Another modest win from my Premium Bonds this month - which is very nice and I'm very grateful to ERNIE (there's a little potted history of Premium Bonds and ERNIE here for anyone who's not in the UK and doesn't know what I'm whittering on about!!) I've been on a lucky streak with the Premium Bonds these past few months and whilst none of the wins are life-changing (I'm always hoping I'll be the £1 million winner each month - well, someone has to be!!) they are useful and it's quite a nice little lift to check out my number online each month and find I've won something.
I've got an endowment policy maturing next month - I originally took it out when I bought a house in 1987 and remember thinking how flippin' old I'd be when it eventually matured. Well, here we are, a quarter of a century later and it almost seems like yesterday when I signed on the dotted line to take out that policy.
I remember at the time being told it would 'in all probablility' pay off my mortgage - which was £21,000 - and give me another £21,000 as well. That all seemed like a fortune to me in the 1980's but, sadly, today £42,000 would probably not even make much of a dent as a down-payment on a mortgage. Not that I'm going to get anywhere near £42,000 anyway - I reckon I'll be lucky to get out much more than I've paid in over the past 25 years. Fortunately, the house was sold years ago otherwise I'd be very worried at this point. Anyway, whatever monies I do manage to get from my endowment, I'll certainly be investing it all with ERNIE and keeping my fingers' crossed that he keeps on picking my bond numbers each month.