Empower Blog Property & Financial Investment

The Impact of Money

In recent newsletters, we have been discussing the “outputs” that we are seeking from an Investment Strategy. Most importantly, we will be looking for ongoing capital growth of our investment asset, i.e. that the value of the asset grows over time, a yield, or ongoing income stream, from the asset, e.g. dividends from a share portfolio or renta...

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The Block Post-mortem

I wonder if the same rating success would come from a TV program built on shares as what comes from the success of a show built around renovating a property.  Short answer is no – Why?  Well in very simple terms, people can relate to it because property is a part of their lives, it’s where we grow up, where we have some of our most fond memor...

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Apartments vs Houses

Ben Kingsley, Founder, Director and Property Advisor of Empower Wealth on Melbourne Property TV (MPTV) Panel discussing on which is better, Apartments vs Houses. Although this is a very simple question, people often mistake the difference between the size of the dwelling vs the land value. Ben will be explaining why there are no definite answers...

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Generation Y and How They Think Differently About Property

Many people's understanding of Generation Y's characteristics include those of self-confidence, questionable work ethic, a penchant for instant gratification, impatience and an unwillingness to take on adult responsibilities... in fact the list of negative attributes goes on. But the reality is that we Gen X's and Baby Boomers are only just startin...

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Up 33%, Up 24%, Up 28% in the past 12 Months*

In the ‘House’ market, Gardenvale up 33%, Lake Wendouree up 24%, Parkville up 28%, and in the ‘Unit’ market Abbotsford up 14%, Moorabbin up 29%, Notting Hill up 27% in the past 12 months.... is that right? If I’m not mistaken, recently, the lead stories and media commentary within the press and on TV are all talking about property pric...

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RBA Rates Decision – June 2012

The RBA reduced interest rates by a further 0.25% at its board meeting today, which surprised some analysts following last month’s 0.5% cut.  This move further highlights the RBA’s belief that Australia is not immune to the world financial and economic events going on around us, even though we are still very much reliant on the Chinese and oth...

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Finance Talk: Seek Help For Those Big Life Decisions

We all know that buying your first home is at that moment in time most likely your most confronting finance and one of a big life decisions as well, but from that moment on throughout your life you are going to be faced with making big decisions about your finances, your well being, your future etc, etc. So it’s only logical that you seek advice...

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The Impact of Risk

In our previous newsletter, we looked at the impact of the capital growth and the yield of an investment asset by considering an example of an investor owning shares in a fictitious company.  The example looked at the different outcome that would result, depending on whether the investor was seeking an investment which offers the prospect of a hig...

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Feeling Brave?

Who was it that said “fortune favours the brave?” Or who was it that got credit for it in the modern age, as I’m sure throughout history this comment would have been reeled off several hundreds of times around the world as men went to war for the control of land, its people and its wealth. Fortunately, and pardon the pun, these days the sa...

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Rental Yields Vs. Term Deposits

With the further cut in the cash rate announced this month by the RBA, the banks will shortly start to announce their new savings deposit rates, which are coming down with each cut. Some commentators are talking about the cash rate getting as low as 2.5% which means it’s cheaper for the banks to access money from the RBA than via customers’ ...

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Financial Sacrifices and Choices

This month commentary has evolved from the clear message that comes out of ANZAC day each year – Sacrifice.  Our Diggers’ case represents the most poignant and refined definition of the word.  The men and women of Australia back then and today are still choosing to make a sacrifice for the greater good of their community.  Some of them makin...

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Stamp Duty; friend or foe?

There is a lot of news in the media right now about Stamp Duty on the Transfer of Land. For a buyer, the cost of stamp duty is a significant upfront cost when buying property. We often get asked by the media about stamp duty and how Australians (and in particular, Melburnians) feel about it. It was an interesting topic to discuss because many poi...

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ATO Ruling on Interest Capitalisation

After earlier releasing a draft ruling on interest capitalisation the ATO has finally released its ruling: TD 2012/1. In property investing terms, interest capitalisation is where a person or entity is claiming interest costs on top of the original interest costs and instead of paying the original interest the borrower is paying down other non-d...

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