I won £50 - should I use it to buy Bitcoin?

[Jet Cash]

I don't buy the median theory, but then I'm not a statistician, your theory sounds a bit like government speak.   I do know that the chances of winning a £1,000,000 are about 1:3billion, and that most of the winners have a £30,000 holding. This used to be the maximum, but it has now been raised to £50,000. That would tend to imply at many bond holders have other substantial investments, and buy the bonds to diversify their portfolio. Being realistic, I expect any prizes that I win will be in the £25-£100 range, and 3 or 4 of those will keep me ahead on returns. I don't like ISAs for various personal reasons, and I haven't got any.

Anyway, I bought another Volvo a short while ago, and this one is in potential concours condition. I paid £850 fior it, and it is probably worth £4,000-£5,000. These classic cars seem to be appreciating as people turn away from electric cars. I think many are becoming aware of the environmental damage resulting from buying new cars, and the savings you make from driving reliable classics.



The estate is interesting, as it has a factory fitted rear view camera, unusual for a 1989 car. The camera was made for the US market, and the screen is mounted in the passenger sun visor. I'm not sure how a UK model managed to get one installed.

[pawel7777]

I don't buy the median theory, but then I'm not a statistician, your theory sounds a bit like government speak.  

I think it's the opposite, since the premium bonds are government-run, they probably want you to believe your expected return is higher than it actually is 
But I guess it's still better than buying lotto tickets.

Anyway, I bought another Volvo a short while ago, and this one is in potential concours condition. I paid £850 fior it, and it is probably worth £4,000-£5,000. These classic cars seem to be appreciating as people turn away from electric cars. I think many are becoming aware of the environmental damage resulting from buying new cars, and the savings you make from driving reliable classics.

If it has original parts and fairly low mileage, it could be worth even more than £5k actually. But I don't think anyone would buy a car priced as a classic for everyday driving and to save money. They'd go for a cheap car that is not yet considered a classic.

[Bushdark]

It always depends on you. I spend almost all gifted money to buy some more coins on Ownr wallet

There are so many coins in the market but Bitcoin is still the best. If op want to invest in Bitcoin then he has to do that as soon as possible so that he would not use the money for something else that would make him not to be able to invest the money. Investing in Bitcoin with as little as $50 is not too bad since op can always buy more Bitcoin and hold since the market is always volatile to either give it more value or reduce the value. The holding can double with time if he keep buying more and ready to hold it for a long time since we are already in a bear market hoping for Bitcoin price to increase with time.

[Jet Cash]

Thanks for the continuing intresting replies.

- Low mileage on a red block Volvo is arouind 500,000. Cars from the 80s and 90s, and in particular some Volvos, Mercedes and BMWs, were built to last, and don't have built in obsolescence and excessive technology. A friend was quoted £700 for some repairs to a Nissan Juke, it was discovered that a brake sensor was faulty, and he had to wait 3 days for one to be delivered, and pay an extra £200 for supply and fitting. With my Volvo, I press the brake pedal, and fluid is pushed against the pad pistons, and the car stops. They is no computer control, sensors or relays to privide false information and cause the car to pull to the side. Of course it has the fancy modern concept of servo assistance. Volvo 740s are underpriced in my opinion, and I'm using the saloon as a daily driver. I also buy E5 petrol, and not the 10% ethanol scam stuff that the UK governement is pushing at the moment.

It isn't that Bitcoin is the best, it is that Bitcoin is unique. I realised early on that it had managed to create a virtual asset that was also a hard asset, and it is the only crypto that does this. Because of public awareness of the technology, it is unlikely that another crypto with these properties will be created.

There is so much flux and fraud in the crypto exchanges, that I decided not to use them. I'll still buy Bitcoin via P2P with trusted members here, but I'm really focused on selling domain names for Bitcoin. I've just turned down $2,500 for a name, and I'm asking 0.2 Bitcoin for it. The dollar is a failing currency, and is of no use to me.

I agree that the price of Bitcoin is likely to go up in the near future. The US promotion of Bitcoin by pretending to ban it whilst highlighting its virtues, is certain to increase its popularity. US sanctiuons boosted the Russian and Chinese economies, so lets have some Bitcoin sanctions.

[Die_empty]

Thanks for the continuing intresting replies.

- Low mileage on a red block Volvo is arouind 500,000. Cars from the 80s and 90s, and in particular some Volvos, Mercedes and BMWs, were built to last, and don't have built in obsolescence and excessive technology. A friend was quoted £700 for some repairs to a Nissan Juke, it was discovered that a brake sensor was faulty, and he had to wait 3 days for one to be delivered, and pay an extra £200 for supply and fitting. With my Volvo, I press the brake pedal, and fluid is pushed against the pad pistons, and the car stops. They is no computer control, sensors or relays to privide false information and cause the car to pull to the side. Of course it has the fancy modern concept of servo assistance. Volvo 740s are underpriced in my opinion, and I'm using the saloon as a daily driver. I also buy E5 petrol, and not the 10% ethanol scam stuff that the UK governement is pushing at the moment.

https://twitter.com/damoshe4love/status/1281367409623019521/photo/1

In my country, because of the ruggedness and durability of Volvo cars from the 80s and 90s, they are mostly converted to pickup vans. They are mainly used to carry iron rods and timber. Another good fact about these cars is that they are easily maintained, mechanics are available and the parts are cheap. But the main problems is that most of the spare parts are scarce. But I can testify that they fit the roads of my country. I once owned a Mercedes 190 and till date I am regretting why I sold it. I was advised to sell it because of its high fuel consumption. But it was reliable and easy to maintain and I loved it.   

It isn't that Bitcoin is the best, it is that Bitcoin is unique. I realised early on that it had managed to create a virtual asset that was also a hard asset, and it is the only crypto that does this. Because of public awareness of the technology, it is unlikely that another crypto with these properties will be created.

We have had many cryptocurrencies that have bragged that they will unseat bitcoin and become the number one coin in the world. Most of them did not last more than one year. Before now most people couldn't differentiate between bitcoin and other coins. They were deceived that all cryptocurrencies are the same. Some of them lost money because of these misconceptions. But people are currently having more access to bitcoin education and they can now differentiate the features of these coins.    

There is so much flux and fraud in the crypto exchanges, that I decided not to use them. I'll still buy Bitcoin via P2P with trusted members here, but I'm really focused on selling domain names for Bitcoin. I've just turned down $2,500 for a name, and I'm asking 0.2 Bitcoin for it. The dollar is a failing currency, and is of no use to me.

2022 was the year that exposed the vulnerability of exchanges. Anybody dealing with them is ready to bear the risk.
If you think the dollar is a failing currency, then my country's currency is dead and buried.  

I agree that the price of Bitcoin is likely to go up in the near future. The US promotion of Bitcoin by pretending to ban it whilst highlighting its virtues, is certain to increase its popularity. US sanctiuons boosted the Russian and Chinese economies, so lets have some Bitcoin sanctions.

I was also surprised that the predictions of the US and NATO regarding the fall of the Russian economy because of the sanctions didn't come to pass. Russia had to re-strategies by creating new business partnerships with other countries. If the US keeps shutting its doors to bitcoin, other nations that acknowledge its benefits will open their doors wide.    

[Marykeller]

If bitcoin is still at the early stage of creation(like being cheap) I would have said that investing your £50 won draw in bitcoin is not a bad idea but a good move since bitcoin is cheap. But here we are on how expensive bitcoin is, $26k + currently. Investing £50 into bitcoin will never give much gain.

It will be a good idea for you to go by what you prefer instead of food as you have replied to humanvelocity when he suggested you use the £50 for a nice dinner, which prefers to fry a sneak instead of food.

If I am to say that's a good choice than Investing the £50 into bitcoin just because you believe that we will see a sharp rise in the price of bitcoin later this year or next year when the £50 won't earn you many profits

[Woodie]

I know we are a crypto community and want to keep it crypto all the time, but reality of things is that you need to live a little...you can't be so sucked into the whole investing phase when you can spoil yourself once in a while...you could also consider getting some collectible coins of bitcoin just for the fun of it and a symbol to show the world that you are a cryptonian.

If your mind isn't made up, you can try again with the government bonds ...who knows you might hit that million 

[tjtonmoy]

From my understanding, you can try out both. $50 isn't a big deal. Also, given the price of bonds, you can buy 1 with $25 and keep the other half for other purpose. Let's say you want to invest in Bitcoin, they what's stopping you? You can start Bitcoin investment journey with as low as at $5. Which is great and
others can do the same, as there isn't any limit to it.
So be sure to give it a thought. But in the end, your assets and it's your decision. Do your own research.

[Jet Cash]

Well just to keep things in proportion, I did mention that I had bought another £500 of bonds, and that came out of my current account, and not savings. We seem to think of England as a poor country these days, but on reading many of the posts in this thread, it seems that £50 is a useful amount for some. I've just invested £2 in an Ameicano coffee, so that I can use their WiFi to talk to you guys. Why is it called an Americao, and not just a black coffee? I thought that American bought frothed up milky coffees with added flavourings. I thought of running a contest to see who could guess the winnings in my birthday month, but I'm pretty sure that the answer would be £0, so it isn't much of a contest.

I'd love to find somewhere/someone who will sell regular £50-£100 worth of Satoshi, and where I can pay using Sterling faster payments bankl transfers. Aren't there any sig renters, who want to cash in their rewards? I've lst track of the current stae of the exchanges. I made a few Satoshi by scalping  the Bitcoin price, and in this time of high volatility, this seems to be a good option.

Just another recap. As I have turned my back on the bricks and mortar life. I don't have the same constraints as most people, and I do have a lot more financial freedom. It is a bit of a sadness that I can't use Bitcoin for any transaction, other than a few on the Internet of course.

[raidarksword]

Take that 50£ and ask a girl/someone important you out for a nice dinner. Enjoy life and have a laugh because in the process of always trying to make money we often tend to lose important people around us. Lets be realistic because investing that 50£ in cryptocurrencies isn’t really gonna help you tremendously. Go have fun outside and i bet that money will be worth much more than 1£ or 2£ profit you make in 6months on cryptocurrency.

This would be the nice answer  I have read for so long I have been here in the forum though it's quite true that to enjoy life as we don't know how much more years, days, or months we left in this world and it would be good advice to at least make a leisure sometimes from the stressful world of crypto. Spending on simple dinner from that won 50 euros is already enough to enjoy and make a good laugh together with our love ones and it's also to take easy and unwind from all of things we all been thinking.

[Sexylizzy2813]

Well just to keep things in proportion, I did mention that I had bought another £500 of bonds, and that came out of my current account, and not savings. We seem to think of England as a poor country these days, but on reading many of the posts in this thread, it seems that £50 is a useful amount for some. I've just invested £2 in an Ameicano coffee, so that I can use their WiFi to talk to you guys. Why is it called an Americao, and not just a black coffee? I thought that American bought frothed up milky coffees with added flavourings. I thought of running a contest to see who could guess the winnings in my birthday month, but I'm pretty sure that the answer would be £0, so it isn't much of a contest.

I feel you're doing well as the case maybe, you're just adding up your funds, is like resting at your comfort zone and your getting those huge credit alert. I'd like to see more of you in this forum to share some of your knowledge on how to established our income, and also different ways to invest. If you ask that question about your birthday I think the replies you get would amaze you😂.

[Jet Cash]

Well today is the day for the June draw. It's 9am here, so it is probably a bit early for the results, but I thought I'd look anyway. I don't expect to win, even though it is my birthday month. Just after I posted that I was on a roll, everything seemed to turn down, and I haven't found any more money. I even forgot to turn of the battery in my mouse, so that was flat this morning. For the statisticians - The £500 block that I bought is not eligible for a prize unti next month. The £50 win came from a £900 block that first went into the draw in Februarty. A much larger block that went into draw in January hasn't won anything so far. Should I win this month, then I'll edit this post later today. Faiuling that, I may let this thread decay, unless there is some interest in keeping it alive in the forum.

[slaman29]

Hey OP I know it's a month late to respond but I hope to give a different view of it.

Firstly, I had no idea they had bonds like that in UK but in Asia it is similar, you buy "lots" that you can redeem for your cash back but only after a certain period of years. No interest also, like you, but monthly cash prizes, cars, a grand prize is a house, etc. I never won anything except the small cash amounts but it's nothing:) The longer you don't redeem, the bigger you chance to win so I still wait.

For me this amount is always should be to be compared to the prices of things in your place. For example, for us, a nice meal can mean different things. A big meal at McDonalds for 2 is considered nice by most workers is just under $20 for local currency, and min salary in local currency is 1600. So you can see here, it is just above 1.25% of salary.

Which is about right for a nice meal.

Fancy meal at restaurant, for 2. Without drinks (fancy means wine which is 5x actual price), you will pay $100 for 2, or over 6% of salary.

So whenever I win anything, even in BTC, I use it to count against my salary. If it's only 1-2%, I treat my friends/family, always Weekend dinner. If it's more, it always goes to savings. And now you mention it, I add to the bank lots, who knows I win the house one day

[Litzki1990]

@humanvelocity
I gave you a couple of merits, because I thought your post was a great idea. However, I'm now a retired pensioner, and I'm not short of money for the odd special meal. I'm a bit phobic about food at the moment, and I think I would prefer to fry a nice steak and eat in on the beach.
I guess I'm not really asking for financial advice, but I'm more interested in social opinions. Both of my suggestions are gambles, and I guess your suggestion is more of a lifestyle reward. If it had been a slightly larger sum, I'd be tempted to try to find another classic car to restore, I enjoy the challenge in this.

Since you are not short of money then why don't you increase some amount and invest it. We all think that investing makes money, but maybe you want to invest in Bitcoin with a different idea. Because even if you have enough money, it is very difficult to make a profit from investing only £50. Because in order to achieve a small profit, the value of Bitcoin has to increase a lot. If your goal is to earn money by investing, then you can increase the amount of money and invest in Bitcoins, which will increase your chances of profit.

[leonair]

~snip~

You are not new to Bitcoin. so £50 investment is very insignificant for you and you will not get any good quality profit by investing this small amount.  So I won't encourage you to invest this £50 bitcoin. So since you've won £50 it's a bonus for you. That's why you can spend £50 on a family day of fine dining without investing it. and enjoy a day with family.  This will be your greatest achievement. If you invest it in Bitcoin, you will not get any amount of profit that can make you rich. so enjoy the time with family

[BobK71]

I dont know of the bond you mentioned and this is the first time I'm hearing of it but I think it also sound great but what are the criteria for drawing the raffle and picking the winner and if its truly fair,

I think premium bonds are specific to the UK. It's an interesting concept, instead of earning a fixed interest as with the regular bonds, premium bonds do not earn interest but they enter a lottery instead. So the average expected winnings stand at a bit above 3% p.a. (not quite true for smaller investors as I posted above) but you also have a chance of winning big, with the top prize being £1 million.

Great alternative for playing Lotto, as you don't spend money on the tickets, but not so great as an investment,

Yes I agree with you. It is better to invest only £50 in bitcoins rather than reinvesting them in premium bonds. Because with this small amount of investment he won't be able to achieve much but if he wins a bigger prize then he can suddenly become rich from here. There are many chances to achieve big things because he has nice luck. If he invests them in Bitcoin then he can get maximum double profit in one year because now Bitcoin is in deep dip.  But if he invests in bonds he can win millions of dollars if he is very lucky so it will be better for him.

[xSkylarx]

My first impression is that you already have a lot of investment now, and for sure, it's thousands, and that winning is, i think, not worth it to invest in it because that winning is like you ever dreamed of it, like you are hopeful to win it, and at the same time, it is bet to buy it a drink if you want to, or if you have a child, buy her toys or anything else that you can remember in the future. You are too different from what people are posting here, so I would really recommend you to have fun. For sure, you are very stressed now in your investment or in life, so this is the time to enjoy!

[pawel7777]

/snip/

Yes I agree with you. It is better to invest only £50 in bitcoins rather than reinvesting them in premium bonds. Because with this small amount of investment he won't be able to achieve much but if he wins a bigger prize then he can suddenly become rich from here. There are many chances to achieve big things because he has nice luck. If he invests them in Bitcoin then he can get maximum double profit in one year because now Bitcoin is in deep dip.  But if he invests in bonds he can win millions of dollars if he is very lucky so it will be better for him.

I didn't say he should put that £50 in bitcoins. I said premium bonds are not necessarily the best investment considering there are better-paying alternatives, such as fixed-term saving accounts or ISAs.
Investing in BTC is a completely different category, as it's a high-risk investment.

I do understand the sentiment of putting small amounts into high-risk investments, hoping for better gains, but I tend to agree with the opinion that it's best to adopt a sensible approach to investing and act the same disregarding the amount you have available. If you don't keep gambling smaller amounts away, then they have the potential to slowly cumulate into much higher figure (with a help of compound interest etc).

[Obari]

I dont know of the bond you mentioned and this is the first time I'm hearing of it but I think it also sound great but what are the criteria for drawing the raffle and picking the winner and if its truly fair,

I think premium bonds are specific to the UK. It's an interesting concept, instead of earning a fixed interest as with the regular bonds, premium bonds do not earn interest but they enter a lottery instead. So the average expected winnings stand at a bit above 3% p.a. (not quite true for smaller investors as I posted above) but you also have a chance of winning big, with the top prize being £1 million.

Great alternative for playing Lotto, as you don't spend money on the tickets, but not so great as an investment,

Yes I agree with you. It is better to invest only £50 in bitcoins rather than reinvesting them in premium bonds. Because with this small amount of investment he won't be able to achieve much but if he wins a bigger prize then he can suddenly become rich from here. There are many chances to achieve big things because he has nice luck. If he invests them in Bitcoin then he can get maximum double profit in one year because now Bitcoin is in deep dip.  But if he invests in bonds he can win millions of dollars if he is very lucky so it will be better for him.

Nothing is certain in cryptocurrency  and basically I don't enjoy telling people to invest in bitcoin  and just as you hoped and predicted that he can make double of the £50 on one year,  did you also think of the possibility  of not making that amount as we can see that the market has been struggling for over a year now and no one, I mean absolutely  no one knows when the market might spike but rather we invest based on hopes and predictions and rather than throw all your money into bitcoin,  it wouldn't  be a bad idea to diversify and keep trying your luck with some portion in the bonds.
Goodluck.

[Jet Cash]

Well just as you guys probably expected, Jetty didn't win anything this month. The £50 win was an unexpected bonus, as my expectation was two or three £25 wins this year, so I only need one more win before next January to meet my expectation. Of course the romantic in me thinks it will be a lot more than that. but the pragmatic realist believes that I won't win anything. I guess this is the fun of these bonds - the inner conflict between the pragmatist and the romantic. My first reaction today was to buy a few more, but, folowing my self-made rule from my card playing days, I stopped myself from chasing losses. It's an interesting attitude, because if I follow my logic, then I should reinvest any winnings to get the extra month on the new investment. Instead I let them pay me the £50, and then promptly invested another £500, and had to wait the extra month for that to be included. I guess I'm a bit of a control freak, and like to review any decisions at the time. Somehow, just letting them add winnings to the pile doesn't seem like winning. No doubt an accountant would disagree with me though.

I'm still a bit undecided about the short term price movements for Bitcoin. I can see reasons for all three directions, but one thing is certain, it won't be going backwards. I have picked  up some copper plumbing waste in the last couple of weeks, so maybe that is where I spent my £50. Despite being a Bitcoin maximalist, I believe that you should diversify your savings, and hard metals ( gold, silver and copper are my preferences) are one interesting investment, provided you have safe storage for it. I lost a few £thousand worth of copper when I had a thief break into one of my garages a few years ago. Being a Bitcoin maximalist means that I'm not interested in any of the alts, and secretly I consider fiat to be an alt in practice.