Help me to Retire

Theres not too many of us out there that can afford to pay cash for a property outright (even if we could, that’s not a good strategy but thats another story) so we all use finance (leverage) to help us on the way. So the fact we use finance and need finance makes it a very important part of our property investing. You need to know some of the main points on what to do to maximise your returns and this article from the Reno Kings identifies 3 main financial strategies that will help you maintain and reach your investing goals sooner.

They are:

1. Borrow to the Max
2. Pay Interest Only
3. Make Smaller Home Loan Repayments

To read the full article click here.

Just a quick one for everyone who downloaded the first call. The 2nd one is now available for download and you can get it here.

Once again some more great property investing information from Michael Yardney & Ed Chan

Check it out!

I was once caught in this trap. The feeling that there will be a divine signal and everything will come into alignment. It would trigger the ‘do it’ in me, ‘the time is right’, ‘buy it now’.
When I started seriously looking into property investment in 2005 and 2006 I said to myself I have time. The big boom has just finished, I can now take my time and learn everything there is to know about property and once prices have come back down a bit I can get in there and get some. The learning part was great and it helped me avoid making some serious investing mistakes, such as not using a Trust to buy my properties, but the waiting for prices to come back down was a mistake.
As I waited for prices to level off, time went by, followed by some more time. And while this time was going by, strangely enough in most places property prices were going up (of course some places faster than others).
In the end I saw the error of my ways and stopped waiting for the planets to align with the perfect property deal. I bit the bullet and hired a Buyers Agent. That in many ways took the pressure off me as I knew I had an expert working for me. And when the time came to get the biggest loan of my life I felt great!

Remember the saying… . the best time to buy property was 10 years ago.. the next best time is today!

Here’s an article I found on waiting for the perfect time. Read it, it applies to many things in your life!

Waiting for that perfect moment in life to do something is wasted time! Trust me. Just do it. Making mistakes is the greatest way to learn in life.

Are you struggling to make those extra cash payments into your investment property loan(s) every month on your negatively geared property?  Or is worrying about this exact problem stopping you from taking that first leap into property investment?
Then never fear. As some of you might know you can apply to the tax office to have the amount of tax taken out of your pay packet every week lowered to match your expected return at the end of the financial year.
Basically you are given your expected tax return negative gearing benefits through out the year rather than a lump sum at the end of the financial year after you’ve put in your tax return.
It’s called the PAYG income tax witholding variation (ITWV) application. So with the help of your accountant (or do it yourself if your handy with numbers) you can fill out one of these forms online or hard copy and get your self a bit of payment relief every week.  Be sure you try and estimate as closely as possible, as any money you over estimate will have to be paid back once your tax return for that year has been made final.

Heres the link to this years form.

The latest Property Investing teleseminar from Micheal Yardney and co is now available.  This time they are talking about catching the next property wave.  Want to know where, when and how to buy?  This Online stream or MP3 download could get you on your way.
Micheal Yardney and Ed Chan will also be conducting seminars around Australia in July and August about this very topic. For dates and more information on the seminars click here.

To listen to or download the teleseminar click here (10MB).

Paul Nojin from invest4profit.com.au is giving a way one of his current recommendations. Equinox Minerals (ASX ticker symbol:EQN) is a copper and uranium play that Paul thinks is quite underrated and has a lot of potential.

EQN is developing the Lumwana deposit in Zambia which is Africa’s largest known copper deposit. Production doesn’t start until mid 2008 but once it gets going it will ramp up fast. The Lumwana mine also has a lot of Uranium in it. Of course companies like this are also often take over targets.

Check out the full report here, and as always make your own investing decisions.

Good luck.

Investors Direct one of Australia’s best property investor finance brokering companies is for a limited time offering a free report (Valued at $299) on How Little Known Creative Finance Strategies Can Increase Your Property Investment Satisfaction by over 67% - Guaranteed!

What you’ll discover in this exclusive report:

• Why FINANCE is the reason you invest in properties
• The 10 types of investor … which one are you? And how to kick start your investment activities NOW!
• The 3 critical stages of finance – how to plan ahead
• The 11 ways to instantly increase your borrowing capacity (without increasing your income)
• The 9 little-known ways to create instant equity (using little or none of your own money)
• The 8 ways to create instant cash flow
• The 6 deadly traps financiers don’t tell you about which could hurt your investment
• The 20 most common mistakes investors and financiers make with property finance – and how you can avoid them
• Why there are no rules in property finance

This is a great free PDF download from the guys at Investors Direct. If you are involved in investment property or want to be in the future I highly recommend you downooad and read this!

Grab it here.

Propertyupdate.com.au have updated their site to now include downloadable audio of teleseminars that they have conducted. This is great news for all of us who have missed out on the teleseminars for various reasons.

At the moment the only one on the site is the teleConference with Michael Yardney and Pamela Yardney
answering listeners property questions and discussing the launch of their new book - All you need to know about Buying and Selling your Home.

Check it out. You can either listen straight off of the site or download the MP3.

How much in savings and superannuation do you have? I’m sure you’ll agree that in order to retire you’ll need a lot more than $25 thousand. Unfortunately there is a lot more people than you’d think that only have about this much. Yes, a lot of them are in the under 35 years old category as you’d expect, but there is also a lot of older people in this quite worrying situation.

This article I found gives you the percentages of what you need to be saving for your age group and also links to an online calculator to help you. Remember, now is the time to start planning for your retirement. There are many ways to help you get there quicker, just search this site for ideas.

I reccomend that superannuation and savings is your security/backup plan not your main and only investment vehicle.

If you haven’t already, Start today!

A friend just  found this article and sent it through to me.  It’s titled :

Stop Picking Stocks — Immediately! Why the world’s greatest stock picker stopped picking stocks, and why you should, too.

It is an interesting read and talks about how Benjamin Graham (known as one of the worlds greatest stock pickers) in the end believed that is was just too hard and not worth it. In his early days of the 1930’s and 40’s the stock market was a lot less sophisticated than it is now making inside and special information uncoverable if you searched hard enough. But these days insider trading is illegal and all information about all trading companies is released to everyone at the same time.

Anyway have a read of the full article for a different point of view and ask yourself how are you going picking stocks? Is it worth your time? Is it worth the money?