Empower Blog Property & Financial Investment

RBA Cash Rate & Property Outloook for 2011

For those not in the know, the RBA board does not meet in January, so the first cash rate decision will be at 2.30pm on Tuesday 1st February, 2011. In terms of the cash rate forecasts, there is a real mixed bag out there in terms of predictions of where the cash rate might be between now and the end of 2011. There is very little, if any support ...

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Credit Card & Refinancing Debt

Ok, so the festive season has passed and the credit card and bank statements are starting to hit the inbox or the letter box for us old timers.  A good festive season was had by all on the plastic, but now’s the time to find the cash flow to pay it off to ensure the interest we pay remains the lowest possible. Other than a short term fix of s...

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New Finance Licensing Laws

In an effort to better regulate lending in this country the Federal Government introduced new legislation known as the National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment Act 2010.  This new legislation is designed to make borrowing money safer for consumers, through the implementation of new safeguards for borrowers.  Prior to this new legislation, ea...

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Investors – Start your engines…

There is always a positive to any negative.  Talk of a housing market bubble, higher interest rates, softening demand for property, worsening affordability and value decreases are all playing on the psychology of those looking to get into the property market. It is fair to report that in most markets across the capitals that we are certainly in...

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Property Investor Commentary

Generalise the residential property market at your investment peril. Housing prices go up and housing prices go down as measured by average house price or median house prices data.  But there is no such thing as the average or median house or unit, or apartment or townhouse for that matter.  No dwelling is exactly the same as any other dwellin...

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RBA Rates Decision – December 2010

Given Glenn Stevens’ recent speech last month that he saw no reason for a further rate rise this year, it was no surprise that the cash rate remained on hold, following the RBA board meeting and cash rate announcement today. The economists are mixed in their view of what the future holds regarding rate rises, some are predicting further rate r...

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How Do Lenders Assess Loans?

Gone are the days when you can just go down to your local bank branch and get loan approval because of your longstanding relationship with the manager. These days lenders have become quite sophisticated in their method of assessing loans - it’s now all about Risk Assessment. For years, lenders have been compiling data about every one of their ...

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What is Money Planning? (MONEY)

Over the past few months, you may have noticed the phrase “Money Planning” appearing in communications from Empower Wealth and wondered what it means.  Not to be confused with Financial Planning, we have invented the term Money Planning to describe a new range of services designed to assist our clients to get the most from their money. So, wh...

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Game Plan – The Next Level

Juggling family,work and trying to get a foot on the investment ladder will be a challenge that many will be familiar with – and that’s exactly what Mick ans Sandy Greenway are facing. The Townsville-based couple Mick, 35, and Sandy, 42, met through the Army Reserves in 1996. They have been married for nine years and have a 14-month-old daughte...

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Property Outlook 2010

If there is one thing that people are interested in it’s the value of property. We all enjoy it when the values of our property increases and it certainly makes for good media.  I don’t think there is a day that goes by without those current affair programs or the press talking about property—they love it when it goes up or down, just NOT wh...

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Wealth Creation Personality

Following on from my the topic I spoke about (Money & Wealth Mindset) at last week’s forum, I believe strongly in the topic that I wanted the thousands of subscribers to our newsletter to also benefit from this message that mindset is the key thing that limits us to reach our full potential, so I will continue on the topic in this month Direc...

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You Motivate You – But We Can Help

A few months back I attended a professional development day, which is part of holding my qualifications as a licensed finance broker. These types of events can be a bit hit and miss, but I always take the view that you can never stop learning and improving, so even at some of the dud events I usually still get one or two key points or ideas to take...

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RBA Rates Decision – November 2010

Unless you have been living under a rock you would by now know that the RBA lifted the official cash rate by 0.25% to 4.75% yesterday afternoon.  The first rise in over 6 months.  They saw it prudent to move the cost of money higher, in light of the relatively strong economy and a growing global outlook.  This will most likely be the last rate r...

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