UK Premium Bonds

[adamu]

have never kept track of how it would compare to sticking my money into a regular savings account.

I think comparing to actual interest-paying bonds is the correct thing to do. You could buy UK guilts, which are just as safe and give you a guaranteed return (although the bonds I have are actually BND and BNDX ETFs).

[KyushuWoozy]

have never kept track of how it would compare to sticking my money into a regular savings account.

I think comparing to actual interest-paying bonds is the correct thing to do. You could buy UK guilts, which are just as safe and give you a guaranteed return (although the bonds I have are actually BND and BNDX ETFs).

Thanks, it's good info in an area I've never looked into.

My investments in UK are via Legal and General and when I checked just now seems they don't offer bonds / guilts on their platform, only a fund which "Invests in bonds issued by UK and overseas companies and governments" and that has an ongoing charge of 1.16% with an underlying gross yield of 2.5%: https://www.legalandgeneral.com/investm ... come-fund/

Would that be a better bet that premium bonds do you think? I mean, does this mean the net yield would be 2.5 - 1.16 = 1.34%? Or is the charge 1.16% of 2.5%? (ie: a piddling amount)?


Or do you happen to know any platform in the Uk that allows non-residents to buy bonds / guilts?

[adamu]

Sorry I've not looked into it in detail because I decided to focus on 100% stocks for the time being.

If I was going to buy bonds in the UK, I'd probably go for https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/inve ... _fund_link, which has a 0.15% ongoing charge.

[KyushuWoozy]

I decided to focus on 100% stocks for the time being.

Me too, that's probably why I just dumped some idle funds in premium bonds. Thanks for the link anyway, it's a good starting place for me.

[Gareth]

I have a few thousand pounds worth of these and recently had a thought that perhaps:

-it may not be legal to hold them here

-although prizes are free from tax in the U.K. that likely isn’t the case for a permanent tax resident of Japan

An online search yielded nothing useful so wonder if any fellow Brits are in a similar boat and know more?

Hi.

I wondered about the legality of holding Premium Bonds while living in Japan too. Also, I couldn't find anything online about that aspect.

The website says "If you live outside the UK, you should check whether local regulations permit you to hold Premium Bonds. For example, the US has strict gaming and lottery laws which mean that it may not be possible or practical to hold Premium Bonds while in the US." https://www.nsandi.com/i-live-outside-u ... t-with-nsi

As Japan has strict gaming and lottery laws, isn't it highly likely they are illegal here too?