Empower Blog Future Planning

Defence: What is that?

What I want to have a quick chat about today is something a lot of property investors haven’t got time or the headspace to think about. And that is their position of defence. We talk about it in our business model: ABCD. The asset selection (A), the borrowing power (B), the cash flow management (C) and the defence (D). But let’s be honest: ...

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How well protected is your business?

If you’re like many business owners you have already insured the physical assets of your business from theft, fire and damage. But have you considered the importance of insuring yourself - and other key people in your business - against the possibility of death, disability and illness. Not being adequately insured can be a very risky oversight, a...

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Counting the cost of a curve ball

Here’s a confronting question: what would you do if the main breadwinner in your household could no longer bring in an income? Do you have a Plan B? Most people don’t. That’s where insurance comes in. Curve balls. They’re unexpected, often deceptive and it’s impossible to predict their trajectory. That’s why they’re so devastating ...

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Personal succession planning for families with young children

Personal succession planning is much more than just having a Will, especially for families with young children. Without an appropriate succession plan, you may not have certainty that the right assets will go to the right people at the right time in the most tax effective way. And most importantly, you may not have certainty that your loved ones...

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Five steps to consider before entering an aged care home

If the need for residential aged care is nearing, following these five steps will help you make a smoother transition.   1. Get your eligibility assessed Before you can enter an aged care facility and receive Government support, your health situation must be assessed by the Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT).[1] The assessors are generally ...

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A Will isn’t always the only way

You would have heard the saying: “where there’s a will, there’s a way”. This statement is usually used to encourage people who are losing enthusiasm for a task or goal. But it also reflects the way many people feel about estate planning. They think that so long as you have a Will, you have a way to ensure your wealth is passed correctly t...

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Plan ahead for the aged care you want

Early planning can take away a lot of the stress and uncertainty that can arise when considering aged care at home or a residential aged care facility.   Know what your options are The first option that probably comes to mind is a residential aged care facility. These facilities provide accommodation and care depending on your personal ne...

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Retiring younger and richer

At one point or another, most of us would have thought about retiring younger and richer. It is not an uncommon dream and if you're lucky, you would probably achieved this already. But for the rest of us, this dream requires strategic planning. This time on the cover story of Australian Property Investor (API) Magazine, Ben Kingsley and other ...

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Future of Mortgage Lending in Australia : Risk Profiling and Pricing

Hi Ben Kingsley here, I just want to talk to you about what's going to be the future of mortgage lending here in Australia. Now, before we talk about the future, let's think about what happened in the past. In the past, we used to see mortgages that are like this. We had standard variable rates, and those standard variable rates were the main rates...

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Having an Exit Strategy

>> Play Audio Here In this podcast, Kevin Turner from Real Estate Talk focused on the recent articles by API Magazine that wrote about investment strategy and having an exit strategy set in place. He talks to Ben Kingsley about the sensitive but necessary discussion of having an exit strategy. You might not want to think about it, but Ben gi...

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Should you be looking at your Home Loan in Isolation?

Do you want someone to help you pick a home loan (Mortgage Broker) or do you want to seek financial advice when it comes to "crucial financial arrangements" by having the guidance of a Finance Advisor? So you have decided to either buy your first home, your next property or to refinance because you want a better deal or you have plans to do some...

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Game Plan: Never too young to retire

Ashley is a 25-year old operations manager with a medium-sized coach business in the Hunter Valley region of NSW. Considering his young age, he is earning a good salary and prides himself on being fiscally conservative - saving money by living at home with his parents and consistently putting more than a quarter of his income into savings each mont...

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How Much Money is Enough?

If you stopped work today, how much money would you have to live off before it all ran out? If you stopped work today, how much income would your investments generate?  Would it be enough to live off?  Would you eventually have to sell down on your investments to ensure you had enough money to live off? How much is enough? If you have read s...

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