Forum Replies Created
JacM, do you work in the city or out in the West also?
Is there any chance you could make it over to the East once a month, or would you prefer the CBD? If you could make it out to the East, then it sounds like we already have 5 people ready for a catch-up out here.
DWolfe, there will be NO selling (if it sounds like anyone is trying to pitch something, I’m sure the rest of the group will quickly let them know that they are out of line)
In order to get the ball rolling a little further, can everybody email me (or post on here) evenings of the week, and days of the weekend that they know they will definitely NOT BE AVAILABLE. This will help me work out some potential evenings/weekends where most of us are free.
Cheers,
.
No worries YI,
I’m about 30 mins east of the city myself (forest hill). If it turns out to be just you and me we can meet up out here in the east.
If it’s more than the two of us, then we’ll find a central location that suits everyone… maybe even rotate locations each month to keep everyone interested.
If it’s two or three of us, skype might work OK, any more than that and it becomes a hassle. Personally I enjoy face to face catch ups a lot more.
Anyway, looking forward to meeting you! I’ll post more details here when I know how many people are interested. In the mean time if you can shoot me an email from an email address you check regularly, I’ll make sure to add you as a contact so that I can email details too.
Cheers,
.
Not the best software, but google sketch up has a free version that can do some basic drawing
http://www.google.com/sketchup/product/gsu.html
It may give you an idea of how some of the software works, so you can figure out what you do and don’t need before you buy some better software.
In the spirit of “research etc.”, can people please elaborate on what statistical methods they to pinpoint states and suburbs that are poised for growth?
I have been trawling through the ABS website, and I am keen to see what statistics people track in order to make a confident decision. People talk about approvals, population growth, incomes, average time for houses on the market etc.
What are people’s TOP 5 stats to follow? and why?
Looking forward hearing people’s lists.
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Hi Terry,
Great to hear! As usual, thanks very much for the quick advice
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Do you also list your corporate trustee as a beneficiary to the discretionary trust? Alternatively would you list another separate company as a beneficiary to the trust?
I imagine this may be good in years where your trust income is unusually high, and some of that income can be ‘stored’ within the beneficiary company before being paid out to yourself (as a sharholder) as a franked dividend at a later date.
Or do the costs (or any other reasons I’m missing) make it not worth doing this…
Cheers,
.
Terry,
Can you still distribute $3000 to each child tax free? I was reading a 2009-2010 tax minimisation book last week which stated the maximum is now $772 (or there abouts…)
Can someone please confirm this?
Cheers,
.
Hi Terry, thanks for the clarification. I just pulled out my trust deed and saw myself as appointor and got a little worried!
As per your comment above, it now makes sense that my accountant is listed as the settlor.
Cheers,
.
Does this mean the appointor cannot be a beneficiary?
Thanks Terry,
That seems pretty harsh that if the Trust makes a loss, the franking credits are lost as well! I thought there would be some capacity to carry forward the franking credits with the loss in order to be offset by gains in future years. Is this the case, or are the credits simply gone, and if so where do they go??
Apart from seeing my accountant, do you know of any good websites that explain some of these minor details for DTs, UTs, HTs and PITs?
Cheers,
.
Hi Terry,
Thanks for the quick reply… very much appreciated!
I had the trust drawn up last month, and the deed has been stamped. The trust also has a bank account, and a comsec account but no property or shares as yet.
I like the ability to drop one of the trustees, however I am now unsure what implications this will have on:
1) the existing bank account
2) the existing comsec account
as these accounts are both in the following names, XXXX & YYYYWill I have to notify the banks, and have them change the account name to just XXXX ATF once I have had this ‘meeting’ to remove my wife as the secondary trustee? Or can I leave the accounts as they are?
Also, is the process the same to add the corporate trustee, i.e. have a meeting, and add a corporate trustee?
Thanks in advance,
.
A couple of quick questions regarding DTs…
1) What happens to the assets the trust holds after 80 years? i.e the 80 years nominated within the trust deed…
2) When our accountant set up our DT he nominated both my wife and myself as trustees and as beneficiaries, but I read above that having my wife as a trustee may not be good?
3) How easy is it to amend the trust deed in a few years time to add a corporate trustee if needed?
Cheers,
.
We ended up going with BankWest’s business account for the trust. No monthly fees, and seems pretty good so far.
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Hi.
I'm a buyer, not a seller.
My wife and I have been looking for an IP for about 6 months, but we keep swinging between 3BM houses on large blocks, or cheaper units/apartments with reasonable yields.
Also what are people's opinions on inner-city apartments? From what I can see on realestate.com.au the yields are fairly high, but I'm obviously missing something because there are HEAPS for sale…
Thoughts appreciated.
Cheers,
Thanks Richard, Will do some research on them also!
Cheers.
Hi Guys,
Do you know if Kaplan provide the education, and then the students sit an external examination to achieve their qualifications, or do Kaplan do the examination and award students qualifications as well…
I was wondering if it were possible to obtain the study materials from someone who has previously done the course, self study the material, then just sit the exam? Or does it have to be done entirely (at a cost of around $2000) through Kaplan or similiar?
Cheers.
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Hi Richard,
Thanks for the quick reply!
A starting balance of $75,000 seems much better than the $200,000 mentioned to me previously. Who are some of the leading firms who specialise in accounting and auditing SMSFs?
As for the property purchasing through your SMSF, is the process identical to purchasing through a trust? Or does it depend on how you setup the structure of your SMSF (on this point is there a defined structure for a SMSF, or can it be individually tailored?)
Cheers,
.
As far as I am aware, businesses are usually valued as a multiple (2-3 times) that of their annual profits (or earnings in some cases). In this case $70k seems to be fairly reasonable.
Make sure you do plenty of financial, and market-based due diligence, i.e is the $25k claimed by the 70yo man, or can you verify this with financial statements? Also thinking you can 'build up the custom' is one thing, actually doing it is another, make sure your parents survey the market and ensure that the customer base is able to be expanded…
My employer is acquiring another business at the moment, and I am doing some of the due diligence, type "buying a business checklist" or "business due diligence" into google, there are heaps of free articles/lists out there.
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I recently read a good book "Saving tax on your investment property" (see link below for reference)
http://www.holisticpage.com.au/SavingTaxOnYourInvestmentProperty_NoelWhittaker%7C9780731813629This book answers your question. I don't remember the exact details, but I'm fairly sure interest on interest IS deductible.
Cheers,
.
P.S I am not an accountant, and my financial knowledge is limited, hence refer to this book or seek professional advice!
Sorry to hijack the thread temporarily, but what is Steve's book? Can you please give the title so I can look it up and have a read?
Thanks.
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