At a meeting in Whangarei this morning for victims of financial planning firm Vestar, 122 of the 126 in attendance supported a call for the resignation of the Minister of Commerce Lianne Dalziel.
The large crowd of Vestar investors reacted strongly to news of Dalziel’s appointment of Donal Curtin to the position of duputy chairman of the Commerce Commission. (more…)
Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel today announced the appointment of Donal Curtin as duputy chairman of the Commerce Commission. In doing so, she has dissed [shown great disrespect to] the investing public.
Until last week, Curtin was the chairman of Vestar’s investment committee – an entity which masterminded the destruction of up to a quarter of a billion dollars of investors’ life savings.
Vestar pumped millions of clients’ retirement savings into junk bond status, sub-investment grade finance companies. Millions more were incestuously pumped into sister companies, one of which had previously failed a ratings report commissioned by Vestar. This, surprisingly, did not stop the Curtin-led investment committee from continuing to recommend it.
The Commerce Commission is already investigating several finance companies. How the Commission can credibly do so with Curtin as deputy chairman beggars belief.
What was Dalziel thinking?
The sooner this inept Government goes the better.
EUFA has scheduled two new meetings for Kerikeri investors and those Whangarei investors who were unable to fit into the standing-room-only library venue last week. Lawrence Herzog, the barrister, will be present and will address investors.
WHANGAREI…
KERIKERI…
EUFA coordinator Suzanne Edmonds will be a guest of Kerre Woodham on talkback radio tomorow morning… (more…)
A reader of this blog says he was due to be paid out on a maturing fixed interest investment in Cymbis Australia recently. When the money didn’t appear in his account he contacted Vestar and was told (more…)
This article was originally left as a comment in the “Do all roads lead to Gould?” article. It was so relevant to the decisions most of us are currently making that I decided to make it more accessible by posting it as an article in its own right. [Victim of Vestar]
As a private client fund manager I am somewhat disturbed by some of the feedback comments I read on this website. I’m not a financial adviser or plannner and can understand the immense frustration by investors given the damage caused by Vestar. The destruction in confidence will in some cases be beyond repair. The blatant incompetence and scale of the issues (more…)
Thank you to all those who alerted us to the Whangarei Leader publishing details of the Whangarei EUFA meeting and saying the venue was the ASB Leisure Centre. THAT IS INCORRECT. The venue is still the May Bain meeting room, Whangarei Central Library.
The Whangarei EUFA meeting for Vestar victims is still on as follows…
The Kerikeri EUFA meeting for Vestar victims is confirmed as follows…
All current and prospective members of EUFA are most welcome to attend. See you there, and please spread the word!
- Suzanne Edmonds, EUFA coordinator
In a response today to the “Gould letter to Vestar clients” article (http://www.vov.co.nz/?p=3), JM left the following comment…
I am also a victim of Vestar. I am not sure what I should be doing and who to turn to. Do I sign with Gould or transfer all our investments with Vestar to some other advisor? But who? I would love to hear what others have decided to do.
What have YOU decided to do?
Please leave a reply below and let us know what your decision is and the reasons for that decision. If we collectively share our intentions, it will be most helpful for those who are currently trying to reach a decision. So come on, what have you decided to do…
I saw a Northplan (now Vestar) newspaper advertisement titled “Free Seminar, Fixed Interest Made Simple” in 2004. We attended the seminar and were impressed. Vestar directors had the experience, did the research, and would place our savings in a diversified portfolio called Star Invest, a no fees, fixed term system.
A follow-up call to our home was made by a Vestar advisor, to whom we disclosed our financial situation. At this time we had fixed interest investments spread across nine banks and finance companies. As these investments matured, we agreed to invest them through Vestar’s FIMS service.
Our investments with Vestar started in May 2004. They placed our funds with six finance companies for two-year periods. As the investments matured, we reinvested at the prevailing interest rate for a further two years. We now had our funds locked in until 2008.
(more…)
The Whangarei EUFA meeting for Vestar victims is confirmed…
When: 10:00am on Wednesday 23 July 2008.
Where: The May Bain meeting room, Whangarei Central Library.
All current and prospective members of EUFA are most welcome to attend. See you there, and please spread the word!
- Suzanne Edmonds
Suzanne Edmonds of EUFA is meeting with disaffected clients of Vestar in Taranaki this week. Current and prospective members of EUFA are all welcome to attend. Please spread the word.
New Plymouth
Friday 11 July at 10:00 am at the Auto Lodge, New Plymouth.
Hawera
Friday 11 July at 2:00 pm in the supper room at Turuturu School Hall, Glover Road, Hawera.
Dear Vestar investors,
The Whangarei and Kerikeri meetings again have to be postponed. There are a few reasons…
(more…)
Yesterday at an EUFA meeting, 45 disaffected Vestar investors gave barrister Lawrence Herzog the go-ahead to prepare a case against Vestar. (more…)
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