Empower Blog Property & Financial Investment

The Top 3 Myths of Financial Planning

So one of the key myths of Financial Planning is that our role is to minimise your tax or reduce your tax bill. The reality is our job is certainly a lot larger than that. It's about looking at the long term objectives, how do we position your portfolio, your investments and your savings to achieve that. Tax is simply a by-product of that. And the ...

Watch Video

RBA Rate Decision – August 2014

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) today kept interest rates on hold for another month and that's twelve months now since the RBA last reduced interest rates which they did by 25 basis points. So the cash rate as of today stands at 2.5 which is still at record low levels. Now what's happening in the economy at the moment is there's not a lot a ...

Watch Video

One on One on PIPA’s Code of Conduct

In Season 7 of Look At Property, Ben Kingsley, as the current chair of Property Investment Professional of Australia (PIPA) appears on a One on One with Julie McBeth. In this episode, Ben talks about the spruikers in the Property Investment industry. With this industry unregulated, spruikers are allowed to roam free and provide tempting but unrelia...

Watch Video

Sky Business News – Your Money Your Call (July 2014)

In the 7th of July session of SKY Business News Channel, Your Money Your Call, Ben Kingsley joins Margaret Lomas and Paul Rickard from Switzer to discuss different aspects of property across Australia. This time, they answered a number of emails and calls from viewers and some of the topics are: Glenn Stevens, the governor of RBA, says sometime...

Watch Video

Generation Wealth

It's never too early or too late to start building your property portfolio. In the July 2014 issue of API Magazine (Australian Property Investor) uncovers the eight best tips and tricks to building wealth for your generation. "If only I started investing in property 10 years ago". We hear that sentence time and time again and yet so many people co...

Read More

Take your Pick

There are many different opinions when it comes to successful investment strategies, so how do you know what's right? When it comes to successful property investing, there is a wide range of opinions as to what is the right or wrong way to go about creating wealth. Some says the best investment strategy is to go for regional properties while others...

Read More

Four personal elements to Building a Property Portfolio

>> Play Audio Here   Building a property portfolio is not an easy task. As much as it requires a lot of cash flow and capital to start a portfolio, a lot of the time how the investor behaves with money, their reaction towards risks and returns plays an equally important role. In his role as a Qualified Property Investment Advisor, Be...

Listen Now

5 Easy Ways to Add Value to an Investment Property

Let us for this exercise look at a typical investment type property being a 1960’s built 2 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment within a two storey block of 10 similar apartments with one car space on title located within a 10 kilometre radius of the Melbourne CBD. The value of purchase is between $300,000 & $400,000 which is very similar to the t...

Read More

Why should you do a Contract Review?

Look in my view, you should absolutely get the contract reviewed by a solicitor or a conveyancer prior to entering into a contract but definitely before you go unconditional on a property. Because let's be honest it's a big decision you're about to make and you going to spend a lot of money and there's a reason why lawyers and solicitors drive arou...

Watch Video

Understanding Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI)

Post the Second World War, Australia transformed itself into ‘The Lucky Country’. We opened our doors to large levels of immigration and we had plenty of land, food, water and great weather that made us attractive for many who were fleeing war torn areas of Europe and alike. It was also through this era that we got our second great tag line of ...

Read More

How Lenders look at your Property?

>> Play Audio Here   Wouldn’t it be nice to know that when you plan to approach a lender, you will have an idea about how they will look at your potential purchase. Do the lenders think its risky? How are they going to value it? Is it comparative to other similar properties around the area? Why are they charging Lenders Mortgage In...

Listen Now

RBA Rate Decision – July 2014

Hello, Ben Kingsley here. Welcome to the new Financial Year. Today, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) met and we have well predicted, interest rates remain on hold. What was interesting over the last month is being the communication that is coming out from the Reserve Bank in regards to a sluggishness in the transition of our economy from the ...

Watch Video

Sometimes bidding at auction can really pay off

Many buyers like to shy away from auctions altogether, eliminating even the potential for securing that particular asset. It’s fair to say that most buyers tremble at the thought of having to fight it out in a public place, where agent ‘spin’ and underquoting can confuse even the most organised of buyers. But the reality is that most VENDORS ...

Read More