Your situation and what your plans are both now and in the future would really shape the decision to go interest only or principal and interest on your repayments. Do you have a strategy with your property investing? Each purchase needs to be fully evaluated for its use now and in the future.

Generally, going interest only is the best option for investment properties. Set it up with an offset account and park extra money in there if you wish.

I don’t necessarily subscribe to an owner occupied home being interest only though. The debt is non-deductible so why only pay the interest. Concentrate on paying it down. The only time i’d say go interest only on an owner occupied home is if your plan is to turn the property into an investment property within a short period of time. Keep the debt high so you have more deductible debt when it’s an investment.

Ultimately, at some point you should start to pay down your debt though.

Have a good one.

As a recently redundant tradesman at Holden I absolutely don't agree with you in that the support money is a waste.

I do agree that our farmers need more support, absolutely. The two are very different sectors in our country's economy and need to be treated as such.

Manufacturing is extremely important as it is one of the four main contributors to the economy.

As per the Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product, March Quarter, 2012, Sourced from the ABS, The four main sectors that contribute to Australia's economy of around $900 BILLION is 83% Services, Manufacturing 8%, Mining 7% and Agriculture 2%.

Manufacturing has dropped from 15% in 1990 and as we all know, mining is estimated to grow to 12% of GDP.

This shows that whether it is a growing or shrinking sector, right now, it is incredibly important to our economy to continue growing it or at least trying to support it.

Why farmers do not get more support I have no idea. They should. Definitely.

All I know from having been an employee at Holden for 14 years, never has anything good been reported to the rest of Australia, lots of half truths and borderline lies. The simple fact is that any investment monies that are paid to Holden by our governments and from GM head office in the US, the return on investment is massive. Never has anyone lost on that investment.

I sincerely hope our government gets much smarter also. Lets look after our own backyard first to make sure we are a sustainable nation, not a nation of importers to survive.

Mikal Howard

The Ford situation is not a vote buying situation. I am a Holden worker and I can tell you, I am feeling the Ford situation now more than ever. What the Government is trying to do is assist with career counsellors, re-training options and financial management assistance because the auto manufacturing industry, one of the most important industries to ANY country, is failing here in Australia. It has been on the cards for many years going back past Bob Hawke's days when tariffs were started to be reduced. The thing is out of every other auto manufacturing country in the world, Australia is the only one to not protect its owns backyard. It costs next to nothing to import a vehicle into Australia because of the so called free trade agreement with the rest of the world. That being said, every other country has either changed their minds or reneged on the agreements and because of that for us here in Australia, to export our cars, there are massive tariffs we have to pay, as well as contending with the high dollar. Its just not feasible anymore. It has nothing to do with what Ford, Holden, Toyota or even Mitsubishi have done with their cars over the years. Sure, not every car is to everyones tastes. That plays a massive part in why people buy vehicles. We know that. What we have always done is offer vehicles to the Australian public that are some of the safest on the roads in terms of industry quality tests and cars that are made specifically for Australian conditions. Every car can have a dud in its range. Even expensive cars. They are machines after all. I'm sure most people here would have had a problem vehicle at least once in their life. If you haven't, that's great.

Australia currently has the most diverse range of new vehicles available to its population than any other country in the world. Almost 70 different makes of car. That is a lot of choice for 22.3 million people. In the USA, with 314 million people, they have around 30.

Out of those 70 odd makes of car, all of the Australian made vehicles (Falcon, Commodore, Camry, Aurion and now Cruze and Territory) over the last 15 years have all been consistently in the top 10 vehicles purchased in Australia. So no one can claim that we don't build cars people don't want.

What annoys me the most is when people complain about how much the government seems to subsidise the auto industry. Currenly, the government spends around $9 per head of GDP on the auto industry. That is not a lot of money at all to be complaining about. In the USA, the government spends close to $300 per head of GDP on their auto industry. South Korea, $270 per head of GDP. So really, not only does Australia have the most diverse range of vehicles available to its population, we as car companies are actually pretty much on our own. Its great we have all stayed afloat as long as we have in this environment.

I cannot imagine what it would be like for Australia to not have any manufacturing anymore. We are such an isolated nation, surrounded by a fair bit of water. Just, what if, and its a big what if, something happened to all the relationships the Government has and all of a sudden we didn't have access to buying imports anymore. If we don't have a manufacturing industry here, and i'm not just saying cars now either because we have lost a huge amount of manufacturing capabilities, what would we do? Its a scary thought. Australia needs to be self sustaining.

Sorry for the rant but the media always shows the bad news stuff so unless you are actually involved with the companies themselves, most of you will never know the truth. Never is anything good ever explained via the media and when our CEO's and Managing Directors try to explain the situation, its torn apart by the media again.

I would be really worried about Geelong and the flow on effect the Ford closure will have on the town. I know it will be devastating for the North of Adelaide when the same eventually happens to Holden.

I would have to agree with Jamie on this one.

I used Mortgage Choice a couple of times and had a excellent and an average experience. The first guy I dealt with was fantastic. Great to talk to, efficient and as it turned out, he was very passionate about property investing. Even to the extent of lending his services to a University to give talks on it. Unfortunately, he left the business and when our details and loans were handed over to another agent there, efficiency dropped and we were being called all the time to just touch base. Got a bit annoying. It wasn't terrible but certainly a far cry from the previous guy. I also learned from a change of accountant later on that they (Mortgage Choice) are very much aligned with commissions so do not look at a full list of lenders that could properly suit you as an investor.

Of course, it is personal choice. I would recommend asking the agent there about the lenders they have available to them and would they use them personally. Cannot hurt to ask them if they are property investors too.

Enjoy

Mikal