Hi Andy,

Centrelink payments are either income or asset tested. They are never both. Centrelink will always choose the test that will produce the lowest payment.

The owner occupied home is an asset that is excempted from the asset test, any other asset, and that includes your own home content, jewels, paintings, cars, boat, holiday home, money in the bank, shares, redeemable life insurance or any other asset counts.
Asset: http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/filestores/fis004_0210/$file/fis004_0210en.pdf

If you use the equity of your own home to purchase an IP, even when your IP is zero as an asset (assuming you borrow 100%) the portion of equity you use for such purchase becomes automatically an asset.

In your case, if you borrow 240,000 it will be treated as if you have an IP worth $240,000 even if you owe the whole amount. What I do not remember if there is a prevision for a threshold or percentage that is not taken into account. I am almost sure it is something like 50% or thereabouts, I could tell you tomorrow.

As for the other speculative comments about how Centrelink calculates your wife’s family allowance and parenting payment … well … Do yourself a favor and call the Family assistance office 136150 they will work out how much payment you will lose. If you sense the person on the phone, does not know much, ask for a senior person or better ask for a financial information officer (FIS officer) by calling or being transferred to 132300.

I agree with some of the comments that say if you earn 100 and lose 50 you are better off. Such comments though do not necessarily apply to your case.

If you borrow for +cash flow, you may see some money coming in, but not necessarily enough to compensate for losing 2 or 300 dollars a week. If you buy with negative cash flow, the situation is even worst. You will sacrifice your allowance plus some money you will need to throw in every week for a hypothetical pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. (In addition, you have to sell the rainbow to cash your gold in)

I therefore disagree with the “wife booing” exercise, and say, do your sums, she may be right … or not, I cannot comment much less judge, with the little information given.

If I may suggest an alternative, instead of going so heavy in, with 240k, find a smaller town, do your research as to the potential of such town, and buy a bottom of the market house for less than 80,000. Providing you can rent it for 160 or more, you are in the positive as a rule of thumb. Your wife keeps her payments, and you have a foot in the door with your property portfolio.

Remember you ARE what you think!

May God bless you
and prosper you.
Marc

Hi Beerboy

Financial planers are sales clerk at the leash of some Bank.
When they may have some marginal knowledge of how to shuffle the money you already have around some more or less mediocre funds to collect some pittance at the end of the year, they have no business acumen whatsoever, they do not create wealth just administer it in some more or less sloppy and non-accountable way, to squeeze 0.2% more for you and 5% more for them out of your own money.

Prosperity is not finding where the deals or the information is hidden. It is rather a state of mind.

About the lotto ticket:

Statistics tell that in average, a lottery winner reverts to his original financial position in 2 years.
In addition, statistics show that a prosperous person, who goes bankrupt, reverts to his prosperous state in average after 2 years.

Why?

The lottery winner, who was unprosperous initially, has now a big number in his bank statement but remains poor in his mind. He sees himself as a person who is poor yet struck pay dirt for once. In his mind this is not his normal state, his subconscious will make all the wrong decisions based on his limiting believes that will hinder, handicap and sabotage most of his actions related to wealth until he reverts back to how he sees himself, his natural state, that is with no money. Our subconscious acts on the program we allowed our environment to plant in it.

The prosperous person considers himself rich. His financial condition is his right and normal state, his subconscious mind sees the losses incurred as a temporary set back. The recovery a natural occurrence, not if but when is the question at hand.

Prosperity does not come from what the person knows but the values we allow to govern our actions.

If we think that rich is evil and poor is virtuous, whenever we need to take a decision that may determine our future, our conscious actions will be subject to the array of values stored in our subconscious mind. If we are convinced that rich people are crooks and feel bad about someone we know that made it big, chances are we will sabotage our own plans in some way totally unaware of it. Heaven forbid we may become successful and therefore turn crooks just like that KP we all like to talk about.

On the other side, goal setting, and a positive mind frame, the review of our “limiting believes” and the replacement of such by more constructive set of values that celebrates others success, will set the foundation for our own success.

You earn $35,000? That is better than $0.

Robert Kiyasaki, Randy Gage and many other teachers on the subject have been bankrupt and are more than happy to tell you how they turned their fortune around.

Yet one can read 100 self-help books and make little or no progress.

That is unless we start changing our faith system. It is necessary to understand that we have a creator that wants us to be successful and prosper, that it is our birthright and that there is nothing wrong with wealth nor anything virtuous with poverty.

If you think you can adopt this idea that you deserve to be prosperous, if you accept that such prosperity is not only money, if you can let go of the idea that failure and lack of success is somehow cool, poetic, virtuous or somehow attractive in any way, then you have taken the first step towards success.

Now you can learn a bit more from others.

The power of our subconscious mind is a must in my opinion:
http://www.butler-bowdon.com/powersubconscious.htm

7 habits of highly effective people is another classic
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0671687964/103-4009489-7967826?v=glance

If you do not mind some suggestions, I found the Prosperity tapes from Randy Gage life changing. http://www.gagedirect.com/

Yet his tapes are based on a much cheaper booklet by Catherine Ponda, “The dynamic laws of prosperity.
http://www.prosperitynetwork.com/Ponder.htm

Rich dad poor dad by Robert Keyasaki is also an eye opener.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0446677450/103-4009489-7967826?v=glance
(also available on tape)

There are some excellent books free as well.

See “Think and Grow rich” by Napoleon Hill (fantastic)
http://www.asamanthinketh.net/think.htm

“As a man thinketh” by John Allen, tells you in clear words, “we are what we think” Think poor and you are poor, think rich and prosper.
http://www.concentric.net/~conure/allen.html

Write down your goals, build a prosperity map, write down affirmations of success, and reprogram your subconscious mind. Success starts with your thoughts not your salary!

PS

I notice I left out one of the best books I have read on the subject:
” The one minute millionare”
By Robert Allen
http://www.finnserver.com/shops/books/oneminutemillionaire.html
May God bless you
and prosper you.
Marc

Hi Fullout.

The issue of “how much paint” is not a straight forward as xx per meter.
It depends on the state of the walls, the paint quality, tradesman ship and even the roller quality.

I used once 4 litres of cheap paint for three walls in a small room of new plasterboard.

If your walls are new or of a colour that differs a lot from the new colour, you must give one coat of undercoat. Remember that before the undercoat you also must go over all the bumps, holes, nails dents and bad finish from before with pre mixed Top Coat, ($16×4 kg at Mitre Ten) apply with plastic spatula.

I hired a “painter” last year for a property I have in Campbelltown because I needed a quick fix between tenants and he assured me I did not need undercoat.

Now the walls were of a deep yellow like the smilies on this BB, the problem is that every room was of a different tone of yellow. Result, now all rooms have a nice smooth cream colour but each room is still different from the other because the cheap paint used (Trader from Taubmans) does not cover properly with two coats.

Ergo:
Buy good paint, ‘Living proof’ from Taubmans, or any other top of the range from Dulux and even Bristols.

Rule of thumb, ask which one are the two higher priced in the same line brand. Say one is $120 x 10 litres and the other is $110 x 10 litres chances are that they are the same only the more expensive has to pay for some advertising campaign. Never buy the cheapest of all.

As far as litres is concerned, I find the 26 litres per five bedrooms a fantastic result.

If you are going to paint yourself, you will use much more paint than the professional will. You did not say if you are going to paint the ceiling, but assuming you are, my guesstimate is that you will probably use 30 litres of paint. The doors and windows are another matter and do not forget that kitchen and bathroom are better off with oil based or some more gloss mould resistant stuff.

But rather than buying too much paint, buy 20 litres and you can always buy more if you know the name of the colour. Of course to top up, always buy the same brand and in the same shop if possible.

Good luck, and when you buy your rollers, remembers that cheap rollers are nasty to use. I would buy a 27cm wide medium pile ($30 for the roller) a handle not a cheap one so it does not bend under pressure and a pole to roll without using the ladder. You will also need a good brush. There are some new synthetic one that are tops for doing the cuts and edges ($30)

If you need to do some patches of plaster with Top Coat, buy yourself a sanding pad to screw on top of the pole ($14), it will make your life that much easier. Remember that the patches need undercoat and one extra paint coat or they will show even after the second finishing coat.

Stains of water-based paint can be removed from your floor with Methylated spirit if they are dry, but are very hard to clean from the carpet.

May God bless you
and prosper you.