[MUSIC PLAYING]
- Budget Day, 17th of April, 1956, Chancellor
Harold MacMillan unveils something completely
new for the saver in Great Britain.
The first premium bond was bought by the Lord
Mayor of London for just one pound.
And by the end of launch day,
five million pounds worth of bonds
had been sold.
But 60 years on, are premium bonds still
worth buying?
Premium bonds are essentially a lottery,
each one pound premium bonds you buy
has a unique number, which is entered
into a monthly prize draw
with winners selected by a machine called
ERNIE.
You can win prizes between 25 pounds and one
million pounds.
But the odds of bagging a prize are high.
For each one pound bond, you have a 1
in 30,000 chance of winning 25 pounds,
and a whopping 1 in 34 billion chance
of snagging one million pounds.
To put that in perspective,
the odds of winning the National Lottery
jackpot are around 1 in 45 million.
The good news is that winnings are tax-free.
And because premium bonds are
government-backed, your money is 100% safe.
But it's impossible to predict what you'll
win, if anything at all.
You may get a better return by using
a savings account, ISA, or bank account,
where you can own guaranteed interest
every year.
So are premium bonds the right investment
for you?
Find out more in our guide
at which.co.uk/premiumbonds.