It promised a unique safe haven, but…
Premium Bonds are operated by NS&I which is treasury-owned so your capital is as safe as it gets. This safety used to be a special charm, but these days all UK regulated savings accounts are protected up to £75,000 per person, per institution, by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. However, the maximum you can put in premium bonds is £50,000 – so the safety boon isn’t as big.
Premium Bonds are certainly not as good as they used to be, but ultimately it’s only worth re-allocating your cash if there’s something better out there.
So unless you’re extremely lucky, premium bonds earn far less than the top savings and most investments – the safest bet is to get rid of them.
The key to managing your wealth is to diversify and, if you want the potential for growth in this low interest rate environment, then the first option is to look at investing. Get in touch with Blacktower to find out more.
This communication is for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute, and should not be construed as, investment advice, investment recommendations or investment research. You should seek advice from a professional adviser before embarking on any financial planning activity. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the information contained in this communication is correct, we are not responsible for any errors or omissions.
On Thursday the Bank of England (BOE) rate committee met to discuss interest rates, and, even though inflation is growing, yet again they have decided to leave the base rate at 0.25%. They obviously feel this is the best option as they assess the extent of any consumer slowdown and while they continue to play the waiting game regarding how the EU Brexit divorce negotiations pan out. The BOE seems to be playing a deliberate wait and see game, and with economic news continuing to be negative in the last few weeks, it now seems likely that the base rate could stay at this level until at least 2019.