Keeping you up to date on the world of Marketplace Lending
This article was originally written by and for Grownups.co.nz
When it comes to the art of investing, three words tend to come to mind: risky, intimidating and confusing. For everyday Kiwis, investing beyond property, shares and term deposits can seem like a domain that’s reserved for the likes of Donald Trump and Warren Buffet
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Pioneering the peer-to-peer lending movement, Zagga exists to break down the barriers and make alternative investments simple, secure and accessible.
Of course, the underlying purpose of investments is to turn cash into more cash. But with so many different options to choose from how are everyday New Zealander’s supposed to differentiate between the good, the bad and the downright dangerous?
We’re all familiar with investment properties, shares and term deposits. But what if there was another way to invest? An option designed to empower everyday people with secured investments and higher returns? This is where Zagga comes into its own.
Investments for every life stage
All investors fall into a certain life stage category. For example, while some investment opportunities are designed to benefit first homebuyers, others work their hardest for retirees. The beauty of Zagga is that there’s a fit for every investor. No matter what your life stage, Zagga’s P2P lending model provides a range of loan types and criteria that can help you make your hard-earned cash work harder.
Safe and secured
For example, the latest in-house statistics from Zagga confirm that 87% of retirees cite security as the most important attribute of a financial investment. This is because they’re generally at a stage where they believe their investments need to be low risk. Essentially, they can’t afford to lose money as they don’t have enough time to make it back. With all loans typically secured against the first mortgage on the borrowers real property, Zagga offers its investors peace of mind that they’ll see healthy returns and a way of recouping their money if something did happen to go wrong. Furthermore, each loan is assessed extremely carefully by a highly experienced team and, if appropriate, given a credit score and return to match its risk.
Investments tailored to suit your risk appetite
How about the future of grandchildren? While trust funds are a safe and easy way of putting aside money for your little ones, returns can be dismal. Instead, cash savvy grandparents are starting to look to Zagga as an alternative way of supporting their heirs. Whether you want to invest $5000 or $50,000, Zagga fractionalises loans into $1000 amounts which means you can tailor your investment to suit your risk appetite.
Borrow better
As well as investments, Zagga is also helping everyday Kiwis borrow better. Take Jules and Jamie for example. Let’s say they’re in their mid-30s and on the hunt for a new home in Auckland. They already own a small apartment and they’d like to add another property to their portfolio. The best offer they can find on a loan is interest only which means that while they will technically own the property they won’t be making a dent in their mortgage for at least five years. Then they stumble across Zagga. With competitive interest rates, improved access to credit and speedy loan approvals they can take the plunge
Go at it alone and the world of investing can be cold and complex. But with Zagga it doesn’t’ have to be. Raised for Kiwis by Kiwis, the online P2P lending platform opens up new, secured investment opportunities for investors, while simultaneously empowering borrowers with greater access to finance.
