Categories: Finance

Are you losing up to 7%-11% potential interest on your superannuation fund?

If you have money tucked away for retirement – consider this post a wake up call. By the time you retire, you might miss out on over a million dollars that you could have added to your account (for some people it’s even more than that.)

But it’s not just the future you’re risking. You might be missing out right now on the easiest way the Australian government has ever allowed to finance property deals – without relying on banks, joint venture partners, or money partners.

Here’s what it’s all about.

Because of the way your pension fund is structured, …

…there’s a good chance your lazy money isn’t working hard enough.

[Read more…]

Categories: Finance

Financial planners drive me crazy sometimes.

I don’t know about yours, but mine seems to have an insatiable thirst for coming up with the words possible “doomsday” scenarios.

Now don’t get me wrong – we need them to do that. But seriously, that kind of thinking can give the calmest person on earth an anxiety attack!

It’s just not fun to think about these things. Take insurance for example.

We all know it’s important. But can you put your right hand on your heart and honestly tell me you enjoy weighing up your insurance options and coverage?

Of course not! 

That’s why in a rush to close a deal, many investors charge ahead with inadequate (and sometimes – nonexistent) insurance coverage.

So I asked Jolene and Matt Sukkarieh – property investors and financial planning experts at My Financial Group – to help us all understand:

• How to figure out what coverage you need, and what coverage you can stop paying for (based on how risk-averse you are, the financial resources you have, and the strategy you’re implementing)
• How to check if your current coverage is adequate (are you taking too much risk?)
• Can you use pre-tax money to pay for insurance and improve your financial outcome without changing anything else?
• Are there payouts you’re entitled to without even realizing? (and how to claim them!)

[Read more…]

Categories: Finance

How does the idea of your hard earned cash going down the drain sound to you? If you have never taken the time to sit and think your business financial structure through, that’s exactly what may be happening to you.

True, selecting the right property investment structure is no simple task. But when you think about how much in unnecessary taxes you may be paying, the idea of not investing the time and effort to do so becomes simply unacceptable.

Paul Copeland is an accountant and a very successful property investor, he is also a long time contributor in our property networking group meetings.

As a property investor, Paul understands that the property game ultimately is about making money.

But as an accountant and director of the business advisory group at William Buck, he also recognises the important role that the right property investing structure can play in maximising profits, minimising risk, reducing taxes and planning for the future.

Because property investing structures can be complex and should be based on an investor’s individual plans and goals, Paul developed a four-step “building blocks” system to provide a roadmap to help investors decide which structure is right for them. [Read more…]

Categories: Finance

If you’re interested in the fastest way to create massive wealth using property, then read every word of this blog post.

You probably know that when it comes to cold hard cash, no strategy is a match to the obscene amounts of money that can be made in just ONE properly run development project.

But hold your horses, because there’s one truth of life you must take into account. The higher the reward – the higher the risk. And in property development, just one failed project could be your one-way ticket to losing all of your life savings…and even bankruptcy.

This is why I invited Blake Lanham, from Lanham Constructions Qld Pty Ltd, for a chat. I wanted to find out what are the most common mistakes that make property developers go broke and how can smart property investors avoid them.

What he revealed was far from complex property market flotation theories or technical construction stuff. He talked about some simple practices that, when followed, can not only save you from losing your hard earned money but lead you to a world of wealth with property development.

After 10 years in the construction game as a builder and design/construction specialist, Blake knows what it takes to complete a successful building project. And he also knows how easy it is for developers to lose money. [Read more…]

Categories: Finance

Are you closer today to the goals that lead you into property investing to begin with?

I know how easy it is to get “Tunnel vision” and focus exclusively on finding your next deal. After all, you’ve got into property to make money and that’s where your profits come from, right?

But after flipping deal after deal – even with a consistent profit record – it doesn’t look like you are any closer to the life you envisioned when you first started.

If that’s your case, maybe this is the moment to take a step back, reassess your overall wealth creation strategy and design a financial plan that will take you where you really want to go.

According to Jolene and Matt Sukkarieh, financial planning experts at My Financial Group, a wealth advisory firm in South-East Queensland, that’s where the advice of a qualified financial planner can help.

Unfortunately, many property investors don’t tap into the power of financial planning because they have misconceptions about what financial planners do, try to handle their finances themselves or simply are unaware that the resource is available.

If you are serious about building wealth in the property game, here are a few questions that you should be asking about financial planning: [Read more…]