VPS wanted to make it easy for you as a private investor to regularly save in the stock market, and therefore we launched the Share Savings programme last September. This enabled private individuals to create their own savings portfolio in the same way as mutual funds and thus, the stock market will be available to even more investors.
It is possible to enter into an agreement that allows you to save in individual shares in maximum five different Norwegian listed companies. It is entirely up to you if you would like to save a small amount or a large amount every month. You will also be able to spread the risk by establishing up to three savings programmes with maximum five individual shares in each programme.
VPS has developed the Share Savings programme for investment firms and as such banks, brokers and fund managers will be able to offer the service to you via their online banks or from their websites. You will have to enter into a share savings agreement with one of these firms that will handle the monthly share purchases by automatically debiting your personal account.
This programme is meant for those who want to save on a long-term basis and who want higher return on investment than what conventional bank savings is able to offer. Consequently you are also willing to take the risk involved in an investment in the stock market.
The main advantages of a savings programme compared to common share trading, are lower costs and reduced risk by regular savings.
When asking investors about Share Savings, they gave us the following replies:
Absolutely brilliant! Easy way to save. I’m saving for retirement with a relatively long horizon.
Great that this has become a way of saving, it can make the share savings available to individual savers too. I’m saving for retirement in this programme, and I have a time horizon of 20 years.