Harold Macmillan introduced them in 1956, Gail, and they cost £1 each. You can hold a maximum of £50K and cash them in at any time at the original value.
Each bond is entered in a monthly prize draw (numbers randomly generated by Ernie). You trade the interest on a normal investment for the chance of winning one of the two prizes of £1 million, 2 of £100K, 9 of £50K, 19 of £25K, 47 of £10K, 94 of £5K, 1246 of £1K and so on down to 2,092 of £25.
Someone with the maximum holding and average luck might win 23 prizes a year worth £575 at current rates if they were all of the lowest value, giving a return of 1.15 %. Not much, but more than inflation at the moment and there's always the chance of one of The Big Ones.
Anyway, 1 in 3 people here have some, including the illustrious Ann D., so . . .
|