Empower Blog Property & Financial Investment

The First Home Guarantee Scheme

Note: This article is an extract from MLC. You may be eligible to purchase your first home with as little as a 5% deposit via the First Home Guarantee Scheme. How does it work? You usually need to save a deposit of 20% if you want to borrow to buy a home without needing to pay lenders mortgage insurance (LMI). Under the First Home Guarantee...

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RBA Cash Rate July 2022: Yet Another Cash Hike BUT Why Consumer Sentiment is not as bad as it seems?

And just like that, we’re back with another jam-packed economic and RBA update!   This month saw the RBA lift cash rates by yet another 50 basis points, bringing the official cash rate to 1.35% - the biggest month-on-month increase in 22 years and the highest cash rate since early June 2019. Tune in as Ben unpacks this new cash r...

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RBA Cash Rate June 2022: Onwards & Upwards: How high will interest rates go?

The temperatures are dropping, the end of the financial year is nigh and the Reserve Bank of Australia has decided to lift cash rates for the second consecutive month.   The official cash rate has now been lifted by 50 basis points - the biggest rate hike in 22 years - and now sits at 0.85%. The question now remains: How high can we e...

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Tax Planning Tips to Maximise your Returns (Part Two)

Talking Property Tax with Julia Hartman: Episode 2, Part 2 In our last Bonusisode, we featured Part One of Tax Planning Tips to Maximise your Returns and now we’re back to give you the rest of the gold!    We’ll be homing in on claiming travel expenses - especially if you’re a rental owner – and how you can best p...

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RBA Cash Rate May 2022: Cash Rate to 0.35% – Find out what’s next here!

As we speed through the first half of 2022, we’re back with another announcement from the Reserve Bank of Australia!   The RBA’s May update is not only packed with global economic news from growing energy and grain prices to the continued invasion of Ukraine and China’s hard lockdowns but sees the RBA raise interest rates for the fir...

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Tax Planning Tips to Maximise your Returns (Part One)

Talking Property Tax with Julia Hartman: Episode 2, Part 1 To celebrate (or more accurately, prepare) for the upcoming tax season, we’re back with the second episode of our new Property Tax education series called “Talking Property Tax with Julia Hartman”. As the old saying goes, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail...

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RBA Cash Rate April 2022: An Invasion, a Mandate and a Federal Budget… What does this mean for you?

Another month, another cash rate! A lot has been happening both internationally and domestically over the past month. The Russia-Ukraine war continues, the floods in QLD & NSW, the release of the Federal Budget 2022/23 and heaps more.   If you’re interested in understanding who the winners and losers of the Federal Budget 2022/2...

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How to correct or amend your Tax Return   

From entering incorrect details to misreading questions, we’ve all made mistakes when filling out forms. But while this might happen at the dentist or when making a dinner reservation, what happens if you make a mistake or forget to include something in your tax return?  While it may seem like a painful task to tackle, the rewards from c...

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Meet Hong Nguyen

Hong is a Customer Support Officer in the Financial Planning team at Empower Wealth. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a major in Finance and Marketing. Transcript When I'm not working, I like to spend time with my friends and family. We like to catch up for dinner. We like playing board games. Personally, I like bingeing TV shows...

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The Myths and Facts of Insurance  

As you would appreciate, no one would buy a brand-new car and leave the showroom without insuring it.  So why is it then that thousands of Australians leave their house every day to go to work with minimal to no personal insurance coverage at all?   Just like insuring a new car because they know they need it, why is it that many Austral...

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Do Not Let Your Conveyancer Talk You Into Registering For GST!

When it comes to registering a property for GST, it's always best to check with an experienced property Accountant before. Get it wrong and you will have to pay the ATO 1/11th of the sale proceeds, even if the bank ends up taking the whole lot to repay your loan.  Twice in one week clients have come to our National Accountants network having b...

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Opportunities await – super changes from 1 July 2022 

Changes to super contribution rules from 1 July may create a great opportunity to revisit your savings and super contribution strategies. The changes may create new or enhanced options to build your savings. Outlined below is a brief explanation of some of the key changes and how you could benefit.  Super changes ahead  Now is ...

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RBA Cash Rate March 2022: When Will We Have The First Rate Rise?

There’s a lot happening in the world since Ben’s previous RBA update and unfortunately, there’s not a lot of great news out there from a geopolitical point of view. Here are the key themes for this month’s economic update: What does Russia's invasion of Ukraine mean for the global economy?When will the first rate rise be?How will the...

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