Pensioner Bonds vs. Premium Bonds

A question about : Pensioner Bonds vs. Premium Bonds

Of no great consequence but I am interested in what you think about the Pensioner Bonds, less fun than Premium Bonds ??

As I get older ! I am less interested in fixed term bonds !! and more interested in having the money instantly available, but maybe I should think more about the Pensioner Bond.
At the moment, on average I am getting about 1% winnings on a few thousand in Premium Bonds which I bought about 11months ago just to try it out.
The rate would be a little higher (I think ?) on the Pensioner Bonds but is it high enough to be 'interesting' ?
There is also the frissance of looking in each month to see if one has won a bigger one, the odds are silly on the million and not improved much worthwhile now that there are two million prizes, I think that was a waste as it reduces the number of the more winnable Ј25ers , , , or are my statistics a bit questionable there ?

Best answers:

• If you want more excitement then why not use S&S ISA instead?
• D > agree about the "fun" but the capital vanishes at each lottery, at least with PBs you still retain your stake ?
  JJ> May we all live in interesting times
  One of these days remind me to tell you how we were lucky to get out of some products in nick of time just before AlisterD thought his eyebrows were going to turn white !
  But yes, maybe after this Greek business is sorted out (if ever)
  IIP Ј20000> oh ! Just been reading the guide to them on this forum, that is the maximum holding per person ! duh
  but I see that the 1y rate is given as 2.8% so I admit to a little mistake there, for some reason I thort it was only 1.8%
  So, I learned summat, might re-evaluate the 1y bond then, but is it worth the fuss for just Ј10000. hmmm, thinking ,,
  Thanks everyone for your interesting thoughts >>>
• The 4% rate is quite good though and the "penalty" for taking the cash out early is only 90 days loss of interest. If you left it in for a year & then had to take it out you would still get 3% interest before tax rather than the 2.8%!
• The thing here is premium bonds do not qualify as either a good place for your money or as an interesting/exciting thing to do with your money.
  Ok so the last part is subjective but they are lame on all fronts tbh.
• Lots of places you can get 5% &4% on Ј10,000 plus. That's better than pensioners bond.
• Premium bonds are a gamble and not an investment. Over time even your original 'bond' money will lose money as it can never grow in value and inflation will devalue it. Yes you can win - probability is you will win small prizes but it's important to remember that they are not an investment - just a bit of fun :-)
• I would agree that PBonds are a gamble but isn't the other way to look at it - what is the cheapest way to gamble?
  Let's say a significant or life changing win is Ј50k. Lottery odds for that is 1 in 2,330,636. If you put say 10K in PBonds for 1yr then Martin's calculator says your chances are 1 in 29,292. So for the same change on the lottery you would need to buy 80 lottery tickets, (2330636/29292), cost Ј160. Meanwhile you likely to get Ј100 from PBonds where as if you put it in an account earning 3% gross you'd get Ј240 pa, so PBond gambling has cost Ј140 compared with Ј160.