Empower Wealth Blog - Property & Financial Investment Tips

13/02/2011
Investment Education

A Million Dollar Plus Call

You’ve talked about it, but you are just unsure about what's the right decision? For some it’s do we: 1. Buy another investment Property 2. Hold the existing home and turn it into an investment property and buy the new home 3. Sell existing property to buy an upsize property or reduce debt 4. Sell our current home and investment...

25/01/2011
Investment Education

Can we Predict the Future?

It’s crazy to think that anyone can predict the future, but plenty of people are paid good money to try: Economists, Weather Forecasters, Fortune tellers, Treasury, Technology companies, etc. Even though no one can predict the road ahead, it’s absolutely vital that we pay attention to what lies ahead of us. If we look at the future from a pe...

17/01/2011
Investment Education

Did You Make Any Headway To Retirement Last Year?

A new year has arrived and it’s usually this time of the year that one reflects on the past year and reviews the good, the bad and the ugly. A lot of great things happened for me, my family and business in 2010 and very little bad news came our way. For most of you the ugly might have been Collingwood winning the flag, but for me that event was o...

17/01/2011
Mortgage Broking

RBA Cash Rate & Property Outloook for 2011

For those not in the know, the RBA board does not meet in January, so the first cash rate decision will be at 2.30pm on Tuesday 1st February, 2011. In terms of the cash rate forecasts, there is a real mixed bag out there in terms of predictions of where the cash rate might be between now and the end of 2011. There is very little, if any support ...

17/01/2011
Mortgage Broking

Credit Card & Refinancing Debt

Ok, so the festive season has passed and the credit card and bank statements are starting to hit the inbox or the letter box for us old timers. A good festive season was had by all on the plastic, but now’s the time to find the cash flow to pay it off to ensure the interest we pay remains the lowest possible. Other than a short term fix of s...

08/01/2011
Mortgage Broking

New Finance Licensing Laws

In an effort to better regulate lending in this country the Federal Government introduced new legislation known as the National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment Act 2010. This new legislation is designed to make borrowing money safer for consumers, through the implementation of new safeguards for borrowers. Prior to this new legislation, ea...

20/12/2010
Buyers Agents

Investors – Start your engines…

There is always a positive to any negative. Talk of a housing market bubble, higher interest rates, softening demand for property, worsening affordability and value decreases are all playing on the psychology of those looking to get into the property market. It is fair to report that in most markets across the capitals that we are certainly in...

17/12/2010
Property Investment Advice

Property Investor Commentary

Generalise the residential property market at your investment peril. Housing prices go up and housing prices go down as measured by average house price or median house prices data. But there is no such thing as the average or median house or unit, or apartment or townhouse for that matter. No dwelling is exactly the same as any other dwellin...

10/12/2010
Mortgage Broking

RBA Rates Decision – December 2010

Given Glenn Stevens’ recent speech last month that he saw no reason for a further rate rise this year, it was no surprise that the cash rate remained on hold, following the RBA board meeting and cash rate announcement today. The economists are mixed in their view of what the future holds regarding rate rises, some are predicting further rate r...

10/12/2010
Investment Education

How Do Lenders Assess Loans?

Gone are the days when you can just go down to your local bank branch and get loan approval because of your longstanding relationship with the manager. These days lenders have become quite sophisticated in their method of assessing loans - it’s now all about Risk Assessment. For years, lenders have been compiling data about every one of their ...

10/12/2010
Money Management

What is Money Planning? (MONEY)

Over the past few months, you may have noticed the phrase “Money Planning” appearing in communications from Empower Wealth and wondered what it means. Not to be confused with Financial Planning, we have invented the term Money Planning to describe a new range of services designed to assist our clients to get the most from their money. So, wh...

30/11/2010
In the Media

Game Plan – The Next Level

Juggling family,work and trying to get a foot on the investment ladder will be a challenge that many will be familiar with – and that’s exactly what Mick ans Sandy Greenway are facing. The Townsville-based couple Mick, 35, and Sandy, 42, met through the Army Reserves in 1996. They have been married for nine years and have a 14-month-old daughte...

27/11/2010
Investment Education

Property Outlook 2010

If there is one thing that people are interested in it’s the value of property. We all enjoy it when the values of our property increases and it certainly makes for good media. I don’t think there is a day that goes by without those current affair programs or the press talking about property—they love it when it goes up or down, just NOT wh...

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