Empower Blog

Spot the Illusionists

Some investors don't realise that a large portion of their property purchase price is actually being used for commission payments. In the March 2014 Issue of Smart Property Investment (SPI) Magazine, Ben Kingsley writes about the operators or property investment advisors in the property investment industry who are vying for business and how to iden...

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Sky Business Channel, Your Money Your Call (February 2014)

On this episode of SKY Business News – Your Money Your Call, Ben Kingsley joins Margaret Lomas and Brad Matthews from Rescom to discuss about different aspects of property across Australia. This time, they answered a number of emails and calls from viewers and some of the topics are: The need for a more regulated property investment industry ...

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RBA Rate Decision – March 2014

The RBA has just announced their decision to keep rates on hold. What we have seen from the start of the year where we had lots of economists still tipping a rate reduction, and a cash rate around 2%, we are currently sitting on 2.5% and the commentary is changing. The flavor of the message from the RBA is changing from a 'we still got some furt...

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How to Mitigate Property Risks?

In my last video, I talked to you about the risks of investing in residential property and they are important things to consider. There were five of them. There was legislation risk, gearing risk, general or what I call value risk, tenancy risk, and liquidity risk. Now I want to talk to you today about mitigating those risks. Now when it comes to ...

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What do Property Investing and Top 40 Music have in common?

Music is universally accepted as an expressive, emotional and highly desirable means of communication, storytelling and pastime of us humans. It comes in all forms, from Heavy Metal, to Classical from Music Theatre to Rap and all classifications in between. So what is the link between music and property? We, as consumers of music, have a choice ...

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Small Investment in Qualified Advice could be the Best Investment

In the February 2014 issue of Smart Property Investment Magazine, Ben Kingsley, Chair of Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA) and CEO of Empower Wealth shares his opinion on why a small investment in qualified advice could be the best investment you make when it comes to your property portfolio. It is not uncommon to see a lot of p...

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RBA Rate Decision – February 2014

Hello Ben Kingsley here with the RBA rates announcement just released. Cash rate remained on hold at 2.5%. The RBA will also release the minutes of the meeting which will give us a further indication in terms of how they're looking and what sort of position they are taking in terms of rates. Right now though, I think the settings are about ri...

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What are the Risks of investing in Residential Property

We can all get really excited about the prospects of creating a great passive income out of property. But one of the big things when we look at 2014 and we see all the hype around property investment is there’s still actual risk involved in investing in property. So today I wanted to share a moment with you in this time and talk about the risks t...

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Sky Business Channel, Your Money Your Call (January 2014)

On this first episode of SKY Business News – Your Money Your Call for 2014, Ben Kingsley joins Margaret Lomas and Paul Rickard from Switzer while discussing about all things property. In this episode, Ben answers a variety of questions from viewers and shares a few property investment advices such as: Where to go for property investment in 20...

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Full disclosure of fees and commissions is never a given

In this issue of Smart Property Investment Magazine (SPI Magazine), Ben Kingsley emphasizes that not all property 'experts' are bound by a code of conduct. This is escalated when we take into account that the property investment industry is not as heavily regulated as other financial products. For example, when an operator who recommends a property...

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Retire Sooner and Richer

Maximising your profits through property investing may be best achieved over the long term, but there are smart strategies you can use now to fast-track your profit an retire sooner. In the December 2013 Issue of Your Investment Property Magazine (YIP Magazine), Ben Kingsley, our CEO & Founder contributed to the cover story: Retire Sooner ...

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Why Do So Many Academics and Economists Get Residential Property So Wrong?

You have to admire those who spend their days trying to improve ours – that’s the pursuit of so many academics and economists all around the world.  They are trying to solve problems and predict outcomes, which makes their work very challenging and also highly rewarding, one would guess, when they do get something right. Knowing these peopl...

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Location is your Trump Card

It is easy to inspect a property and lose yourself in it, even if you are an investor and is trying your best to stay emotionless. After all, who can ignore the fancy but practical new kitchen, the newly renovated bathroom, spacious and cleverly built in robes. But what if the property is located right next to the rail line or in the wrong suburb? ...

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