Shares as a gift?

[megarasweet]

The longer I spend on this forum, the more interested I am in becoming a shareholder. Right now I can't really afford it, but I have a few questions regarding becoming one.

My boyfriend and I are going to DLP for my 19th birthday in December, and right now my parents are offering to pay £150-£200 towards food for our 5 day trip. However I'm now considering instead asking for them to buy shares in my name as a birthday gift.

So my first question, is it possible to buy shares as a gift? And generally speaking about how much does it cost?

Secondly, if you were in my position, would you take the larger sum of money towards food, or ask for the shares and about £100 towards food instead?

Just trying to get my head around this and figure out whether it's worthwhile!

Thanks in advance.

 

[nahteb20]

Hi I bought shares in the last few wees when it was free commission on share buying, we bought 5 share (the minimum) for £36 odd
It then cost me 30 euro fee to join the shareholder club. ( you dont have to pay the fee if you buy 20 or more shares)

It says on the website that it takes 6 weeks for membership and card to arrive in the post but i got mine in 2 weeks!!


Here is the link to shareholder info http://corporate.disneylandparis.com/shareholders/shareholders-club/index.xhtml

 

[Ware Bears]

Hi, you'll actually have to buy the shares yourself but your parents could give you the money in order to do it. The easiest way is to set up a Nationwide shareholding account, see this post here. You could set up the account ready then watch out for the next time Nationwide waive their commission and then you'll be ready to buy. This is the link here to the share price on Euro Disney SCA site - you can see the current price per share and also the highest and lowest they've been this year.

As to how many to buy and what ratio shares/food money you have as your birthday present ..... that's really down to personal choice. We paid for shares for our eldest DD for her 18th birthday last year and gave her enough money so that she could buy enough shares so as not have to pay the club membership fee however the price per share was around €3 at the time so nearly a third of the present price.

The minimum number needed to join the club of 5 shares @ €8 is going to cost just under £40 whereas the minimum needed to join and not pay the membership fee of 20 shares @ €8 is going to be around £150. I can't remember what the commission charges were for Nationwide as my DD bought hers in a week when the charge was waived but I think it was under £20.

Hope these figures help you make a decision. If you've got chance to save enough for your food money for holiday then you could always ask them to buy you 20 now so you won't have to pay the membership fee. However if you think you'll be needing some of your birthday money to help towards your food then I'd say go for the minimum amount of 5 now and pay the membership fee to join the club. This will last two years then you can always consider buying additional shares in the future - no need to buy them all in one go.

 

[rottie155]

Given the option of larger sum of money towards meals or money to buy shares... I would, personally, still always go for the shares.

At least if you became a shareholder you would have that for life and be able to constantly benefit from the discounts and savings... whereas money for meals is more a one-time-event

As others have said, you can buy as little as 5 shares and pay the €30 fee which will last you for two years before needing to renew... or alternatively you could buy the 20 shares and not need to pay any membership fee and be all ready to go!

Weigh-up what would suit your budget more and only you can make the right decision for yourself.

Happy Planning!!!

 

[megarasweet]

Thank you so much for all of your advice. I spoke to my mum about it and she thinks it's worth mulling over.

Before they'd offered the extra money we'd already budgeted for all our meals, so right now I think that having a shareholders card would make the holiday more special than extra money that we don't really need.

I'll keep an eye on the prices of shares before deciding how many to buy. As long as I make my mind up by early October I should be alright for our December trip!