Premium Bonds Have Come Under Fire From Various Groups
Premium bonds have come under fire from various groups. This government plan to give a saving opportunity to the common man allows people to buy premium bonds for a chance to win a fifty to a million pound cash prize. Unlike American lotteries, the money that you invest to buy the bonds can be used again and again during the monthly drawings. The bonds you invest in, the more you have a chance to win. The can buy up to fifty thousand premium bonds in your lifetime and the cash winnings can add up nicely if you are consistent.
Some religious groups think this is a way to gamble. Most protestant worshippers think that lottery or any other money for chance activities is prohibited by the Bible. What they do not appear to know or pretend not to know, is that you can’t lose money in the premium bond market, you only invest. If you win a cash prize fine, otherwise you can take back all your money invested and cash in the bonds with no penalty. The cash prize just adds the element of gambling to savings without the risk that you will forfeit your original investment. The random picking of the bond numbers is just making the activity fairer to all investors.
In the Bible there is no direct instruction not to gamble. Though there is often the good sense advice from the pulpit not to gamble away the church tithe or the ability to care for your family, food, rent, etc. In the Ten Commandments, thou shall not covet, is mentioned, but this could be interpreted as coveting another man’s wife or property. The idea that money is coveted could be listed with the seven deadly sins of greed, but is the hope for a brighter future a sin. Premium bonds offer the saver a safe place for their money and a hope for money. There is nothing malicious about it. Even some of the money used by the government who sponsors the premium bonds goes to charitable organizations.
Even if it is not religiously oriented, there is a strong moral objection to gambling. There are some people that go over board when they are at a casino or playing the lottery, but premium bonds do not let you do that. You are not going to lose money. The money you put in will be able to be collected back anytime you want. The winnings are an interest given out randomly with no chance of your losing the investment. It is not gambling. It is a different way to accrue your interest in a exciting way. Why get the meager interest rates offered by the traditional financial savings plan? You have the chance of making thousand percents on your original money.
If you are now swayed from your belief that premium bonds are a system of gambling, you can purchase the bonds at your local post office and start a savings account that could make you a wealthy person. Even if you don’t become another Bill Gates you might get a couple of cash prizes that will be more than the near zero percent interest you receive in the traditional savings programs.
