Empower Blog Property & Financial Investment

Chasing the Deal of the Day – Good Luck with That

Over the many years that I have been dealing in mortgage finance I have learnt a lot about this game, especially given the fact that at any point in time I’ve had access to over 600 different loan products at my disposal; from different credit policies, to loan structuring to maximising borrowing capacity etc. But the most important lesson in my ...

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RBA Rates Decision – May 2012

The RBA has just announced a larger than consensus reduction in the cash rate – 50 basis points.  This is a very rare event for a traditionally conservative board.  So much so I have decided to add the entire statement from the RBA governor, Glenn Stephens. “At its meeting today, the Board decided to lower the cash rate by 50 basis poi...

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The Impact of Growth vs Yield

Growth vs Yield? In whichever kind of investment, this question has always brought along endless debates. In previous newsletters, we have discussed the impact of the capital growth of an investment asset and the yield or income produced by that asset.  In the majority of long term investment strategies, both of these factors are important.  The ...

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How Does a Property Investor Ensure that they Buy Well?

Every aspiring property investor is gripped with fear about the impact of their selection when I first meet with them. Their questions range from "where should I buy?" to "what do you think of off-the-plan apartments?" The answer is simple - there are MANY factors that you need to take into consideration to ensure that you buy well; it's not JUST a...

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Stable Market – Good News for Now…

Can we call it yet?…….. Do we have to repeat ourselves again? Will the papers and naysayers' such as the likes of Steven Keen  finally admit they got it wrong (Mind you Steven was claiming  well before the GFC that property values would drop as much as 40%, when in fact property prices since have record double digit growth). So will everyd...

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RBA Rates Decision – April 2012

The RBA has held off on a cash rate movement again this month, as they still appear happy with the current economic activity within the economy. Those doing business in the two biggest state economies of Sydney and Melbourne might disagree about the level of growth they are enjoying! But it’s not the RBA’s job to set cash rates for each state; ...

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Loan Flexibility is an Important Consideration

It is fair to say that even the best laid out plans can sometime not eventuate. When it comes to deciding on a mortgage the flexibility of the loan product is something you should pay serious attention to, as best illustrated by the couple of examples below. Investing: One of the best ways to get ahead in your wealth creation endeavours is to use ...

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The Impact of Yield

In an earlier article, we identified that there are many different investment assets available to use in a strategy designed to deliver long term wealth creation, and that different investment vehicles differ in a number of key characteristics.  In the previous newsletter, we talked about the capital growth of an asset and how it could affect the ...

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Smart Decisions Boil Down to Smart Numbers

Who knows what a correlation coefficient measurement is? Answer: A very sophisticated measure that determines the degree to which two random linear variables movements are associated. The correlation coefficient is calculated as: The calculation will result in a figure between -1 or +1.  A zero result indicates no linear relationship between ...

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Sky Business Channel, Your Money Your Call (April 2012)

The founder of Empower Wealth, Ben Kingsley joins host Margaret Lomas and fellow panel expert Andrew Wilson from Australian Property Monitors (APM) in Sky Business Channel, Your Money Your Call. The panel answers calls and emails from viewers about property and property investing. Ben Kingsley is a Qualified Property Investment Advisor (QPIA) based...

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Investing in Commercial Property

Investing in commercial property vs. investing in residential property has always been hard a decision to make. Although, Empower Wealth is primarily on residential property investment, we do not discourage investors who decides to take the other path. This time, Ben Kingsley appears as a guest panelist on Melbourne Property TV (MPTV) and the panel...

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Friendly Reminders – Property Management

SMOKE DETECTORS: With the summer behind us comes the end of another daylight savings period.  And the end of daylights savings also means a reminder about smoke alarms. The legal obligation in Victoria is that smoke alarms are currently the responsibility of tenants to maintain, but this is not the case in all states, where the upkeep is the r...

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MPTV – Interest Rates and Home Loan Lending

Ben Kingsley talks about mortgage interest rates and home loans as a guest panelist on Melbourne Property TV (MPTV). In this session, Ben will be discussing about the role RBA plays in the Australian economy and the logic for their decision making. They will also be touching on historical trends of Australia's interest rates and how the current ...

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