Empower Blog Property & Financial Investment

Your Ultimate Guide To Reducing Tax on Vehicles, Private Insurance & Land

Talking Property Tax with Julia Hartman: Episode 3 IMPORTANT NOTE: This recording was filmed and produced before Queensland's Land Tax was scrapped. With a number of policy changes on the cards, in our third episode of “Talking Property Tax with Julia Hartman,” Ben and Julia cover... Salary Sacrificing For Cars: How do Salary Sac...

Watch Video

RBA Cash Rate September 2022: From Trough to Peak: How Bad Is Today’s Market?

Across the globe, the inflation story continues to unfold and trade tensions between Russia and the Eurozone simmer. We see oil prices and energy suppliers shifting which leaves the question: How will it impact Australia?  Back home the Reserve Bank of Australia has lifted rates for the fifth consecutive month by 50 basis points, bringing ...

Watch Video

6 Essential Lessons Everyone Should Know Before Their Fixed Loan Expires 

At Empower Wealth we are passionate about providing practical education that helps our community at every step of their financial journey. We want to ensure that no money is left on the table, and one of the biggest money pits we've found is the interest we pay on our mortgages. So in this video, Ben explains six lessons that every borrower sh...

Watch Video

New Changes to Queensland’s Land Tax: How Will it Affect You? 

The Revenue Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 was recently introduced following the announcement of land tax reforms in the 2021-22 Queensland State Budget Update.  The changes will apply to Queensland land tax assessments in the 2023-24 financial year.  Regardless of the relative merits and arguments supporting (or challenging) this ch...

Read More

RBA Cash Rate August 2022: Inching Closer to a Neutral Cash Rate!

As we welcome in a new financial year, we welcome another not-so-surprising change. The Reserve Bank of Australia has once again lifted the cash rate by 50 basis points, bringing the official rate to 1.85%. This marks the most aggressive rate rise in a 3-month period since 1994 (If you’re wondering, back then the RBA lifted the cash rate by...

Watch Video

Everything you Need to Know about Crypto Tax 

Other than in the very rare circumstances where crypto is just purchased to buy a personal asset, any gain or loss you make on crypto is subject to tax. So don’t forget to bring your details with you when you do your tax return. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) are right onto data matching your transactions we are already seeing the sal...

Read More

Meet Trixly Andrada

Trixly is one of our fantastic Paraplanners here at Empower Wealth! He is a Certified Financial Planner and holds a Bachelors Degree in Commerce, majoring in Accounting and a Diploma in Financial Planning. Transcript How did you get started in the financial planning industry? Hi, my name is Trixley Andrada and I'm a Paraplanner for Empo...

Watch Video

The Family Home Guarantee Scheme

Note: This article is an extract from MLC.  If you’re a single parent with dependents, you may be eligible to purchase a home with as little as a 2% deposit via the Family 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 ins...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Watch Video

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...

Watch Video

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...

Watch Video

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...

Watch Video