Forum Replies Created
Thanks Tyrone. I was also introduced to Brendan Nichol's via Steve McKnight and I found the last seminar of Brendan's incredibly helpful. We are very disappointed not to be going to this one. Let me know if you find anyone else who is keen.
All the best,
Kate
Hi,
It is great that you are even thinking about your insurance! So many people don't or they do when it is too late. I used to work at a bank and they do re-possess peoples' homes after a couple of months if there is little or no prospect of the mortgage repayments being met due to death, illness, injury, etc. There are probably other things you need to consider as well as your life that need covering, such as protecting your income for example, but insurance is a surprisingly complex area.
I would recommend going to see a Financial Planner who specialises in 'Risk/Wealth Protection' (insurance). Make sure you find one who is not aligned to just one product provider and is prepared to look at your current policy in your super fund to tell you if it is any good. Tax deductions are appealing but there are other things to consider such as how any claim from a policy will be taxed when paid out (it can be different depending on who it is paid to, the purpose of the cover, whether in or outside super, etc) I am a Financial Planner who advises on a lot of insurance and it is a very personal thing. It really depends in the individuals needs. If possible get a recommendation from someone who's opinion you trust.
In fact I think Steve McKnight got his initial inspiration to begin property investing from a Robert Kiyosaki seminar…
Hi Elka,
No worries, I know it must be hard choosing the right adviser.
If you are really keen on shares you could discuss a Self Managed Super Fund (SMSF) with your adviser (probably best to mention it before they write you a statement of advice). However, I am not sure of the implications of your living OS on this – I do not specialise in that particular area. Lots of our clients have SMSFs as they like to have the freedom to buy whichever shares they like – most platform super funds will have restrictions on which shares you can have in them such as ASX200 only, for example. You might want to run it past your adviser as they have all your details and should be able to tell you if a SMSF would work for you as there are heaps of factors to take into account and the compliance aspect. SMSF's are not for everyone but are great for some people, depending on their circumstances.
Good luck with it all anyway!
Hi Elka,
In answer to your question about super funds and whether 'all super funds allow you to choose whether to keep your money as direct shares, managed funds or cash' – they do not all give you that choice. Only a few allow direct shares and the quality and number of other different investment options can vary hugely between funds . Also, the fees can come in many different forms so you have to be aware of all fees (these are investment, admin, platform fees, as well as adviser commissions, etc). Also there are other factors to consider depending on what you want from your fund such as death nominations and insurance options to name a couple of factors, but really choosing the right fund for the right person is an individual thing.
As for whether $3,000 is a fair price… it depends on what you are going to get for it. Did the planner you saw give you any idea of the value they will be adding and how they will help you meet your goals? I am a Planner myself (based in Perth) and we give our clients a good idea of the approximate tax savings/value we can add/number of hours work we will do when we explain what the cost will be. Our Financial Plans start at around $1,000 for restricted advice and average around $2-$4k but can go anywhere from there, depending on the amount of work involved (we charge fee for service based on the number of hours of work we are likely to put in). However, our clients are not going to agree to pay $5-$10k for a plan unless they can see the value before they sign up. Typically we will be saving them $1,000s in tax if we charge that much or will be doing complex and time consuming work. Maybe you need to get a better idea of what you will be getting for the $3k before you sign up and how the plan will address your goals.
Not all planners are the same and vary hugely in their level of knowlege and number of products they can offer so it can be difficult to find a good one unless you get a referral. Also, it is usually best to find one that focuses on strategy rather than selling you products. Most Planners cannot say they are truly 'independent' as they mostly work from Approved Product Lists from their dealer groups. Therefore, it would be unlikely to find a planner who knows EVERY option on the market well enough to give sound advice on them. I would think you would want to find one that has a decent selection and isn't tied to one provider although sometimes products do not come into advice as it can be strategy based only.
As for commission, sometimes that is rebated or taken into account when the plan is written. We charge fee for service but a lot of planners charge %'s which are usually higher than fee for service, depending how much you are investing. However it is hard to avoid commission on some products as that is the way some are set up so while we prefer fee for service we do get commission from some products. This should all be fully disclosed in any Statement of Advice you get but it is probably wise to ask the Planner upfront to give you an idea of how they get paid and how much choice they have when recommending products (if applicable in your case).
I hope this helps.
Hi vdiddy,
I am a financial planner based in Perth – OK, that’s not an invitation to send me insults, the rest of you!! I am currently on the RESULTS program and have already had to listen to a long winge from Dave (Steve’s business partner) about the ills of financial planners at the last RESULTS forum in Melbourne when we went to the pub afterwards!
However, I totally understand that a lot of people have had bad experiences so it us in the industry to change peoples’ perceptions. Feel free to drop me a PM if you would like to have a bit of an email chat to find out if it is worth us meeting up.
Kate
What about mortgages with people like Keystart http://www.housing.wa.gov.au/key/home.htm where you don’t need mortgage insureance, even if your LVR is over 80%? I assume they must apply to other states as well as WA…
Kate
Hi,
We live in WA too – couldn’t believe how lovely it is when we first arrived and decided to stay.
We are renting in lovely (but over-priced – hence the renting!) Cottesloe. Have only lived here for 18 months as originally from London and my partner is from Sydney.
Kate
Hi Pete & Jackie,
I was wondering that too and I did a quick search on the Internet and came up with this article:
http://www.newint.org/issue111/keynote.htmIt is a bit old (so maybe no longer current) but may still apply and seems to come from a good source: http://www.newint.org/index4.html
However, maybe the effectiveness of sponsoring a child depends on which program you use as I am sure there are some that are very good.
Kate
Hi
I bought Investment Detective at the Perth Masterclass in June this year. Have their been any updates since then? If so, how do I go about getting them?
Kate
What an excellent topic! It is nice to see a post about the good things we can do with our money that make a difference.
Sometimes I find it is so easy to focus on the ‘me, me’ side of things, I forget that part of the reason I want to make money from property investing is to put myself in a position where I can give greater financial support to the charities I care about who are out there making the world a better place.
Kate
If you know or work out the average yield for a type of property in a given area and you work out the yield for a property you own, then you can work out if it is over-performing or under -performing and what would be a good yield to sell at. Similarly, you can work out the yield for a property you are thinking of purchasing and then decide whether it is performing well compared to the rest of the market and find out if it is worth buying.
For example, on page 58/59 of the notes, the rental yeild is 8%, the current yield is 10%, so you would sell at 8.5% as although the yield has fallen, it is still above the market.
I hope that helps or have I not properly understood your question?
I am looking for one too… if you do a search under Forum Boards and type in ‘perth accountant’ and choose search in ‘subject only’ there are a few posts that have some recommendations.
I hope that helps.
Kate
Originally posted by Pegasus:Are there like minded people out there who also attended the Perth class who would like to share ideas and stories of their Perth based investing??
Pegasus
Hi Pegasus,
We found out that there is a Perth Property Network in Perth that meet once a month. We haven’t been so have no idea if it’s any good but one of the organisers gave us their business card so let me know if you want their details. We’re going to go along to the next meeting and see if it’s useful.
Kate
Hi Grreg,
I am a tenant too and wouldn’t be too happy if I were in your situation. I guess you have to decide what you want… whether you really love this house or whether you would be happy to move.
I think it would be fair to ask for compensation from the landlord if there are to be major works. I don’t think it’s much fun living in a house with builders around. Maybe have a chat to the landlord about it and see if you can get a resolution that suits both of you. Maybe think about the situation from both sides… Otherwise, it may be much less stress just to move on. It sounds as if the landlord hasn’t made enough effort to contact you as they should send a letter if they can’t get hold of you on the phone but I’m not sure what your relationship is like in general so maybe that’s just a one off. I suppose you have to decide how much money would justify the inconvenience of the building work to you or whether you don’t want to be living with it at all. Maybe just be honest with the landlord and tell them that you are keen to stay long term (if that is the case and it may require you signing a longer lease) but explain that you want compensation for living in a building site until the work is finished.
Good luck with it anyway!
Kate
I agree with the other posts, it is probably a good plan to be up front with the tenants. We are tenants at the moment and we would appreciate that although you there is always the risk of them being uncooperative what ever you do. Maybe try to limit inconvenience to them with regard to inspections as it’s not much fun as a tenant having potential purchases walk through what you see as your home even though you don’t own it!
You could always put them on a rolling tenancy (if they are happy to do that) whereby it is a 1 month notice period for either party but then they can give you 1 month’s notice if they want to.
Another thought is maybe buy them some beer or chocolate or something to thank them for their cooporation… just some thoughts…
Hi psyduck,
How exciting that you are buying your first property!
Did you use the Buyer Beware templates for your inspection? We have just bought them and they look pretty good and useful for justifying price discounts so are looking forward to using them at our next inspection.
Good luck with the purchase.
Kate
