Bonus Bonds

I've got a wee bit of dosh on term deposit until I need it to build my house. Its earning a pitiful interest rate and wondered how people have fared with Bonus Bonds. I know you don't earn interest but wondered how people have fared with prizes relative to the amount they have invested.[?]

Gidday

She's a bloody side better bet than lotto cos you can get all your money back.

The return is apparently around 3% on average. So for some people it's thousands, for many others, nothing. But they're easy and reasonably quick to get into and out of again.

Isla;317603 wrote: The return is apparently around 3% on average. So for some people it's thousands, for many others, nothing. But they're easy and reasonably quick to get into and out of again.

Well 3% is all the banks are paying so maybe worth a gamble

I have never won anything with my bonus bonds. Have you had a look at Raboplus? They are offering 5.1% for 6 months term deposit just now

And...I think that any returns aren't taxable with Bonus Bonds? So if you are getting 3% from that (not of course that it really balances out like that, I am sure with my luck I'd get zilch!) that is better than a current deposit rate at a bank.

The diff is that the bank rate is a guaranteed return []

Another option is the TSB Saver Plus account - it charges no fees and gives no interest, but the chance to win a car each month. TSB Bank is Taranaki owned and operated, but can be accessed across the country online and deposits can be made over the counter at Post Shop. Have a look at tsbbank.co.nz/Banking/SaverPlus.aspx

I have no idea what the odds are of winning a car, but I have a friend who got one a couple of years ago. I suppose it depends on whether you're a gambler or not...

Once upon a time, I had some spare cash and put it into Bonus Bonds. I think the trick is to have a "block" of numbers rather that a few scattered here and there.

Anyway, I used to get a collect every month and it certainly paid better than the banks.

Perhaps you could leave some on term deposit and put some into Bonus Bonds.

I suspect the size of the "block" these days would need to be a minimum of $5000 for you to get a collect every month.

As has been said, its easy to get into and very easy to withdraw out of when you need your cash.

Ha! I have a $10 bonus bond, taken out by my parents for me when they first started. I went in to see if I'd won anything on it recently and to my absolute delight I had. It is now worth $40, so I have got a 200% return................divided by the 40 years it took to get it

However, a friend of ours had $3000 invested and won $10,000, so it can happen.

I also know people with plenty more than any amounts mentioned here who have not won a thing. I also know that it can and is used to hide "income" as the amount that you win is not taxable. Bit of a misnomer isn't it when people are genuinely needing to save (Kiwifirst is taxable isn't it?) and yet others can hide money and be rewarded for it when and if they win. Strange logic to me.

Gidday

Like I said, it sure beats lotto cos you can get your money back and the odds are about the same.

But really, over a few months just how much money(interest) would you have gambled?

We have a smallish amount and have won well more than 3% per year

I put in $20 at the start which has now grown to $5500, so I'm doing pretty well. But ..... our large amount averages out to about 1.8% nowadays. There have been a few "improvements" over the last few years which makes the chance of getting a return lower. Eg there are no $1000 prizes, these being replaced by 10 times fewer $10,000 prizes.
To test the theory that we are more lucky than other people we put $5000 into the kids bank accounts and $5000 into bonus bonds. So far the bank is far better.
So, quoting those immortal words of Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry films, "How lucky do you feel punk?".

We had $30,000 to invest for around 6 months as it wasn't needed immediately. Crap interest rates so decided to do bonus bonds. Ended up staying there for 8 months but each month we got something, most months $75 (only got $25 once!). Yes, it's a gamble but we liked the fact that it wasn't 'locked away' for a certain period as we weren't sure when exactly we needed the money as we were setting up a business. For short term, I'd say go for it - not much interest to lose and always the possibility of $10,000 with BB !!!!

sod;317659 wrote: We have a smallish amount and have won well more than 3% per year

You're on the lucky side of the calculation then. The 3% is averaged over all bonds holders. A few get much more, most get nothing or not much more. One ought of course to calculate the value of insanely hoping you'll get lucky, which obviously sustains great numbers of people. [}]