RE industry manipulates auction clearance rates. Take them with a grain of salt.

You've been told wrong. Australia does not impose estate, inheritance or gift taxes.

http://comparativetaxation.treasury.gov.au/content/report/html/11_Chapter_9-07.asp

Matt_Arnold wrote:

Eg. A $300,000 loan over 30 years at 5.98% paid fortnightly with an avetage of $10,000 in the offset account for the life of the loan will reduce the total interest payable by $45,575 !

Jeez I hate these BS examples. The true power of Offset accounts are not in the piddley amounts of small change you might save over a time…[Read more]

If things weren’t bad enough in the land of the rising sun now we have a push to make secrete anything that doesn’t jive with the “Don’t worry. Everything is under control”, meme.
Japan Reacts to Fukushima Crisis By Banning Journalism

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government is planning a state secrets act that critics say could curtail p…[Read more]

cbarry wrote:
I need to really define what my goal is, but I suppose it is to build wealth, so when I am old and grey I have financial security and also a home that is paid off to live in, and possibly a nice little holiday house somewhere. Is that a realistic goal?

That is not a goal. It’s just a wish. A goal has to be specific. Non specif…[Read more]

Kade wrote:
Is his type of structure common in property investing?

It is THE method. Build equity then leverage up, wash rinse repeat.

Here we go

Tepco Successfully Removes First Nuclear Fuel Rods at Fukushima

Tepco planned to remove 22 assemblies from the pool, which contains 1,331 spent fuel assemblies and 202 unused assemblies, by the end of tomorrow, the company said. Crews are beginning with the unused assemblies because they are less fragile, spokesman Yusuke Kunikage…[Read more]

A gimmicky loan term taken from the commercial sector to baffle the newbies. Your just using existing equity to finance another purchase.

Leveraged loans in the commercial sector where LVR's of 60% are common was/is often used to releverage up to even higher levels with concomitant higher rates that would then be onsold into the loan market.…[Read more]

Do you guys not read the date on these threads and posts? 2004 !!!

Interesting article at MB today. Seems like CSG could be in trouble.

QLD gas wells falling short of forecasts?

DOUBTS about the ability of Queensland’s coal seams to produce enough gas to feed Gladstone’s LNG export plants are growing, with claims that many wells are not producing as expected and that more gas could be needed.

The con…[Read more]

Failure rate in these types of commission based occupations is fairly high. Less than 5% after 5 years on average.

If you look at lost earnings comparatively over that period you're looking at around $250k plus opportunity cost. Together that could amount to around $500k.

Business consultancy/advisory is far more lucrative and with lots of…[Read more]

This one screwed up but i can't delete it…

VF Calais wrote:
For some reason the computer wouldn`t let me use paragraphs.

You're forgiven. I have an Android smart phone and tablet as well as 2 top end laptops all running various browsers. They all have issues with this dog of platform. What should be a relatively easy task but takes twice as long and requires a few additional skills to…[Read more]

Rental market in resource areas weaker than rest of state

Gladstone, Mackay, Rockhampton and Townsville, where the resources sector plays an important role in local economies, continued to exhibit relatively weak rental market conditions with vacancy rates of 3.5 per cent and above recorded.

Rental price drops by up to $120 a week in…[Read more]

75% of AU's wealth is held by 45 year olds and upwards with a fairly equitable distribution across the ages. AU has one of the better wealth distribution profiles in the world and a GDP per capita ranking that understates this distribution. It makes AU attractive as a middle class paradise that has few equals.

The down side is that an economic…[Read more]

With a high dollar wage growth at this pace will kill competitiveness faster than macro prudential policy can respond. It will invariably decline as growth hits greater resistance. If it declines that could be problematic for rents and market values.

This is a serious problem for young people.

Unemployment rates are so massaged these days as to be totally useless. Labor participation rates are a better indicator of labor market stressors. And we're not looking too sharp. Things have taken a distinct turn for the worse since late 2012. The trend is a concern and not dissimilar to what other countries are facing.

If you think AU banks hold the moral high ground compared to their international bretheren you'll be disappointed. If you you think AU banks are somehow capable of withstanding another GFC event think again.

When you read this article you start to get the picture on how integrated into the international banking ponzi scheme AU banks are. CBA for…[Read more]

Rick sta wrote:
Any thoughts or charts on Purchasing Power Parity? Totally new to me.

In what context?