Company collapse highlights the need to upskill

MEDIA RELEASE
8 November 2007

Finance company collapses highlight the need to upskill – Consumers’ Institute launches fixed-term investment site.

Consumers’ Institute tomorrow launches a website aimed at helping people make sensible fixed-term interest investment decisions, with particular emphasis on the risks involved in investing in finance companies.

www.consumersaver.org.nz is an interactive site that explains risk, as well as showing mum and dad investors how to get the critical information they need when looking at finance companies. It also allows people to make comparisons between the risk of investing in finance companies and putting their money in more secure fixed-term deposit institutions like banks.

Consumer CEO Sue Chetwin said the organisation had watched with concern the collapse of 10 finance companies in the past 16 months and the high number of ordinary investors who had lost all, or a large proportion of their savings. “The recent Geneva Finance Company crisis and the lack of information available to debenture holders being asked to make important decisions about their life savings highlighted once again the need for a place where people could learn about the risks of investing with such companies,” she said.

The site has quick guides that explain risk. It also explains what to look for from a financial adviser and the key questions that should be asked of them.

www.consumersaver.org.nz/terminvestments can be accessed for $15 for a trial period of 7 days. It is freely available to all consumer.org.nz members.

The new term investment site follows the launch of our free KiwiSaver site in August this year and further confirms Consumer’s commitment to helping people increase their financial knowledge.

ENDS

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