Financial Freedom

for Gens X & Y’s

Do You Know How Much Your Property Yields?

July 9th, 2021

When it comes to property investing, real estate agents will always say that it’s about the location. In fact, smart property investors know it’s all about the yield.

The gross yield is the amount of income as a percentage of the purchase price. If the price of a property is $500,000 and it’s returning $500 a week in rent, the yield is about 5% (500 x 52 weeks is $26,000, then divided by 500,000 is 5.2%). If the yield is higher, say around 7% then the rent in this case would be closer to $680 a week. A lower yield of 2% would be about $200 rent a week.

The thing about yields is that they can be an indicator of which way the property prices in that area are likely to head in over the coming years. Higher yields show that the properties are under-priced, lower yields point to prices being too high. A great figure to start with is 5% (’cause it’s easy to calculate – just divide the purchase price by $1,000). If the rental income is higher, great, if it’s much lower (and there’s not good reason why) then no matter the location, think again before buying it.

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Want to Access $20,000 From Super? Sell a Kidney First.

April 26th, 2020

Ok, so selling a kidney is probably a little extreme (and I don’t know what the going price for a black market organ is), but before you go raiding your super, exhaust every other avenue first. Every avenue.

First you should get in touch with your lenders for any and all debts you have and ask for a repayment holiday. This should give you at least a couple of months breathing space. If you’re renting, ring the landlord/real estate agent ASAP and ask for a rent-free stay. Even if it means they would like you to paint the ceiling in exchange. Just because the premier/chief minister in your state/territory has said that all renters will be protected doesn’t mean you shouldn’t extend a hand of goodwill to the landlord.

Then you should do a search for any unclaimed money you may have that you don’t even know about. Yeah, there’s only a small chance that you will come across a windfall this way, but there’s $1.1 billion that remains unclaimed in Australia so it’s worth having a look.

If you find yourself sitting at home with bugger all to do, use it to clean your place up. You may have an exercise bike or massage table you haven’t used in years – clean it up and put it online. Even a couple of bucks is better than nothing.

If you are eligible, apply for JobSeeker or ask your employer if they have applied for JobKeeper.

Spend every dollar like it’s the last you will have in your wallet for a long time. If you have never bought the cheapest brands at the supermarket, now is a good time to start.

Get creative. Own a mower? Doorknock the neighbourhood to see if you can mow some lawns for a few dollars. Look into delivering pamphlets. If you live near a farm, enquire if they have any picking jobs going. There are still some work opportunities out there if you can think outside the box. It may involve doing the sorts of jobs you would never ordinarily think of doing, but these are not ordinary times.

Only after exhausting all the above should you even think about starting to look into accessing your super. Due to the effects of compounding, the setback to your balance at retirement of taking out $20,000 is huge.

Vanguard calculated that a 27 year old would be more than $200,000 worse off at retirement if they withdrew 20 grand now. And those calculations are based on returns to that hypothetical super fund of just 6% – the balanced option. Returns on growth options of 8-10% would be significantly higher.

Posted in Superannuation | Comments Off on Want to Access $20,000 From Super? Sell a Kidney First.

A World of Pain

April 22nd, 2020

Australia holds the developed world record for the longest run of uninterrupted GDP growth. It’s 29 years since the last recession! We passed that 29 year mark just as COVID-19 hit.

Now we are screwed.

While we don’t know yet exactly how big a recession we are heading into, all the experts agree that the good times have come to a very sudden end. This means that anyone not old enough to have experienced the job market between 1991-94 is in for a real shock. Finding work during a recession can be bloody hard and demoralising. Money will be very tight for a lot of people and it could go on for some time.

So where do you go for good information on money that you can trust?

Three places: 1) moneysmart.gov.au – the federal government website (even if you don’t trust the government, you can trust this site).

2) Your local library for a copy of The Barefoot Investor, or if your library is closed you can find it online for about $20.

3) Financial Freedom – yes, I know, shameless self-promotion. But it’s free, ad free and packed with everything you could need to help you through these tough times.

Tags: recession help
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Want Affordable Housing? A Super Idea Is Limiting Negative Gearing.

April 11th, 2017

Incredibly expensive housing in Australia is nothing new. For several years now we have had record or near record house prices across the country, combined with very low inflation. It means that the ratio of average income to average house price is such that I can’t work out how people are able to convince their lender that they can repay a mortgage.

The lack of affordability is something that has been discussed, but not addressed, by state and federal governments and is now hitting the headlines again. The latest harebrained idea is to allow first homebuyers to access their super to use as a deposit, and the average gen Y would think that would be great. Until they retire and realise that they had missed out on 30 or 40 years of their super compounding. Or perhaps they would twig when they see house prices continuing to increase as a result of all their peers having more money at the auctions. After all, increasing demand pushes up prices.

So what’s the answer?

This is where I get controversial. Firstly, abolish the First Home Owner Grants. They are a smokescreen designed to think that they’re helping young people when in actual fact all they do is push up prices. (How?! Go back and read that paragraph above).

Secondly, introduce an incentive to encourage first homebuyers to save as large a deposit as possible in the form of a grant for people who have at least a 20% deposit. Grant amounts could be for a maximum of 10% of the saved deposits, up to a maximum of, say, $150,000 (so that’d be a $15,000 grant). 20% deposits mean lower mortgages due to not having to pay Lender’s Mortgage Insurance, which in turn lead to reduced repayment times.

This would lower mortgage amounts and encourage buyers to look for cheaper first homes as well as providing a reason for builders to make smaller homes of 2-3 bedrooms rather than the 4-5 bed monsters you see in display villages.

And lastly (drum roll please because this is the really contentious bit), negative gearing must be limited to amounts over around $3 million. I’m not saying that people can’t own more than $3 million worth of property, just that you couldn’t claim a tax deduction for amounts greater than this.

The average Mum and Dad investor would not be affected but the few who exploit the system by claiming a tax deduction on 10, 20, 100 properties or more would likely be forced to sell their portfolios, freeing up housing stock at lower prices for first homebuyers.

For every winner there’s got to be a loser, right? Yes, and in this case it would be investors with more than 3-5 properties as well as banks and companies selling Lender’s Mortgage Insurance.

Yes there is every likelihood that this idea, if implemented, would lead to a housing market crash that would impact many more people than just those in the aforementioned groups, but this housing bubble is going to burst either way.

We just don’t know when.

Posted in Housing, Investment, Taxation | Comments Off on Want Affordable Housing? A Super Idea Is Limiting Negative Gearing.

2016 Changes

January 5th, 2016

One of the biggest changes to financial legislation that kicked in on January 1, 2016 is a change that will negatively affect bugger all people. But I am really, really glad these people will be put out.

Like most of the population, I accept that there are people in society who are a great deal smarter than me. They have cool qualifications, conduct important research and have a profound impact on all of us. They’re called scientists.

Scientists do research in areas like vaccinations, studying in great detail the intricacies of disease and herd immunity so that you and I can go about our day safe in the knowledge that we probably won’t catch Polio before dinnertime.

Scientists debunk myths created by homeopaths about how watering down a substance makes it more potent (homeopaths must be completely baffled by the concept of making cordial). Scientists also debunk myths created by scaremongers about vaccines causing conditions such as autism.

Occasionally, sensible politics prevails where politicians actually accept what the scientists say, like about how important immunisations are to the health of children and society as a whole. And sometimes these politicians get rid of loopholes that give benefits to people who really don’t deserve them. That’s what happened at the chime of midnight on January 1^st.

When your child attends day care you are required to show that they are fully immunised before you can receive the childcare rebate and childcare benefit. Previously, parents who were “contentious objectors” to vaccinations for their child could send them to day care without the kid being fully immunised, yet the parents could still get the full rebate and benefit available to sensible parents. In 2016 I am very happy to say that is no longer the case.

It’s a win for parenting, a win for scientists and a win for politicians who need to reduce spending wherever possible to help bring a budget back into balance.

After all, every dollar that is not spent on rebates and benefits is a dollar that can go into pay rises for politicians.

Posted in General | Comments Off on 2016 Changes

Never Been Better?

November 7th, 2015

If you believe our fearless leader, there has never been a more exciting time to be alive than today. Bummer for those who died yesterday.

To an extent, Turnbull is right. 3D printers can make everything from heart valves to cars, educational opportunities are as high as they have ever been and the TV coverage of test cricket is absolutely amazing. Things are great, unless you can’t get your head around the Internet as every service you need these days is either online or has an online element. If you’re anything like me, you’ve helped your parents set up their new laptop so they can use Skype.

If you don’t yet have a myGov account, sign yourself up for one. Do this as a once off and you can have your Medicare, Centrelink and Australian Taxation Office records accessible in the one place. You need a myGov account to do your tax online through either e-tax or myTax and these days you receive your Notice of Assessment online too.

One of the great things about myGov is that if you have never gotten your act together to roll all your superannuation into one account, myGov makes it easier than ever before.

When you are logged in to your ATO account, click on the Manage My Super square as shown below and follow the prompts. So long as all your super funds have your Tax File Number it’s a really simple and quick process (if they don’t all have your TFN you’re being slugged heaps of tax).

Before you close a super account you want to ensure that the life insurance coverage it provided is at least as good as the fund you’re rolling your money into, or that you have adequate insurance outside of super. But fewer super accounts means less money spent on managing super which means more money in your hands at retirement.

You won’t regret doing that when you’re planning the next round of lawn bowls and Bridge!

Posted in Superannuation | Comments Off on Never Been Better?

Change Your Future

October 21st, 2015

How many times have you wished you could go back to some point in the past and do something different, like wished you could tell someone you loved them one last time, accepted a job offer that you knocked back or never smoked that first cigarette?

While very few of us own a DeLorean with Flux Capacitor capable of taking us back to a previous point in time, plenty have longed for the equivalent of a sports almanac to make a pile of money. (Yes, I’m watching Back To The Future II as I’m writing this!) While it’s not possible to go back in time and tell your younger self to invest a few grand in the world’s best investments it is possible to change your future. And it’s pretty simple.

It involves getting off your bum and doing what you wished you’d done years ago – sorting out your finances. It’s never too late to start and you have everything to gain.

If you regret not getting your act together years ago, imagine how you’ll feel years from now if you don’t make a positive change today.

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A Bloody Good Reason

August 9th, 2015

There are plenty of reasons people have for setting up a self-managed super fund (SMSF), but bugger all of them are good.

According to the Vanguard 2015 Self Managed Super Fund Report, some of the bad reasons reported for wanting to start an SMSF included:

Following advice from my accountant (are they advising you because it’s in your best interest or for the extra work coming their way?)
Seeking more tax efficiency (shouldn’t be a difference between the tax treatment of a retail or industry fund and that of a self-managed super fund)
Wanting to choose direct shares (there are a growing number of retail and industry funds that allow you to invest in whatever shares you want, but if you wish to invest your super in direct property you do need to do it via an SMSF)
Saving money on fees (only really relevant for people who have a decent starting amount in super – see below)
Taking advice from a friend with an SMSF (probably the dumbest reason of the lot, unless of course the friend has the same amount in super, the same income, family circumstances and understanding of investments as well as the same ability to run an SMSF)

The number one reason people gave as to why they wanted to have an SMSF was to have more control over their investments. I can completely understand why a finance professional would want to take control of their super. Their knowledge and expertise would be greater than the average person’s and there is a fair chance they could achieve the same sort of return as a large super fund without the added expense of fees. But I just don’t get why there are so many people jumping at the complicated chance to handle their own super, especially those who are busy raising families and building careers. It’s a lot of work and the costs outweigh the savings unless you have at least $300,000+ in your super.

So next time a friend tells you that you should start your own super fund, politely change the topic.

Posted in Superannuation | Comments Off on A Bloody Good Reason

Would Your Insurance Pay Out?

July 5th, 2015

There is no point in having insurance that won’t pay out in the event you make a claim. That would be a complete waste of money on premiums paid and potentially disastrous for your financial situation when you needed the money you thought you were covered for. Can this actually happen? It can and does.

When you get insurance you are legally obliged to be honest about your past. If they ask, you must tell a car insurer about that time you lost your licence and past claims you have made. A travel insurance company will want to know where you intend to travel to and, again, if you have made a previous claim.

Life insurers need to know about your medical history in a process called underwriting. Before they will give you life insurance, an insurer will usually ask about your medical history and that of your family. They need to know if you are a smoker, how old you are and your sex. They should also ask if you play contact sports or like to do a bit of skydiving on the weekends. Once they have all your information they will do one of three things: 1) offer you cover with a base premium; 2) offer you cover with a loading attached to the base premium; or 3) refuse to cover you.

The underwriting process can take some time as the insurance company looks into your medical history and may ask you to provide evidence of examinations you’ve had. These companies really are very comprehensive as it’s in their interests to not provide cover to customers who pose the biggest risks to their profits. However, some life insurance companies don’t do their research when you sign up with them.

In recent years daytime television has been showing advertising for income protection and life insurance with very affordable premiums, almost too affordable. Compared to life and income protection insurance premiums sold through financial planners, the offer sounds too good to be true. Well, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

The daytime advertisers don’t have the same attention to detail when it comes to their underwriting as their more expensive cousins. They tend to have a significantly lower bar and therefore allow a greater number of high risk customers to purchase a policy. But when the customer comes to make a claim, the claims department then goes through the policy holder’s background to find a reason not to pay up. The percentage of claims that are knocked back by these companies is around 50%, which is so low it makes you wonder why anyone would sign up with them in the first place.

Until legislation catches up with these cheap life insurance companies, you would undoubtedly be better off seeking a policy with a reputable organisation. Because when you need to make a claim against life or income protection insurance, you really need to get that money.

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Will The Property Bubble Burst?

June 4th, 2015

You would have to be living under a rock to not know that property in Melbourne and Sydney is very expensive and that houses and units in other major centres are not very affordable either. That’s not news. What is news is the recent talk about the property bubble and whether continual price rises are a good thing. As with any argument, there are two sides to it.

Firstly the case for. Most property investors will want the value of their investment to go up. The average landlord is negatively geared, that is they pay out more in maintenance costs and interest on the property loan than they are receiving from their tenants in rent. They rely on the increase in the property’s value to rise so that they can make money out of it.

The owner occupiers (people who live in their own homes) like to see an increase in the value of their homes but they don’t really need to. A rise in the property’s worth will make them feel better and will mean they have more equity in the home. This allows the homeowner to borrow more money against the property to spend on a new car, holiday or to invest. Borrowing for consumables that don’t rise in value is something I am very strongly opposed to, while borrowing for investment carries with it significant risk.

Now the case against. Anyone who does not own property sees the home-owning boat sail further and further away every time prices go up. It is simply not sustainable for house prices to continue to rise at a rate faster than the incomes that go towards paying for those houses. Eventually it has to get to the point where only those on the highest incomes will be able to afford to buy. As those people in society on the lower end of the income scales are so highly represented in younger generations, Australia is coming to terms with growing numbers of people who believe they will never own their own home.

None of this is new, and yes, I realise I’m preaching to the converted. But I reckon it’s a kick in the guts for generation Y to hear very highly paid politicians talking about the benefits of rising property prices while seemingly ignoring the people who are paying for it.

The only consolation is that one day it will have to come back to equilibrium. When the bubble does burst, those who are currently saving up a deposit will be the winners.

Posted in Housing | Comments Off on Will The Property Bubble Burst?