I like to seek your advice regarding my brother’s current situation.
He lives in WA, earning about A$150K a year, paying tax about A$48K a year. Single, aged 27 , very stressful job.
He likes to invest in property to reduce his tax but does not want to start with a bad investment as he also plan to
buy his first home soon. His current accountant does not give him any Tax advice.
(1) what are the best ways to pay less tax using property investment to grow his asset to become financially free ?
(2) Can anyone recommend any Good Tax accountant in WA ?
Assuming no existing debt and has a decent amount of deposit, with that income, he can start his investing journey as soon as possible. Before doing all that though, I suggest the following things:
1) educate yourself – forums like this one is a good start. ask questions, read more about it and then come back with more specific questions. Some good books are highly recommended. Do a search in the forum and you will find a lot of people sharing books, magazines and other resources that has changed their way of thinking for the better.
2) investing for tax purposes is not really a good plan. it might help you for a short period of time but property investing is not all about tax benefits.
3) start with the end goal in mind and be specific with your goals. You mentioned that he wanted to grow a property portfolio and be financially free, what is financial independence for you? is 70k a year passive income your goal or is it 150k a year? from here, you will formulate your own strategy on how to get to your goal. very important too is to set a timeframe for your goals.
Regarding your questions,
1) paying less tax does not make really make u grow assets. It will help u save faster as u will get more after-tax dollars that you can then use as a deposit to buy properties. this is really not a good strategy. as u read more about property investing, this view will change.
2) I do not know any good tax accountant in WA. accountants are not the only ones though that you should be focusing on for advice. u also need a good finance person on your side that will tell u how much u can afford and will structure your finances to suit your goals. a good buyer’s agent too can help in your search for good properties for your strategy, this will cost you though to employ them. u can also consider going to meetups and just mingle around like minded people around your area.
Thanks so much for your sharing & very informative advice on way forward.
My understanding is start investing with a property that give you +ve return i.e. rent received > interest payment.
Should avoid buying -ve gearing property as paying less tax is not the way to grow more passive income.
Have been looking at properties for a year via Reiwa.com but no success.
(1) Any one care to share where to start looking for a Good Buyer’s agent whom you can trust such that he/she is does not only care for his/her own gain.
(2) Is becoming a member of Real Estate investor http://www.realestateinvestar.com.au/ recommended ?
Thanks for the post. I agree with PHP. A good investment should definitely be about growth and yield, with tax saving as a potential byproduct of participating rather than the reason to do it.
Negative gearing (when your income is less than expenses) is one way to reduce taxable income, along with depreciation benefits (the physical building & fittings get older they depreciate in value) to add to the deductions.
A lot of property marketers sell new property to meet this brief, and quite often translates to being either houses located out in the sticks, or inner city apartments. Either means the growth prospects or yield outcomes are loooong term. Generic ‘buy and hold’ for tax returns as a strategy, is a pretty old school approach to market…
Earning good money as a day job, along with the stress involved, suggests he would look to make the most of this potential – sooner rather than later. Creating a plan with a defined outcome and time frame might be a better initial move, as this would spell out the most suitable investment for his goals, rather than his tax return.
My understanding is start investing with a property that give you +ve return i.e. rent received > interest payment.
Should avoid buying -ve gearing property as paying less tax is not the way to grow more passive income.
It all depends on your circumstances really, each person is different. Some people with high incomes invest in negatively geared properties to offset some of their taxable income, some people invest in positive cashflow properties to speed up the saving process. and also some balance it out by having 1 negatively geared property then buying two positively geared property to balance the loss.
Going back again, tax benefits should not be your only focus. Places with good capital growth is what will accelerate your property accumulation phase.
1) there’s a few buyer’s agent posting here on this forum. just look for them and call them up and see if they can help you.
2) i’ve heared of that software, i personally don’t use it. i have been offered to chip in for the membership with 5 people sharing one login details. i said no, i’ll just be searching by myself for the time being.
Earning good money as a day job, along with the stress involved, suggests he would look to make the most of this potential – sooner rather than later. Creating a plan with a defined outcome and time frame might be a better initial move, as this would spell out the most suitable investment for his goals, rather than his tax return.
Hey Friends,
Really appreciate all of you taking time to share your wisdom.
I think the good starting points are
1) Take times to think about the end goal i.e xxK passive income per year
2) start investing soon instead of siting around stressing out
3) Look for a good buying agent in WA. (To kickstart, should I put up a post calling for buyer agent in this forum ?)
Hi Hiiph,
Welcome to this place. Has your brother also registered with us? There have already been some great answers posted – kudos to the posters *applause*
I figured your brother might also get some benefit from this link :-
I’m no accountant or financial adviser, but who would like to be paying $48K to Mr Abbott. I could go on a round the world cruise 1st class with that. Mate I would tell him to buy a few good waterfront and/or beachfront properties in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney like Coogee, Maroubra, Clovelly sort of places, blue chip locations. Must have awesome views (around the $900-$950K). The property will usually be negative geared, BUT that’s okay as he can afford it. The positive is CAPITAL GROWTH. In my opinion nothing beats good capital growth. These places always rent very quickly (if your renting it in the middle of summer). I have invested in both cash flow positive and negative geared, but gold is struck when you buy LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. And in case something goes wrong he can sell these places very quickly. Just my 2 bobs worth.
Good point blackhotel. Properties with strong capital growth is really what makes you wealthy. This speeds up the property accumulation phase and you can potentially reap the rewards in a shorter amount of time.
Also consider diversifying your portfolio, analyse if investing all your money in one high priced property is the way to go for you or if investing in 3 mid price properties will achieve a better result. Again, each person’s circumstances is different so take all that into consideration when formulating your strategy.
Hey,
Thanks for all the valuable sharing…. Keep it Coming…
We will need to take some time to decide on a strategy and look for the right team of professionals to move forward.
the forum will be more than welcome to help. kudos to you for actually signing up and posting a question. some people will normally be too shy to even post a question. u gotta start somewhere. and this is a good start for you. :)