Good idea Amanda,
Put me on the list.
Bris

Just found out my accountant spoke c*ap !!!
1./In Qld land tax free threshold for Trusts, companies ect is 300K , NOT 50K as he told me yesterday.
2./ trust splitting does help reducing land tax . Found this from http://www.osr.qld.gov.au/practdir/landtax/lt07-1.pdf :
“
7. Where land (one parcel or more than one parcel) is held in the names of different trustees,
each for an identical group of beneficiaries:
Separate assessments for each trust. While various parcels of land may be aggregated for
assessment purposes if the beneficial ownership of each parcel is identical (refer s.3B – meaning of
“owner”), under s.43(b) of the Act, trustees must be assessed separately in respect of each distinct
trust for which they are acting.
Example:
A is the registered owner of parcel 1 and B is the registered owner of parcel 2. A holds parcel
1 as trustee for the Beaver Trust and B holds parcel 2 as trustee for the Bear Trust. Each
Trust has an identical set of beneficiaries.
– Separate assessments for each trust
“

Hi Terryw et all,
Just want to update that I have checked the “splitting of one disc trust into 2 ” with my accountant.
He said it won’t work as the land tax man knows to “regroup” the 2 sub-trusts and would calculate the landtax on top of the total value.
Also as I am in Bris, he said the tax free threshold in Qld for trust is very minimum for trust (about 50K or so). Hence even if it works the saving is not worth the trouble !!!

Has anyone tried done similar or has knowledge on this and could share their experience it would be appreciated.

Thanks very much.

Dazzling,
My question was along the line of “is my understanding of your point 1 correct” , not your advice on what I SHOULD do…..

Terryw,
No I did not know that the split was possible. I shall investigate ASAP as if can do, it would save me thousands each year.
Thanks very much for the tip.

Richard,
I saw on Somersoft forum , there is this BIG (Bris Investor Group) that meets every month. Next one is 30 Aug, evening.

Hi Caston,
In general the interview panel wants to know how you can add value to their organisation, how well you fit in to their team, and as things change quickly in the IT world they want to know if you are a keen and quick learner with a cando attitude. Do not tell them you why/how the job is good for you. IN ANSWERING ANY QUESTION ASKED, CONCENTRATE ON TELLING THEM WHY YOU ARE GOOD FOR THE JOB NOT HOW THE JOB IS GOOD FOR YOU. Also when a (usually large) company is serious about whom to hire and want s.o. for the long term, they are very interested in the attitude and ability to learn etc even more than the CURRENT technical skills the applicant has. AS the saying is “you can teach them technical skills but much harder to improve bad attitude”.Terms like “Work hard, not mind putting in the extra mile for a job well done, flexible, positive, can do…. ” are some keywords you should mention in the interview when appropriate)
I have been on interview panels for a lot of IT jobs hence the above is speaking from experience.
All the best angood luck with future interviews.

Regards,

Oshen,
You said
“Being soft and too generous is not fair on yourself. It’s also not fair on the other person because you are creating the opportunity for them to do the wrong thing. That’s why I say I don’t care about how much people complain, as long as I know that what I’m doing is right. Which of course it isn’t always, but it is what I aim for.”

You have earned my great respect (for what it’s worth ) just from those words above.

All the best.

Dazzling,
When my son was 9 yrs old I was too busy to play a game of chess with him ( I still remember clearly his disappointed face when he kept “pestering” me to play with him, but I had 1001 other things to do (including wealth creation) and hence said “no”…).

He is now a young adult and HE DOES NOT HAVE TIME to play a game of chess with me when asked. I have offered to take him to a long round the world trip with us, now that I can afford it, BUT HE DOES NOT HAVE TIME to go or if he did, he would want to go with his mates, not with the parents..

Guess sometimes after I died , my son may re-think and wish he did play chess and did go to the round-the-world trip with me…just like I do now, so wish I had played chess with him more often , taken him to the local park more than I did…. Such as life….

You are lucky that you still have time , you kids are still young, even till 2007.
Look like you could also eat your cake while having it…

All the bests.