The coalminer from Bulli has put in 35 solid years of labour - his knees are playing up and his blood pressure is high.

But instead, the 60-year-old is likely to be working for years to come after more than $200,000 of his retirement savings vanished in the collapse of Trio Capital.

His story has been mirrored across the Illawarra as hundreds of ordinary investors face losses of between $50,000 and $500,000 - money which cannot be traced.

And with it goes a bagful of dreams - golfing holidays, home improvements, new cars, caravan trips and the comfortable retirement for which they had worked all their lives.

In mid-2008, Mr Upton visited Tarrants, his Wollongong financial planner, and was advised to move more than $200,000 worth of savings and investments into Trio Capital's flagship fund, Astarra Strategic.

But now those funds are frozen and may never be recovered, leaving Mr Upton wondering if he'll ever see his money again.

"I feel sick to the stomach," Mr Upton said.

"It's so stressful, my blood pressure is as high as a kite and I have to take blood pressure tablets every day."

In a public examination in the NSW Supreme Court this week, liquidators have been attempting to establish the whereabouts of $123 million invested in the Albury-based Trio Capital - money that disappeared after being sent offshore through its flagship Astarra Strategic fund.

Mr Upton, a supervisor at Helensburgh Coal, wanted to retire this year to spend time with his grandchildren and travel with his wife, Linda.

While he still retains other substantial investments, the Astarra loss has put a huge dent in his retirement savings.

"I've been in the coal-mining industry 35 years; my health is starting to suffer but now I can't afford to finish up," he said.

"I've still got to work, and if I can't work, what will I do?"

Mr Upton is among almost 100 Illawarra investors considering legal action against either Tarrants or Dominion, another financial planning firm whose clients' money was heavily invested in Trio.