THINKING OF BUYING AN INVESTMENT PROPERTY IN SYDNEY?
You don’t need a mortgage broker, you need a psychiatrist! If you bought a property in Sydney over 5 years ago, then you will probably only disagree with what you may read. You will doubtlessly point to the growth of prices as pure vindication of your genius and purchasing strategy. However, if you are just […]
WHY DO BANKS TREAT SELF-EMPLOYED PEOPLE SO BADLY?
Picture the following scene in an Australian bank branch: A self-employed tradie called Bob takes time out of his work day and goes into his local bank to ask about a loan. Despite being a customer for years, no one in there recognises him, because the longest tenure of anyone in the bank is ten […]
RISING INTEREST RATES: THE FAT MAN’S DIET
There are two things you rarely see together – diets and economics. Diets are needed but rarely work long term by themselves. Economics always seems to have the answers works, but never before the fact. Economics is that most wondrous of lifetime pursuits that lends itself to an unending search for rational explanations of social phenomena. […]
CBA WOES: DON’T BLAME THE PLAYER, BLAME THE GAME!
We have to be concerned about the apparent lack of competition in the Australian Financial Services industry. The latest scandal to emerge from the industry – the allegations against Comminsure on the ABC’s Four Corners program – was instructive, not so much for any alleged wrongdoings by CBA, but more so the deafening silence from […]
IS NEGATIVE GEARING DEAD? RIP
The last week has seen much hand-wringing and harrumphing from many property quarters to politicians over the issue of negative gearing. There is much talk that the forthcoming Federal Budget will finally remove “negative gearing” from residential property. Many industry commentators have already primed their voices in anticipation- “The beginning of the end for property”, […]
RICH DAD, POOR DAD: WHICH DO YOU WANT TO BE?
You may have read the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. It’s certainly a good read and, while I wouldn’t agree with everything or even his thesis that your own home is a liability, there is much to be said about how we look at money dictates the responsibility we are prepared to take for our own […]