Empower Blog Property & Financial Investment

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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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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