Empower Blog Federal Budget

RBA Cash Rate Decision – April 2019

Today Governor Lowe and the Reserve Board met for their April board meeting and they kept the cash rate on hold at 1.5%. No surprises there in the lead up to an upcoming election — we’re only a month or so away from the Federal Election.   I want to start looking globally first — so let's do around the grounds globally. The US market ...

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First Home Super Saver Scheme – What is it?

In this How To session, I want to talk about the 2017 Federal Budget. Treasurer Scott Morrison has announced a First Home Super Saver Scheme. Now, this Saver Scheme is all about trying to help first home buyers save for a deposit. Let's look at how it works. Effectively what you can do is, you can salary sacrifice into your super a maximum of $15,0...

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Key Changes you need to know about your Retirement and Pension

So with the recent budget in May this year, the Federal Government announced a few changes in relation to Centrelink. In particular, the one that got a lot of media attention was increase in the age entitlement. It was recommended or suggested to increase the age pension entitlement from age 67 to 70. This would be phased out over the next few year...

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RBA Rate Decision – July 2014

Hello, Ben Kingsley here. Welcome to the new Financial Year. Today, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) met and we have well predicted, interest rates remain on hold. What was interesting over the last month is being the communication that is coming out from the Reserve Bank in regards to a sluggishness in the transition of our economy from the ...

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The Impact of the Federal Budget on your retirement

In recent articles in this series, we have discussed the state of incomes of older Australians compared to other developed nations, and concluded that we fare very poorly in such a comparison. In this article, we take a look at the proposals contained in the May 2014 Federal Budget and how they may impact on the wealth and lifestyle of older Austra...

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The era of entitlement IS OVER – What can be done?

Joe Hockey delivered the nation’s 2014 Federal Budget last Tuesday. He was true to his word about it being a tough budget and based on the changes they want to push through the senate and bring into law, it certainly didn’t miss any of us, as their catch cry stated “we are all in this together”. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it agai...

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RBA Rate Decision – May 2014

Hello, Ben Kingsley here and today the RBA met and release their cash right decision. As anticipated by many, the cash rate was kept on hold at 2.5 percent. In this month I want to talk to you about the big pending discussions which is dominating the financial sector at the moment and that is the budget. Next Tuesday night's budget and what that me...

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Property Values – Where to from Here?

Avid readers of my commentary will know that I am a buy and hold investor, opting for long term passive income and capital growth. It’s this methodology that suits most of the strategies we design for our clients at Empower Wealth. Furthermore our investment analysis has over-weighting towards incomes as a core growth driver for property value...

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