We are in complete agreement on this point. This may be the biggest challenge our nation is facing right now. I reckon we all start talking about this more with our contacts, friends, family and colleagues. The media and politicans will catch on later. We really need everyone discussing this and thinking innovation and productivity. Those two concepts together will turn this mining windfall into a long-term prosperous outcome for all Australians.

I would like to propose the following;
Let's create 5 ideas on how we can dramatically boost innovation and productivity in our country.

Here are my 5 just plucked out of the air;
1) ALL scientific and associated product engineering research receives a 200% tax benefit.
2) A 200% tax benefit for any business that successfully brings a product developed from (1) to market to be sold anywhere.
3) Creation of a simple to understand and widely publicised process for linking (1) with (2) to speed products to market
4) A national ideas forum equivalent to TED (www.ted.com) but focused on Australian innovation and productivity. Every school, university and registered business is mandated to participate. Funded by the Future Fund and the NBN.
5) Direct NRAS-style incentives for any individual investing funds into (1) or (2).

All I ask is that you work with the ideas and refrain from any critical/negative analysis at all. Let's be creative, innovative and productive! We clearly have some very smart people here, I am sure we can come up with at least one really good, workable idea that could change our nation for the better.

Comon, gimme your "5"!

I am no economist, but isn't that the same for any market?

If I thought you had some way of giving me those 5 minutes back, I would ask you for them. That said, this has provided me with a fantastic opportunity to prove my previous point. Sorry, just not interested in the negative nonsense. More interested in creative ways for all of us to be wealthy.

I watched it, it was sensationalist and there was not a single new piece of information in there that most of us haven't heard, read or seen before.

These cases in point from the video demonstrate how superficial and sensationalist it was;
– Buying units off the plan in high-rises on the Gold Coast. –> Just about the silliest thing any investor can do with their money. Let alone folks using all their life savings. they should have done their due diligence and not taken on so much speculative risk.
– Stated that the situation was equivalent to the U.S. sub-prime collapse. –> Nonsense. This shows a complete lack of understanding of the basic events that lead to the GFC.
– Remember, it isn't a loss until you sell. IF you bought of the plan and were going to "flip" for a profit –> You speculated and lost.
– "Stagnation in these difficult areas" –> Well, DUH.
– Average discount of 6.4%. Sorry, that doesn't alarm me. I haven't purchased a single property that wasn't at a greater discount than that.Alot of vendors can't come to terms with the fact that they didn't get 3 years worth of growth since 07-08. (Frankly, I just hear "bargains" and "higher yields".)
– "Buyers strike" –> I applaud his will to exercise his democratic rights, but I think it is misguided. A more effective and positive campaign would be, "Speculators Anonymous: Learning to buy and invest in property responsibly".
– All the pictures of property were the "high-end" of town. Everyone knows there is losses to be had in that particularly volatile part of the market.
– Pictures of thunderstorms and music for dramatic effect. –> Cheap. I would be surprised if they didn't throw in a few subliminal message frames of homeless children and monsters eating them on the streets.

Note: The hotspots mentioined are all well known. Do a google search for Terry Ryder and have a peruse of last months API/YPI magazines. Orange has been touted for a long time. Gladstone is old news.

For once, I would like to see one of these stories done on a "boring investor" that plods along achieving their goals. That won't happen. Read anything from Jan Somers or Margaret Lomas and you will feel much more positive about investing over the long-term and walk away with real skills that will get you there. That is exactly what I am doing, walking the talk. Step by careful, steady step.

Nobody takes Today Tonight seriously.

I haven't watched the video link, but I am sure it is classic sensationalist journalism. Remember, the majority of the media gets paid to attract viewers and sell advertising. NOT to report anything in the best interests of the viewing public.

From a previous post from someone asking a similar opinion about Destiny Financial; https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forums/property-investing/creative-investing/4333270

Yes, my wife and I are "Platinum" lifetime customers. I think we paid around $5k all up. Besides initial training, we have a property acquisition plan and timelines. I can attend the course again any time I want, special investor forums as well as some discounts on a few other bits and pieces of varying value. They are my mortgage broker, but this doesn't have to be the case if you don't want. They aren't the greatest broker in the world, but they do have a very strong relationship with St George who are comfortable with the style of investor that Destiny bring to them. They do certainly offer other banks, but the Dragon is their main gig due to the loan structure matching the investment plan perfectly. Be warned, it is X-coll, so if you don't like that religion, just choose a different structure. That's your business. X-coll is working fine for me and I have read many stories of very successful investors using X-coll either to start or stayed that way. Many people that have been with Destiny for a while have 10-20 properties or more wrapped up in X-coll under the St.George portfolio loan. And they keep growing just fine. It is the perfect tool for the Destiny cashflow positive strategy.

Why did I pay so much money? I had read alot of books, attended a few free seminars, spoke to some other investors but really needed a "jumpstart" to get me moving. Also someone, an expert, to hold my hand during the intially stages while I build the confidence I needed at the time to take the leap. Of all the strategies I came across, Margaret Lomas's suited my style and risk profile at the time. IT made alot of sense, wasn't too conservative, wasn't too risky. "Goldilocks". I considered and spoke to others like Metropole (Yardney) etc, but these all seemed too aggressive and just didn't suit my style.

Have I got value for money? Hard to say. Not yet, but I have another 12 years to run on my current plan with them, so plenty of time to extract the value. (I reckon I will get there much faster than 12 more years, but that is my worst case right now and I am ok with it.)

Could I have done it without Destiny? Eventually. I deifnately got the jumpstart and confidence I was looking for. So saved time and avoided dumb mistakes that probably would have cost me far more than $5k in my first couple of purchases.

Would I do it again? Yes. But I would be more demanding on Destiny from the start about my expectations. A couple of times I was let down, but they have made up for it. We have formed a decent partnership and they are a key part of my property success team.

Would I recommend it to others? Yes if you are like me or more conservative. Also, you want to follow a "boring", tried and true template for wealth that will make you financially free in about 15 years. They do have smaller "bite size" chunks of services now, more of a menu. I think this is a good idea and worth discussing with them in detail to understand what you get.

Make up your own mind, but I like the Margaret Lomas strategy and the way that Destiny Financial provide it to their customers.

Good general advice but doesn't show an understanding of what Destiny offer, so really should be ignored when considering them.
They don't sell properties. Have necommendations on who to buy from. Certainly don't advocate buying above true value. To the contrary, they help you work out exactly what good value is to your for a specific property as it aligns to your acquisition portfolio.
They are not buyers agents.
Yes they are brokers and do align more with St. George than other brokers. But there is no requirement for you to use their structure or their mortgage broking services. I will post some more personal experience in another post.

Yes, my wife and I are "Platinum" lifetime customers. I think we paid around $5k all up. Besides initial training, we have a property acquisition plan and timelines. I can attend the course again any time I want, special investor forums as well as some discounts on a few other bits and pieces of varying value. They are my mortgage broker, but this doesn't have to be the case if you don't want. They aren't the greatest broker in the world, but they do have a very strong relationship with St George who are comfortable with the style of investor that Destiny bring to them. They do certainly offer other banks, but the Dragon is their main gig due to the loan structure matching the investment plan perfectly. Be warned, it is X-coll, so if you don't like that religion, just choose a different structure. That's your business. X-coll is working fine for me and I have read many stories of very successful investors using X-coll either to start or stayed that way. Many people that have been with Destiny for a while have 10-20 properties or more wrapped up in X-coll under the St.George portfolio loan. And they keep growing just fine. It is the perfect tool for the Destiny cashflow positive strategy.
 
Why did I pay so much money? I had read alot of books, attended a few free seminars, spoke to some other investors but really needed a "jumpstart" to get me moving. Also someone, an expert, to hold my hand during the intially stages while I build the confidence I needed at the time to take the leap. Of all the strategies I came across, Margaret Lomas's suited my style and risk profile at the time. IT made alot of sense, wasn't too conservative, wasn't too risky. "Goldilocks". I considered and spoke to others like Metropole (Yardney) etc, but these all seemed too aggressive and just didn't suit my style.

Have I got value for money? Hard to say. Not yet, but I have another 12 years to run on my current plan with them, so plenty of time to extract the value. (I reckon I will get there much faster than 12 more years, but that is my worst case right now and I am ok with it.)

Could I have done it without Destiny? Eventually. I deifnately got the jumpstart and confidence I was looking for. So saved time and avoided dumb mistakes that probably would have cost me far more than $5k in my first couple of purchases.

Would I do it again? Yes. But I would be more demanding on Destiny from the start about my expectations. A couple of times I was let down, but they have made up for it. We have formed a decent partnership and they are a key part of my property success team.

Would I recommend it to others? Yes if you are like me or more conservative. Also, you want to follow a "boring", tried and true template for wealth that will make you financially free in about 15 years. They do have smaller "bite size" chunks of services now, more of a menu. I think this is a good idea and worth discussing with them in detail to understand what you get.

Make up your own mind, but I like the Margaret Lomas strategy and the way that Destiny Financial provide it to their customers.

Interesting theory. Are you able to elaborate in more detail how you came to this conclusion?

Actually, I am not so sure this is true.

Example; My general "sentiment" or "perception" of the market may be negative. However, my technical and fundamental analysis of the market (or a subset of it) gives an "upwards trend" trigger based on rules that I set well before I had formed any perception of the market. The result of the trigger is that I "buy". The trigger doesn't care what my perception of the market is. Isn't this the "utopia" of the ideal investor? Completely unemotional, buys only good businesses using hard facts and rules?

This happens in the vast majority of stockmarket buy/sell decisions everyday. All run by AI, no human perception involved. Of course, you could argue that it is still a type of perception…

Residential property is more subjective, but the likes of RPData and DSR scores are steps in the same direction. Albeit a long way off from the AI extremes of the stockmarket.