KEY POINTS:
Retired Orakei resident John Bellingham has been stung twice, first by the Bridgecorp collapse and now by the troubled Nathans Finance.
Mr Bellingham knew he was taking a risk investing thousands of dollars into high-return finance companies.
He decided to spread the money around to reduce the overall risk.
But now he intends to pull out of the market entirely.
Mr Bellingham, who is in his 80s, invested "some thousands" with Nathans Finance about a year ago.
That investment now looks shaky after the insolvency and trading suspension yesterday of its parent company, VTL Group.
Mr Bellingham said what peeved him most was a letter he got from Nathans Finance after the Bridgecorp debacle reassuring him and other investors.
Signed by Nathans chairman Roger Moses, it referred to "recent developments in the finance industry" and said the firm wanted simply to confirm that it was "very much business as usual" at Nathans Finance.
Mr Bellingham said the letter was "full of baloney" by implying everything was going to be all right.
Other Nathans Finance investors were also smarting.
A Tauranga couple, who did not want to be named, said they had $55,000 tied up in the company, money that was intended to help pay for their children's tertiary studies and overseas travel.
"We compounded the interest and watched it grow."
It was now a "very scary" situation as they feared for the fate of their investment, which accounted for about one-third of their savings. "I wanted to scream and yell," the wife said.
Her husband said it was the worst news he had received in his life.
