This tip or suggestion is probably one of the most important aspects to investing for me and I know for you to.

"Being Over Committed"

Lately I see to many people getting into investing far too quickly and getting way over their heads at a growing rate.

Ill give you an example, when I first started in Property investment backin the 80's I was young stupid and naive. Yes I was on a high income and I did invest in 5 Investment in one year alone. But I just wanted to just keep moving and purchase more.

I did have some criteria's in the 80’s-90 but today our criteria’s are enhanced by many other contributions and the research we do today is unbelievable compared to the olden days.

Anyway I found myself working for bills and investments, and decided that there was more to life that just working to pay for investments and bills.

So I decided to consolidated and sold 3 investments and restarted investing as my comfort and cash flow level grew year by year.

As you grow you make mistakes and learn from them so you can keep growing.
I have a client that is on a very high income and self employed.
His home loan was costing him appro $3500 per month and the investment properties were also costing him $3200 per month.

That’s a total of $6700 per month, now I don’t know about you but that is a very large outlay to hold a home and investment properties. But it’s not all that bad, because he is on a very high income and the depreciation on the investment properties are high so he pays no tax and actually gets back approx $10k-$15k back from the ATO.

SO if we look at the Investment side-
They are costing him to hold $38,400 and let’s say $10,000 returned means his Investments are really only costing him $28,000 per week.  

Where and why is it costing him too much?
It was all at the start of purchasing, the rental returns were too low, some at 3.2% rental return.

This is why today when we select properties for our clients, the rental return must meet our criteria of approx 4.8% - 5%+
Or the property will just be costing too much to hold limiting your leverage ability.

If he my client above had run with our criteria's, he would have been able to hold a larger portfolio for the same amount of money which in the long term would have made him a lot more money in equity built.

Or he would be able to hold the same amount of properties with less outlay.
So what is the message?

When Investing in property, cash flow is what you look at firstly, it must meet your personal cash flow and you do not move from that. When you set a target on what is comfortable for you and the family, stay with it.

When you’re comfortable with your first investment only then do you move to your next one and so on. Also investing is something you do to help you for your future and not something your struggle today so you can hold it for tomorrow.

You will hear me say this time after time. "If you can comfortably do it, then do it, if you cannot, then don't".

So the question is, if you can put aside approx $100 towards your future today and it won’t affect your lifestyle, and then you should look at investing.

I have had properties work out to only $20 per week, but it does depend on the price, rental returns, interest rates, depreciation’s, expenses and your taxable income.

This is why when I personally sit down with clients I try to understand what they are trying to achieve by investing and what they will be comfortable outlaying on a weekly basis.

Let me explain something that is really simple.
For a $1000 weekly income in today’s lifestyle you would only need 3-4 Investment properties and that’s it.

And.....What ever we invest in today going by history and depends where you invest it should double in 7-10 years.

If your not sure if or how to start and you would like someone to sit with you to see if investing is for you or not then, I urge to book yourself in for a no obligation free call and one of our consultants or myself will call you and ask you some important questions to see if we are able to assist you or not.

Aren’t you sick and tired of hearing "We should of" and "Why didn’t we do something back then?"

Well let me tell you right now, "Back then" is now for next year.

I wish you all the success and happiness in life.

Hi guys, I read this report and I thought I should share with everyone and see how serious it is not only the Men but the Woman when it come to preparation for retirement, it's something we all should be aware of.

CEO of the Retirement Village Association Kate Hamond says; "Recent research released from the University of Canberra’s Centre for Social and Economic Modelling suggests the future of women baby boomers is of real concern. ‘Baby boomer’ is the moniker given to people born between 1946 and the early 1960s.

“Half of all women aged between 45 to 60 have less than $8000 saved in superannuation. The average male of the same age has a still below-par $87,000 saved, and half have less than $31,000 saved,” Hamond says.

“Estimates differ, but it's generally accepted that comfortable retirement will cost around $45,000 per year, which requires superannuation savings of at least $450,000.

“Some baby boomers are starting to think ahead now, and those who are not probably should be.”

Arthur Koumoukelis from Gadens Lawyers believes baby boomers need to be aware of the financial risks associated with retirement.

“The fact is that 40 per cent of aged people will have assets two and a half times the aged pension ($22,000 per annum), which equates to just $50,000,” Koumoukelis says.

He says many baby boomers have a vision of living in lifestyle resorts or luxurious retirement villages when they retire, but the reality is they may need a lot more money to live the lifestyle.

“Baby boomers must not fall into the trap of expecting Rolls Royce service for Kia costs,” Koumoukelis says.

“Developers of retirement villages also need to take these financial issues into account. They must be aware of their future client base and recognise that not all retirees are self funded with earnings over $40,000 a year.”