Holy crap...

[ffutures]

...I've won the premium bonds.

Only a hundred quid, but right now that looks pretty damn good to me.

Comments

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Congrats.

My mum has had a premium bond since the year they came out, and she's never won anything.

[ricdavis.livejournal.com]

There's a good discussion here:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1161700153,9594,

on the merits and otherwise of premium bonds. Personally I detest them.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's about what I thought. My bonds go back 30+ years and in that time I've won £320 on about 400 quid's worth, which I could have easily got as interest. I leave them running simply because there is that small chance of a big win, but I'm not planning to buy more.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine was encouraged to invest a couple of grand in them... 4 years ago. Because their financial advisor and accountant said that you got a pretty good rate of return on them, on average something in 5-10%. But so far, nothing.

[inamac.livejournal.com]

You have to invest about 20 grand to get a 49% chance of winning roughly ten months of the year. When interest rates were around 2% they were a good investment - not such a good return at current interest rates though.

My sister (who is the sort of person who wins holidays in the US and cars) worries if a month goes by without a win on the Bonds.

OTOH I have two bonds dating back to 1953 and have never won a sou.

[saranjeuhal.livejournal.com]

That'll help pay for the new camera :D

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

Actually...

[nojay.livejournal.com]

It'll pay for another lens for the new camera, once you add another couple of hundred quid. After that you can start saving for the next lens you want to buy while pencilling in the fourth one...

SLRs are like that. It's one reason I've never bothered getting a dSLR. Right now I've got a reasonable semi-pro digital camera (Fuji Finepix 602Z) that was a hand-me-down from someone else. I'm in the market for a compact pocket digital camera I'm likely to carry around with me rather than leaving it at home because it's too big and bulky, another problem with dSLRs.

Congrats anyway on the win. At least you won't have to declare it as income when tax time comes around (unlike bank interest).

Re: Actually...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Actually I've got a microscope adaptor already - cost a tenner including postage, should arrive in the next few days - and the only other things I want are a basic flash and possibly a wide/macro lens if I can find one at a bargain price, and a mirror lens ditto. It's annoying that I sold my old mirror lens, which worked pretty well - it was a T mount and with a Nikon bayonet would have been OK on this body, but at the time I didn't realise I'd be getting another SLR so soon.

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

Hurrah!

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Yup ;-)

[paratti.livejournal.com]

Congratulations:)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[mymatedave.livejournal.com]

Congrats

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[chronivore.livejournal.com]

Cheers!

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[parakkum.livejournal.com]

Hunh. Hadn't heard of those before. My first thought was something like, "What a curious practice."

Feels like a mutant hybrid of lotteries and normal investment.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

They used to be quite common in the UK, originally run by private companies as an alternative to normal dividends, but as I remember it there were several swindles so the British government banned them and launched its own version. Which is run pretty honestly - since the 1950s they've used a computer based on a valve-based random number generator to pick prize winners - and is pretty popular.

[doctor-toc.livejournal.com]

Excellent! Mine's a large one (that's not a drinks order; I'm just boasting).

Congratulations. I have a bond, somewhere, I've just no idea where it might be.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

If you know what address you lived at when you bought it, you can contact them and request a statement of your holdings and check that no prizes have gone astray. They'll give you a certificate showing what bonds you own and a user number that can be used to access this on line in future. Not sure how it works if your address changes.