Empower Blog Property & Financial Investment

Relocate or Renovate?

A household's need for space changes at different stages in life. When there is only two of you, you would probably only need a 2 bedroom unit. As your family grow, potentially up to 3 kids, you might need a bigger home to cater for your household's need. Then, when the kids grow up and move out, you probably won't be needing those extra bedrooms. ...

Watch Video

Pathways to Profit

Have you bought a copy of the Armchair Guide to Property Investing yet? If you have, you can ignore this page because in this Money Magazine's June 2016 Edition, we share an extract of the six of 18 strategies mentioned in the book. The strategies mentioned in this article are: Changing places, Changing faces The Wave Rider The Ugly Ducklin...

Read More

Which Loan is Right for you?

For those who are not familiar with the finance side of things, this might be a tricky question. We've previously written about the different types of property loans out there but how do you know which loan is right for you? Especially when there are more discussions these days surrounding principal and interest and interest-only lending options an...

Read More

What to know about property promoters’ investment returns claims

Hi Ben Kingsley here and in this How to Session I want to focus in on being careful about some property promoters and the way in which they exaggerate or potentially mislead you around the investment returns they've got for previous clients. Now, I'm talking about some of these claims where they are quoting in excess of 30% returns in a 12-month pe...

Watch Video

Are women better at property investing?

When it comes to property investing, the question is who actually makes for the better property investor? Is it the men or is it the women? Now, I'm probably not the most balanced person to answer that question because clearly I have an agenda out of that but I was recently chatting with Veronica Morgan who is my co-host on Location Location Locati...

Watch Video

The Rewards of Understanding Scarcity in Property

NOTE: If you like this How to Video, you might also want to check out The Property Couch's Episode 37 where Bryce and Ben talk about the Scarcity Scale and how Location and Property Type plays a part in a property's value.   Hi Ben Kingsley here and today in our How To Session we are going to talk about the rewards of understanding s...

Watch Video

Counting the cost of a curve ball

Here’s a confronting question: what would you do if the main breadwinner in your household could no longer bring in an income? Do you have a Plan B? Most people don’t. That’s where insurance comes in. Curve balls. They’re unexpected, often deceptive and it’s impossible to predict their trajectory. That’s why they’re so devastating ...

Read More

Question of Trust in Property Adviser

We've said it before, the property investing industry is an unregulated one. Property investment advisors don't need to be qualified or have any formal education to be giving out property investment advice so how would be able to place your trust in property adviser. So if you are just starting on your investment journey, how do you know if the pro...

Read More

The Age of Experimentation – 120 years of Property (1970 – 1960)

Australia's history on property goes back a long way and in the June 2016 Issue of Australian Property Investor Magazine, Bryce Holdaway and other property experts will be focusing on 1970s property. The 70s was a period of great social change that would have long-term ramifications for housing and society in general. Although most properties in t...

Read More

Property for $250 a week

Is it possible to own a property for $250 a week? In this Money Magazine's Special Edition 2016, Ben Kingsley said yes and will be briefly demonstrating how he come up with this figure, the loan structure to put in place and what investment formula you can use to ensure you purchase an investment grade asset that would work well with this strate...

Read More

Is an SMSF right for you?

Self-managed super funds (SMSFs) are the largest and fastest growing super sector in Australia and for many good reasons. But before you start an SMSF, it’s important to weigh up both the advantages and disadvantages and consider seeking advice to determine whether an SMSF is right for you. The advantages SMSFs can offer a number of features ...

Read More

No place for emotion

When you are starting out in property investing, there is a very slim chance that you would be able to pull it off mistake-free. Sometimes, it gets even worse when emotion comes into place and affects how you make your investment decisions. So in this Money Magazine's Special Edition 2016, Ben and other property experts share their tips for choosi...

Read More

RBA Rate Decision – July 2016

Wow, to be a fly on the wall at the latest RBA Board Meeting. It would be fascinating as the conversation would have move to the political uncertainty that we currently got in federal politics. Really important to understand that this 'circus' that is happening in Canberra and this new structure of our government, the lower house and the upper hous...

Watch Video