Well, why not? You can put 15k per issue in, and there's two issues out at the moment... that's 30k of your STR or FTB fund taken care of - surely people aren't buying more gold than this???

Guaranteed to beat RPI measured inflation by 0.7% or 0.6% in the first year alone, depending on the issue.

Currently, RPI is at 2.9% so you get 3.6% tax free or 3.5% tax free.

For a 40% tax payer, that's worth 6% gross PA, or 5.83% gross PA.

A safer bet than gold?

Are the people who are pushing gold looking to make a real killing on it, not just protect their savings from inflation???

Anyone care to be very honest??

Probably wrong but I thought it was only tax free if you're in the higher tax bracket.

SAfer than gold if you believe the Gov't calculation on RPI.

Also, the rate the pound is sinking, inflation may be a small problem compared to currency collapse... who cares if you're making 10% on your money if the pound is worth 20% less in real terms?

They're tax free for everybody, but the gain of having a tax free investment is that much greater for those in the higher bracket (same as for all tax free wrappers). If you don't pay tax in the first place then you don't need a tax free investment....

Gold is a hedge against the pound and inflation (and global economic meltdown), but tbh I'm more in it for the speculation. My willingness to take dubious risks is high enough that the return and period of the NS&I offerings is uninteresting.