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There's a quaint and quirky thing in the UK called a premium bond, which you can buy and which the government guarantees to buy back from you at its initial fix
by samizdis 6y ago
There's a quaint and quirky thing in the UK called a premium bond, which you can buy and which the government guarantees to buy back from you at its initial fixed value (1 bond costs 1 British pound). Every month, a lottery system pays out prizes to holders of bond numbers, as chosen by "ERNIE" - "Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premium_Bond https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premium_Bond
- robocat 6y agoThe equivalent New Zealand scheme (Bonus Bonds) is being wound up due to low interest rates: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_Bonds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_Bonds From elsewhere: “With low interest rates continuing to reduce the Bonus Bonds prize pool, the Bonus Bonds scheme was closed to new investment on 25 August 2020 and an announcement was made that ANZIS intended to begin winding up the scheme no later than the end of October 2020.”
- ac29 6y agoWould be interesting to see something like that in place of state lotteries her in the US. Neither is a good investment, but the longer term nature of the prize-bond system makes it less likely to attract desperate short term gamblers.