Empower Blog Property & Financial Investment

The Impact of Capital Growth

In an earlier newsletter, we identified that there are many different investment vehicles available to use in a strategy designed to deliver long term wealth creation, and that these different approaches differ in a number of key characteristics, including : their upfront and ongoing cost in terms of both time and money, the extent to which ...

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What makes a Buyer’s Market become a Seller’s market?

Without doubt, the defining aspect of 2011 for us was the rapid swing of the Melbourne Seller's market to a Buyer's market. To explain this, cast your mind back to 2009 when, after the full impact of the GFC first hit Australia, our government and RBA instigated some immediate moves to aid buoyancy in our market. We had one-off stimulus cheques ...

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RBA Rates Decision – February 2012

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) surprised the broader market this afternoon by leaving the cash rate at 4.25%. One would now expect a bit of media backlash towards the government and RBA for this decision in light of the recent media reports of major job losses in some sectors of the economy. Certainly expect to see the Retailer Association, Ma...

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Loan Structuring

If you are not familiar with the term then this article is for you..... What is the definition of loan structuring:  In very simple terms it’s the way in which the loan product is set up to accommodate the borrower’s best interest, either in short, medium or longer terms depending on the client’s end goal, because we have to remember the go...

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Predictability in an Unpredictable Time

How does that saying go…"Change is the only certainty in our world”.  It’s true, all things change, some quicker than others, but over time change is inevitable. When you put your investor’s hat on the same thing rings true. Markets are constantly changing.  Investments that were nice earners over the past few years might now be stagna...

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The Cost of Spending

One of the fundamental principles of Empower Wealth’s Money Planning philosophy is that you should get your money to work as hard as possible for you.  In our previous newsletter, we looked at one approach to get your money working for you, by using an Offset Account to reduce the amount of Interest that you have to pay on your Mortgage. This a...

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Can You Compete and Beat the Best?

Did you stay up and watch that Epic men’s final of the Australian Open between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal?  WOW, what a match!  I confess I only watch it up until around midnight when the rain delay hit, as yes I needed to go to work in the morning. In watching that match it staggered me just how two men can hit the ball so hard and so ...

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A Good Conveyancer Pays Dividends

We all acknowledge that buying property is a big financial commitment.  And an important professional involved in the purchase process is a Conveyancer. Too often buyers make the mistake of bringing the Conveyancer in after they have purchased the property - BIG MISTAKE. Good conveyancers can add a great amount of advice and values within th...

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Reflection a Powerful Learning tool

Wouldn’t it be great if we could go back in time…… We’d all be wiser and wealthier for the experience, especially if we could take back those lotto numbers with us! Of course the reality is that we can’t. So what can we do? You need to learn from past events and be wiser from that experience moving forward. When it comes to property and...

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Lenders doing what they do – Lending Money

With all the global economic uncertainty and the flow on effect to the cost of funds for lenders and the risk of possibly a softening Australian economy, one might be thinking the banks will be considering tightening up lending policy. Our read of home loan lending policy is a little bit more macro, driven by the banks’ need to continue to str...

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‘Tis the Season to be Jolly!

Typically over winter, prospective sellers brace themselves for a spring sale and hold their property back from the market until spring starts up. For a buyer, this can feel as though the property supply in winter is very slow and available houses to inspect are limited. All of a sudden, September and October hit and there are multiple suitable pro...

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RBA Rates Decision – December 2011

Although there were plenty tipping this rate cut including the money markets, the RBA’s move to cut rates by a further 25 basis points came as a surprise to me given the minutes of the November meeting suggested it was a close call that we got a rate cut on Melbourne Cup Day. The messages from the RBA following the November cut, was that its Nove...

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The Cost of Interest

What is the largest single amount of money you expect to part with in your life?  For most families, a family home will probably be the largest single purchase they will make in their lives.  But while the actual purchase price you pay for a house may be the biggest amount of money you spend in a single lump sum, there is likely to be another cos...

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