Empower Blog Property & Financial Investment

What to Expect Post Settlement Re: Your Finances

So you have secured the property and settlement has just occurred.  The stress of the last couple of days is sort of behind you as you still try to get your head around the process that just took place and all the parties that made it happen, from the two banks, the two solicitors, the selling agent, the vendor, your buyers agent, your broker and ...

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One more look at predicting the Future

In the previous article, we discussed one of the key factors in developing a long-term wealth building strategy  -  the need to “predict”, or at least make assumptions about, how household cashflows will change over time.  Before starting any investment with a goal of building wealth, it is critical to have a clear picture of the anticipated...

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Which Property Investment Strategy is Right for you?

Those who follow property investment would know that there are two main groups of investment strategies – Growth vs Yield - those strategies that chase growth and those that chase yield.  It is all well and good to have these debates as magazines, blogs and TV shows need content and this always makes for a good read, but aren’t we missing some...

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RBA Rate decision – July 2013

Although the RBA still has scope to move on rates, as indicated within minutes of its last board meeting, they chose to leave rates on hold this month, which was in line with the market consensus of most economists. Helping them with this decision was the movement in the Australia dollar, which has now found a base around the 92 cents US.  The ...

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Challenging the top five roadblocks to property investing

Many people WISH they could be property investors, but for whatever reason, don’t commit to the journey. In our industry we see the objections and roadblocks which people put up when it comes to property investing. Sadly, many of these roadblocks are either artificial or ill-founded. In this article I will workshop the top five objections so that...

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Identifying Honest Advice

Being able to distinguish between good advice and a sales spiel is essential for successful investing writes Ben Kingsley in this June 2013 issue of Smart Property Investment Magazine. In this article, Ben shares his thoughts and experience when dealing with a Finance Advisor and how some of them had been great while others are not so. Whether you...

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Why we don’t like off the plan properties?

We all hear about the benefits of off the plan developments, but aside from stamp duty savings, groovy new dwellings and small holding deposits, what are some of the perils? Many investors have flocked to off plan developments in the past because they were either encouraged by the marketers who were promoting them, or lured by the stamp duty savin...

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RBA Rate decision – June 2013

Although Shane Oliver (AMP Capital), a high profile economist, had predicted another rate cut this month, the RBA decided to leave the cash rate on hold for now at its board meeting today. Bill Evans, another high profile economist (Westpac) was also in the cut camp until only last week, when some positive data and the declining dollar swayed hi...

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Property Research in Property Investment

This time on Melbourne Property TV (MPTV), Ben will be discussing with Des Dowling, MPTV Host on the importance of Property Research in Property Investment. Ben will be demonstrating this with real-life figures and historical trends consisting of the past 37 years movements in the market, focusing particularly on property investment in Melbourne...

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Sky Business Channel, Your Money Your Call (May 2013)

Ben Kingsley joins Lisa Montgomery and Brian Haratsis in this time Your Money Your Call, . The panel's discussion evolved around the Australia's housing market heating up, how much heat is driving this movement, is it sustainable, how fragile is it (with the upcoming election) and how stable can it be in view of the dropping interest rates. B...

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Questions you should ask yourself when adding value to a property

Many investors start out with ideas about creating value - or better still; manufacturing equity....The questions we have for them though are diverse. What level of renovation or improvement does the investor have in mind? How hands-on does the investor plan to be? How long will the works take? Will the works cost the investor vacancy periods?...

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Top 3 Tips for Buying Property at Auction

I must admit, I‘m incredibly fortunate to enjoy the professional life that I do.  I get significant job satisfaction in my role as Director of Empower Wealth helping our clients achieve their financial goals through residential property investment - as was recently featured in the cover story of the March Money Magazine  “Earn $2,500 per week...

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RBA Rate decision – May 2013

The decision for the RBA to reduce interest rates this month, took most economist and cash rate commentators including myself a little bit by surprise.  Sure the recent economic data highlighted our economy was losing its mo-joe, but again there were signs for me around greater buying activity and strong employment that lead me to thinking there m...

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