Three sisters win $1 million in Bonus Bonds

Three sisters aged under 25 have won $1 million after their father purchased Bonus Bonds for them with money gifted from their late grandmother.

The three women, from St Heliers in Auckland, are planning to buy their own home with their portion of the winnings.

"For the last two weeks, my daughters have been getting up to speed with mortgages and everything there is to know about home ownership," said the father.

"Our youngest is still at high school so we will go in with her to buy the house."

The man said that no one believed him at first.

"My wife thought I was pulling her leg. I had to ask ANZ to ring her up directly and tell her so that she would believe me."

Once his wife was on board, they invited their daughters over for a family meeting to make the announcement.

"I had a bottle of champagne and takeaways ready when they arrived, so of course they wanted to know what we were celebrating. I told them that we had won some money from their Oma's Bonus Bonds and to guess how much.

"They started guessing $2000, so I told them to go higher. By $50,000, they were screaming. By $100,000, they were hysterical and still not even close. So we told them at that point - it was a fantastic moment.

"My wife has said that my stature has actually changed since the win. I feel a weight has lifted from my shoulders knowing that my girls will be set up well for the future."

The man plans to continue the family Bonus Bonds tradition, continuing to invest with his wife and give bonds as gifts to family and friends.

"My mother and grandmother were big Bonus Bonds advocates," he said.

"Grandma would buy them for us when we did well at something - I think I got my ones when I passed School Certificate.

"It was a very special surprise to find out that the bonds originating from Oma's estate had won the big one million dollar prize."

The youngest Bonus Bond holder to win $1 million was just three years old and the oldest was 92.

Every month, Bonus Bonds pays out prizes of $1 million, $100,000, $50,000 and multiple prizes of $5000, $500, $100, $50 and $20.