In the past, the stock market has provided an annual additional yield of four to six percentage points compared to bank savings. In order to obtain this additional yield, patience and a long-term view are required, as well as the ability to tolerate high volatility on the stock exchanges at times.

Collecting units
In the stock market, it is natural for a row of new stock exchange records to be succeeded by temporary downturns – such as we have experienced during the past year. Although this may seem strange, such downturns are beneficial to your long-term savings agreement. When share prices fall from one month to the next, you are in practice able to buy more units for the same monthly savings amount than you would otherwise have done. You benefit from these “extra” units when the share prices rise once more.

The graph shows the increase in ODIN Norden’s value since the fund was started. We have shown examples of the number of units you would have had if you had saved NOK 1 000 each month. As you can see, you get more units after a fall in the market. The total savings of NOK 224 000 are currently worth NOK 759 000 (as at 31 December 2008). That equals an annual money weighted return of 12,6 per cent – even after the sharp fall we have experienced over the past 18 months.

Why you should have a savings agreement:
1) You can expect a higher long-term return than that from traditional bank savings and other investment instruments
2) The savings are “adapted to suit your wallet” – you decide how much and for how long you want to save
3) You obtain a valuable tax credit – through deferred tax and the dividend tax exemption