The 83-year-old former pilot became Zagga’s first ever investor in 2015, a decision that’s meant two years of high returns and easy investing.
When he lost his wife of 30 years, downsizing his family home left Tom with extra money to invest .
“I had cash flow from my flying career and from the sale of my Remuera house that I was looking for a home for, and I wasn’t very happy with what the banks were offering,” Tom explains.
He started wondering if there was an easier way to make his money work harder.
It was then that Tom’s son, lawyer Robert Enright, suggested adding marketplace lending to his investment portfolio. Now the savvy grandfather of nine has funded multiple Zagga investments, and the rest is history.
Zagga is an online platform matching investors to creditworthy borrowers. Investors like Tom can fund loans in full or in increments of $1000, always knowing where their money is going and what it’s funding.
For Tom, this makes Zagga the perfect place for his hard-earned funds and he can relax knowing his investments are in capable hands.
“My view remains that there are two cardinal points to watch for,” Tom explains.
“One is the integrity of the people you’re dealing with… at Zagga people know what they’re doing and are completely above board. The second thing is of course to ensure that one does have adequate security, and that means a decent loan to value ratio.”
Like all Zagga investments, Tom’s are secured by mortgages on real property which he’s actually gone and seen. They’ve all been paid back on time too, leaving him feeling confident that any future business will be worry-free and equally effective.
Tom’s first investment of $542, 000 funding a residential remortgage in Auckland earned him a net return of 7.84% . His second, smaller investment also earns over 7% interest – a noticeable step up from his previous investment elsewhere, earning 3%.
Tom says marketplace lending hasn’t compromised his core beliefs. In fact, it’s helped strengthen them.
“I don’t regard myself as a guru by any means but I live by the basic, old fashioned rules… have a variety of investments in case one goes wrong. There’s always someone ready to say the stock market’s about to collapse,” he says.
“I would say don’t put all your eggs in one basket, but Zagga is a good one for a good proportion of your money.”
Please note that all investments carry some degree of risk, and generally higher rates of return are associated with higher risk of loss of capital invested or investment returns. Zagga’s investments, like any other, should be considered on it’s own merit according to individual circumstances, and therefore may not be appropriate for everyone. Zagga acknowledges the risk of investing and has put in place a number of checks and controls to minimise investors' exposure to risk. This includes the rigorous screening of borrowers, including their credit history, to determine ability to service debt. We also proactively manage loans and take immediate action if a borrower fails to meet their repayment obligations. We further reduce risk by securing all loans over assets, typically first mortgage over property.
