Help me to Retire

Someone / some entity has recently bet a large amount of money that global markets will fall between 30% and 50% before the 21st of September 2007.

Do these people know something we don’t know, or are they just covering their tails with the recent market volatility.

Have a read of the full article here.

Don’t get too caught up with the American fear tactics. Markets go up and down and over the long term always recover.

Happy Investing.

What do I mean by this?

A study recently completed proved that the smarter ones amongst us (IQ wise) where generally the same as the more average ones in the areas of net worth and financial distress. Interesting isn’t it? You don’t need to be super intelligent to get your self wealthy, you just need to start investing.
Investing really is a simple sport so being dumb is no excuse what so ever. And being too smart for you own good could hold you back over analysing. Learn what you can and give it a go. You’ll find it’s very forgiving over time and very rewarding.

To read the IQ article check it out here.

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 found a great article on ‘things I wish I knew when I was younger’. It has some great tips for all you people out there who have a lot of living and learning left to do.

One of the points mentioned in the article is “Waiting to do something until you can be sure of doing it exactly right means waiting for ever”. This is the exact point I was talking about in my last article here on perfect timing.

There are a lot of great tips in this article, but one that I have found to be very true in recent years is the first tip they mention: “Most of it doesn’t matter”. When you think about that point and apply it to many areas of your life (especially towards negative people and all the fears you may have) you’ll be surprised by the freedom and happiness it brings you.

Give it a go and check out the article here

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).

If you became suddenly ill or hospitalised or even dead would your family know what to do with all your affairs?
Do your family members understand all your financial dealings? Would they know where to start in paying your bills?
These are all important questions that you should sort out now while you are fit and well. I’m sure we’d all hate to see our hard earned investments disappear or go down the drain just because we hadn’t planned for the unexpected.

Heres a list of some things you should have easily on hand in case the worst should happen:

• Up to date medical insurance information
• An updated will
• Power of attorney information
• Life insurance information
• A basic guide to your bank accounts - numbers, passwords
• A basic list of bills in case someone else needs to help you pay them
• Spare keys for both house and car
• Details of all your investments and what needs to be done to look after them

Also think about people to notify of where these details are stored. Either papers stored somewhere accessible, on a certain computer or USB drive or even somewhere password protected on the web.

Anyway its something to think about. Sure you might think I’ll be dead so I won’t have to worry, but think about making life a bit easier for your loved ones left behind.

Check out the full article on this subject here.

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.