and mirrors, unlike the other asset classes you mention, which are based on something tangible, whether that’s pride of possession articles, real estate, future company earnings, government promises (backed by future tax revenue?), etc.etc.

You may well be right that strong returns can be made from cryptocurrencies, but they are essentially a zero sum game, so there are going to be plenty of losers as well as winners. Pretty much every reference I see to cryptocurrencies talks about the potential upsides, without mentioning the potential volatility and the possibility of losing a significant proportion of your investment.

My issue about recommending cryptocurrencies in a discussion thread about prize bonds is that they are pretty much at opposite ends of the risk/reward spectrum. I would be far more receptive to a suggestion that someone with a substantial investment in prize bonds should perhaps consider investing some of their assets in equities as an alternative. But the fact is that most people invest in prize bonds because they are looking for a more or less risk free home for their money.

This can be because it is a short term investment requiring capital security and liquidity, or is part of an overall portfolio that includes a mix of more return seeking assets or maybe just because the investor is particularly risk averse. But I just don’t feel that it is appropriate to suggest cryptocurrencies as an alternative to prize bonds.

By the way, I’m equally sceptical about hedge funds (well, maybe not quite as sceptical as I am about cryptocurrencies). All you ever hear about is the great returns achieved by various funds, but there is huge survivor bias in the figures quoted and you don’t tend to hear all that much about the funds that have gone to the wall.

I would also like to make the point that perhaps you are sufficiently financially sophisticated to be able to judge matters well when it comes to investing in cryptocurrencies (or at the very least, have a lot better insight than the majority of investors), but the danger is that those who are less financially sophisticated may be seduced by the prospect of easy money and may end up paying dearly for their optimism.

I want to cash in a portion of one of my batches. Does anyone know how long it takes to get it paid back into your bank account?

It's been a while since I've done so and can't remember if it took a few days or a few weeks.

2-3 weeks at most.

Nothing here yesterday

I've updated my table to reflect last week's winnings. Double wins shown in bold, triple win in red.

Just an update on this if anyone else on the thread is wondering the same as I was..

I sent the Prize Bonds by post on Monday and the money is back in my bank account on Friday morning. Pretty good speed.

Nothing won with my remaining bonds this week.

No luck here today

February Count

Friday 04

27 million bonds AYE to AZE inclusive. Total prizes 172, average per million 6.370. Highest AYN 14, lowest AYU 2. A AZD bond also won €50K and a AYS €1K, but I did not include these in the count.

11

27 m AYG to AZG. 179, 6.630. AYP 13, AYT 3.

18

27 m AYI to AZI. 184, 6.815. AYY 13, AYR 1.

25

27 m AYK to AZK. 183, 6.778. AZG 15, AZJ 2

108 million bonds won 718 prizes, average per million 6.648. x 52 x €50 = €17,285.18. Divided by 62.5 to get what €100K would win in a year with the same luck = €276.56. Toss up if they would get 5 x €50 or 6 x €50.