by Bottrell WealthReady to make the leap from renting to buying a home? Well, before you begin the search for your perfect home there are lots of questions to find answers to. Here are some of the big ones. Do you need to own your home? For most people home ownership remains part of the great Australian […]
by Bottrell WealthFinancial planning. That’s for people with lots of money to invest, isn’t it? Not necessarily. Sure, investment planning is an important part of financial planning, but underpinning the whole process of creating wealth in the first place is having a good financial strategy. For many people that strategy is taking each day as it comes […]
by Bottrell WealthNote: This article includes answers to yesterday’s quiz. Please see ‘Quiz: How much do you know about buying a home?’ to view the questions. Q1: What is Loan Mortgage Insurance (LMI)? a) Insurance taken out by borrowers if they think the lender is insecure. b) Insurance protecting the lender from borrowers not being able to […]
by Bottrell WealthAfter months of doing the weekly open-for-inspection rounds, talking-turkey with estate agents and greeting other house-hunters – you’re on first name basis with many of them by now – you’ve finally found your perfect home. That was the hard part, right? Borrowing money is not as simple as you may think. Besides the strict regulations […]
by Bottrell WealthIt’s not really a sacrifice If you are earning more than you need to live comfortably, salary sacrificing may be an attractive option to reduce your tax, boost your superannuation and prepare for a more comfortable retirement later on. Salary sacrificing simply involves having part of your salary paid into a superannuation fund by your […]
by Bottrell WealthConcentration risk. No, it’s nothing to do with thinking too hard about something. In fact, it’s more likely to be a result of not paying enough attention. Concentration risk is the increase in investment risk that comes about from not sufficiently diversifying your portfolio. In other words, too much money is concentrated in too few […]
by Bottrell WealthPaid off your mortgage? Woo-hoo! Break out the champagne and celebrate the freedom you must now feel! But once the dizzy excitement has passed, what will you do next? Discharge or not? The first question is should you discharge your mortgage? You might be able to keep the loan facility open, with a zero balance, […]
by Bottrell WealthJust as everyone should have a trusted health professional to rely on, so should everyone have a trusted financial planner. Professional financial advice isn’t just for the wealthy. Financial planning is about establishing a long-term strategy to secure your financial future with the lifestyle and living standards you desire, regardless of your starting point. ‘Value’ […]
by Bottrell WealthIt’s not uncommon for business owners to take short, irregular holidays because they don’t have the support to keep their business running without them for a longer break. Aside from taking time off for leisure, have you considered what would happen if you were forced to take six months off work due to a serious […]
by Bottrell WealthGDP. If ever there were three letters designed to make us yawn, these would be solid contenders. So why are they so frequently on the lips of politicians, economists and finance journalists? More importantly, what does GDP mean for everyday Australians like you and me? Let’s get the boring bit out of the way first. […]