National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has opted to continue its partnership with Matrix Capital for another year, providing financial advice to millionaire jackpot winners.
The original contract was awarded to Matrix Capital on 1 April 2014, and was due to end in April 2017.
NS&I has opted to extend the contract until April 2018, before re-opening a competition for the Premium Bonds jackpot winner advisory service in autumn 2017.
“We have been very impressed by the professional and personal service that Matrix Capital has delivered to a number of Premium Bonds £1m jackpot winners since 2014, who chose to receive financial advice,” said Andrew Pike, head of intermediary relationships at NS&I.
“We’re pleased to take-up the option of extending the contract with them for one more year and value the service they provide to the millionaires created by ERNIE each month.”
The advisory scheme is currently offered to every Premium Bonds £1m jackpot winner, although they are free to decline the advice.
“I think it’s good to offer a service where you can give a bit of guidance to people who might not be used to dealing with that sort of money and to make sure they get the right advice,” said financial adviser Ben Lloyd at True Potential Wealth Management. “Matrix Capital is a good service.”
Mr Lloyd used to work with the Camelot panel, advising lottery winners on how to manage their money, and he added the key issues are identifying a risk profile, looking at income generation, and helping the winners to work out an appropriate lifestyle.
“Most of it is just centred around the risk of the assets, what they can actually generate as an income and how that could be sustained.” Mr Lloyd added.
“They were generally aware of these issues but they didn’t necessarily know how they could tackle them.
"A big part of it is understanding how much they’re going to need for the rest of their lives, and once you’ve worked that your you can work out the lifestyle, and how much they can afford to give away.”
Premium Bond holders are eligible for tax-free cash prizes from NS&I’s monthly draws.
The prizes range from £25 to the jackpot of £1m, which is granted to two winners each month.
In February 2017, NS&I issued more than 2.2 million prizes worth more than £69m, and £17.2bn has been given out since the first draw in June 1957.
