There has been much discussion and commentary over the past 24 months about Chinese investors pushing up or inflating property prices, particularly in Melbourne and Sydney. Chinese investors have invested more than $40 billion in 2012 and 2013 according to purchases tracked through the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB). But is the tide starting to […]

Step one would be to organise a free meeting with your proposed Financial Planner to discuss your financial circumstances, such as, your existing assets and liabilities, income and expenses and your future financial goals. From this conversation you should have a clear indication whether the planner talks in terms of your goals and his proposed […]

We are all familiar with the guru Warren Buffett’s advice to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful. But as our investments decline in value, as they have over the past month, it can be very difficult to feel greedy when others are fearful! Before making buying or selling decisions […]

The ATO contacted nearly 400,000 taxpayers who reported different financial information in their 2014 income tax returns to the information that they had collected from other third parties. Nine out of ten income tax returns where amended as a result of the ATO receiving this third party information. The main areas of variance in the […]

If you are a property investor and you are investing in real estate then you should consider having more than one self managed superannuation fund (SMSF). In New South Wales the threshold for land tax is $432,000. That is for every dollar of land value over this amount there is 1.6% land tax plus $100 […]

As a direct result of focus being placed on SMSF’s less attention has been directed to the merits of the family trust. Family trusts still provide tremendous flexibility as a vehicle for managing investment portfolios and family wealth. Rather than as a comparison to SMSF’s, the family trust compliments the SMSF. A family trust is […]

SMSF’s are allowed to borrow to purchase an investment property within their Superannuation Fund as long as they adhere to the provisions of Sect. 67A of the SIS Act. One of the many requirements of Section 67A (i) (a) is that the superannuation fund is permitted to acquire a single acquirable asset. An apartment, home […]

Planning for your retirement is very different from normal everyday financial planning. Common everyday financial planning involves planning to achieve our personal goals, such as, planning for an overseas holiday, a house or home unit, an investment property, upgrading to a bigger residence etc. Our personal goals are generally centred around our wants as opposed […]

Based on report prepared by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) 45% of Australians have two or more superannuation accounts. That amounts to approximately 6.3 million Australians. More disturbing is the statistics that there were 665,300 accounts that the superannuation fund has lost contact with the member. The ATO Assistant Commissioner of Superannuation, John Shepherd stated […]