It’s a common problem across Australia and it’s on the rise!

On 21 September 2011, Bloomberg and numerous others reported that a quarter of households were experiencing mortgage stress, up from 21 percent in March. This info was gleaned from the September Homebuyer Confidence Index compiled by “Genworth” which as you may know, is Australia’s largest mortgage insurer (i.e. they cover lenders whose clients default on their payments so you’d be right in thinking they like it best when things are healthy so that they’re not paying out claims by the banks and other lenders).  Genworth’s recently appointed CEO Ellie Comerford, recently made the point that as for Australia’s housing outlook, that Australians are still keen to buy but they are being far more cautious about debt. ”Yes, Australia is a patchwork economy and, yes, there’s a glimpse of an increase in unemployment but, on the fundamentals, we’re in a pretty good spot. But until consumers believe it, if they don’t have to borrow, they won’t.”

I think she’s pretty accurate in her assessment of consumer sentiment. What do you think?

To consider the RBA dropped rates this month and looks probably set to do it again and probably even again.

Nonetheless however, general cost of living pressures are rampant and uncertainty is everywhere.

Business is concerned about the impending  carbon tax, the euro zone is in deep sh#t and the patchwork economy she mentioned isn’t much fun unless you’re somehow plugged into the mining boom.

So what’s the average person to do?

Now put your thinking cap on and listen up good as I say it’s best to take positive action rather than to continue watching from the sidelines in the hope things will improve anytime soon and besides, why let your destiny be controlled by others?

Now is surely as good a time as any to start any one or more home based businesses as either your full time concern or on the side of whatever else it is you do for a living because in so doing, you immediately become a business owner at the lowest possible start up cost and the great thing then is that businesses can deduct their legitimate expenses whereas by comparison, wage earners barely get a look-in as the poor cousins of the tax system.

Accordingly, your business is entitled to be operated from somewhere permanent and dedicated other than for example the kitchen table, the lounge room, the local coffee shop or from the back of a ute …  da – da - enter the family home as a part business asset!

Considering you need a roof over your head anyway and that along with it comes all the expenses of purchasing and maintaining the place, well then why the heck wouldn’t you want a tax deduction on a huge part of all those unavoidable outgoings?

And as for capital gains tax, that’s only paid by numskulls who don’t know any better!

So if your mortgage is getting you down, get off your butt and start a home based business doing whatever you like.

Depending on your situation and business structure, the tax deductions you’ll conjure can be used to either reduce your other taxable income (most likely from your job) or, to set off the home based business income of itself and if the business unfortunately isn’t profitable in any current year, you can always carry the loss forward and use it up in part or in full when it is profitable (kind of like deductions in a special savings account the tax man sets up for you).

Like most things, it’s complicated when you don’t know what you’re doing yet simple when you do.

I’m here to help so don’t hesitate to call and in a few minutes over the phone, I can let you know if this can work for you or not – I have it down pat!

Make It Good Debt!

From the “About” page you would know that I spent 12 years as a self-employed financial planner in Perth, Western Australia during which time I always felt my role was to help folk make the most of what was available to them, to think outside the square at times and to generally make informed and better choices about how money shapes their lives but not to simply flog financial products to earn commission. I’m certain that I significantly helped hundreds of people and I doubt there’d be more than one or two who didn’t appreciate the way I went about it (you can never please everyone all of the time).

The funny thing is that in recent months I’ve felt the inclination to get back into that industry so as to provide advice on the usual products and services that financial planners are known for (e.g. superannuation, managed investments and personal insurances etc) however, also to promote the home based business ideals that are the subject of this website. To practice as a financial planner though, I need to either obtain my own Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) or become an Authorised Representative of an AFSL holder. For a number of good reasons, I have little interest in obtaining my own license and therein lays the problem as I’m struggling to find an AFSL that will take me on board given I’m passionate about promoting the unique range of home business strategies I’ve developed (even if they make money from it).

Alas, even the Financial Planning Association of Australia which self-proclaims as the industry’s peak representative body and which publishes the following two definitions of financial planning, is steadfast in its refusal to be related to me so as to assist in getting the message across to its members that this is good for clients and therefore good for business and the industry at large:

(1) http://www.fpa.asn.au/media/FPA/Website%20files/Pub_/Glossary.pdf

“Financial planning: The process a financial planner follows to understand each client’s different needs and financial objectives and to recommend an appropriate strategy. There is an established six step financial planning process which all professional advisers follow with every new client:

1. Gather financial information about the client

2. Identify financial and lifestyle goals

3. Identify any financial issues

4. Prepare a financial plan

5. Implement the plan

6. Review and revise the plan at regular intervals, or when circumstances change”

And then as found at the Definitions of the FPA Code of Professional Practice …

(2) http://fpa.asn.au/media/FPA/FPA%20Standards/CodeofPractice_July%202011.pdf

“Financial planning the process of developing strategies to assist clients in managing their financial affairs to meet life goals. It involves reviewing all relevant aspects of a client’s situation across a large breadth of financial planning activities, including inter-relationships among often conflicting objectives”.

I fail to understand what this industry’s problem is in that Deduct Your Home provides a service that is part and parcel to each of the definitions above.

Furthermore, the fact that ASIC have advised that the services Deduct Your Home provides do not need to be delivered by an AFSL seems not to at all sit with an industry that bows to the regulator … http://www.deductyourhome.com.au/asic-our-financial-services-regulator-is-satisfied-with-us/

In all, the lack of will to take the time to properly understand so as to embrace this aspect of financial planning, heaps much deserved shame upon the financial planning industry and it self-perpetrates its own nightmare in NOT being recognised as a profession (and rightly so in my opinion). The truth is that people who wish to learn of and benefit from these processes through their financial planner are being severely hampered by a very large and powerful industry (principally controlled by a relatively small number of major corporations that are intent on buying up the competition) and where industry is clearly disinterested in helping clients go down this path primarily I believe, for fear of losing business (i.e. financial product sales) because it thinks that once educated on the benefits, clients might prefer to put their money into their homes. Even if that were true and if on an individual basis it turned out to be someone’s best option, then so be it as financial planners should be doing what’s best for clients shouldn’t they?

This leads me to mention something you may have heard of called The Future Of Financial Advice Reforms (FOFA), a Federal Government reform for the financial planning industry to finally act professionally in terms of putting client’s interests ahead of their own and yet despite much posturing by industry in publicly embracing these positives, in my opinion, these gutless, visionless hypocrites are nowhere close to doing the right thing by the public.

So how do you feel (happy, impartial, pissed-off or livid), in knowing that your financial planner likely isn’t allowed or willing to discuss and assist you with potentially saving tens of thousands of dollars every year in tax (and maybe for decades to come), just by implementing a home-based business strategy?

On the other hand, if you were ethically convinced by your financial planner to take that path, would you really begrudge him or her when they offered to assist you in putting together an investment program or to boost your super or to beef up your personal protection, using the money they’d just created for you out of thin air?

This industry just doesn’t get it !!! 

So I guess you can go and see any financial planner to be repeatedly sold financial products under the guise of “providing financial advice” (nothing new there and this is exactly what the government is trying to stamp out but it will never happen) and or; you can talk to Deduct Your Home to be carefully profiled to determine your suitability to being sold a “strategy” that far more effectively utilses your current ot future home to greatly assist in meeting your financial needs and desires.

Call me crazy – but to me that’s financial planning BIG TIME and it’s as worthwhile and as relevant as anything else that exists in the realm of people trying to get ahead!

Please post a reply, telling me and everyone else exactly what you think. 

Make it Good Debt!

You know sometimes I can’t help but brim with positiveness in light of my anticipation for the future.

I see a very bright time ahead for this most unique business and all who join with us and that’s because our success depends on your success and further that in my worst nightmare, I simply cannot see people NOT wanting to be better off and so the circle will continue to turn and people will talk and take positive steps – no matter what!

I predict it won’t be too long before hundreds if not thousands of customers take up one of our SET UP FOR LIFE “Procedures” simply because they’re fed up with the treadmill of life that’s getting them nowhere fast or perhaps somewhere, albeit very slowly.

In saying so however, I reiterate that our “Procedures” are NOT a quack bunch of “get rich quick” schemes.

Au contraire, they are robustly engineered to enable you to run a legitimate home-business and to prosper in six main ways that  few out  there have still yet been able to get their head around:

(i)    The business will hopefully make a handsome profit and for many years to come!

(ii)   Before any tax is payable on those profits, most operators will be able to offset tens of thousands of dollars in tax deductions as generated from their home property (and these deductions would otherwise not be possible despite the existence of those costs anyway)!

(iii) If the business runs at a loss for any time, those losses are either quarantined against future profits or offset against “other” income in that tax year (as depending on the business structure and other matters)!

(iv) If they should sell their home-business property for a handsome profit and despite having claimed off their taxable income, tens of thousands or even more every year in mortgage interest, council and water rates, building depreciation and building insurance, they need not pay a single cent in capital gains tax – ever!

(v)  If set up our way (i.e. the smart way), the immediate and ongoing lifestyle benefits are indisputably SECOND TO NONE (i.e. they can live in  nicer home in a better area in the course of running almost any business, meaning the tax system subsidises the cost of the home-business property) and;

(vi)  Most people have no trouble accepting that in the long run, a superior property in a superior position /location, should outperform an inferior one and therefore create significant additional wealth for its owner!

Take it as Gospel – the days of slaving away to pay off your home AFTER paying tax on your earnings are clearly OVER!

This is your golden opportunity to wake up, pay attention to something that can save your life in many ways and to then smarten the heck up  otherwise you’ll most definitely stay down in that colossal black hole of “blanketed ignorance”  which very highly likely, you along with everyone else you know lives in (and as probably also, a huge pool of debt that they’re equally trying to get out of  … that’s right, Australian average national household debt has never been higher)!

To let you in on a little secret, “In general, every industry, commerce, profession and society has and will always continue, to treat folk like a slave to the wheel and a blind, deaf and dumb sucker to meet its own needs (i.e. the needs of the very few at the top),  for as long as people foolishly let it”.

If you want to break-free of the rut and assume true command over your life, then  you need to “get on board” with us so we can train you on how to turn your bad debt into good debt and if you don’t have any debt, you should look closely at getting a healthy dose of good debt as a step in the right direction (think of it a taking pro-biotics to ensure the right balance of good versus bad bacteria in your body). Otherwise don’t be surprised when your belly-aches because your boss has been hassling you for whatever reason yet perhaps you feel trapped to remain there or because you were knocked-back for that promotion and are hurting financially on that crappy salary or when interest rates, fuel prices, utilities, insurances and even groceries and other items rise and there you still are, stuck in NO POSITION AT ALL to do a damn thing about it other than to keep complaining or to “opt-out” (whatever the #^*& that means).

In stark contrast, however, such “bad news” is never “as bad” when you run under a SET UP FOR LIFE Procedure that makes the bad days far more bearable and the good ones so much better!

Make It Good Debt!

Do you think an ex-Reserve Bank insider who’s the chief economist for a leading international bank might possibly know a thing or two about monetary policy that the average person doesn’t?

According to the following article penned in September 2010 , we’re in for five consecutive 25 basis point rate rises.

Here’s a snippet …

Homeowners are in for a rough ride with the Reserve Bank tipped to indulge in what can only be described as an interest rates rampage.

An RBA insider has revealed that the central bank are “gearing up” for five interest rate rises, bringing the official cash rate up by 125 basis points to 5.75 per cent by the end of next year, claims news.com.au.

Paul Bloxham – who was with the Reserve Bank for twelve-years before joining HSBC as their new chief economist – claims Australia’s robust economy will result in a string of rate hikes – including a rise by 25 basis points before Christmas”.

And here’s the URL to the entire artcile … http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/Economist-claims-five-yahoo7finance-985879925.html

Did it come true? Maybe not! Today the Fed left the cash rate alone but who knows next month and so on?

The point is that rates can and do rise and there ain’t nothing your average Joe can do about it!

Think of it this way; for very $100,000 your client owes the bank, within about a year and half, they could be paying $1,250 more per annum  for the privilege so if they had say a $350,000 mortgage, that equates to $4,375 more and on and on we could go with other examples. I guess the thing is then, where the heck is the extra dosh going to come from to meet this when it seems that  nearly everything else is getting more expensive. I mean have you noticed the price of food again lately?

Ok; the point of putting up this info here is that we can legally show you how to not just negate this effect for your clients but to turn it around by probably at least double that so as to continually be running their home mortgages for less than any other way known possible (oh and possibly forever that is).

What on this earth are you waiting for? Let us educate you to to do the same for your clients in that whilst you or they can’t control everything in life (and obviously that includes interest rates), steps exist however, to mitigate external forces and to thrive in these tumultous times. Our flagship product, “Set Up For Life” could well be the perfect elixr for the upset tummy that’s over the horizon called “rate rises”!

Make It Good Debt!

According to Craig James, Chief Economist for Commonwealth Securities (ComSec) …

“While the fast pace of population growth points to the need for more and more homes, we (Australians), are living in the biggest homes in the world. The simple fact is they could be better utilised” … Source; Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Home Update Newsletter: Issue 3 – February 2010.

Wow – what an understatement!

We’ve strapped a rocket to his little piece and fired it to very realistic heights that he’s never even dreamed of (but don’t get us wrong because he’s still a very smart man whom we respect)!

Surely you have clients living in homes with one or more spare rooms that REALLY aren’t needed such as a formal lounge, formal dining, spare bedroom or two, back sleep out, patio, games room, rumpus room etc. If so, then don’t dilly-dally and become our Licensee to let them know like no one else can, just what is possible and so very sensible.

Do this and you’ll soon be showing them how to turn some or all of that wasted space into a financially effective and very practical business asset that at the least, could save them thousands in tax every year and position them to make much more than that in income.

This is what putting our big homes to better use is all about and pound for pound, it belts the living daylight out of renting out a room or anything else you can think of and that’s without even breaking a sweat!

Make It Good Debt!

This applies equally to advisers and their clients.

When you talk to your clients, perhaps this is not too bad a script.

1.    Trust only facts that you can substantiate beyond any reasonable doubt!

2.    Keep it simple and tread cautiously but not fearfully!

3.    Trust yourself by being well informed without the need for information overload!

4.    Utilise the skills and knowledge of others but retain control over your affairs!

5.   Choose only to deal with highly transparent and “up-to-speed” individuals and firms who value honesty, integrity and therefore their reputation above all else!

… and never forget !!!

1.    Your home is often singularly the most significant asset you’ll ever own!

2.    Your home requires a large amount of cash to buy or a substantial portion of your income to pay-off!

3.    Your home requires a fair amount of money over the years to maintain its value, functionality and appeal!

4.    Your home hugely affects the daily quality of your lifestyle!

5.    Your home deserves your close attention!

6.    Your home should be not just your safety net but also a launch pad to greater things!

If you truly place a high value and importance on your home and want the absolute maximum benefit from it that Australia’s legal, business and taxation systems will allow, then don’t dawdle and get busy.

To save thousands every year by partially claiming your ordinarily non-tax deductible, home expenses, start planning a home business as of today and that’s doing whatever you want but be sure to do it the proper way, the smart way, the ONLY way  … the Deduct Your Home way.

Make It Good Debt!

It’s crazy how the community largely accepts that investments need not equal a better life … well at least not any time soon!

The pursuit of more wealth in order to enjoy a better life means that we’ve been conned into  accepting that these two things are constantly competing for the same resources namely; time, energy and money but why the various advice industries haven’t addressed this I don’t know because apart from the work we’ve done, there seems to be precious little else in existence to cause me to retract from this position.

Think about it … owning a portfolio of say shares and or properties will NOT of itself, provide a you with a better lifestyle as YOU cannot physically enjoy these INVESTMENT ASSETS. Ask yourself … when was the last time you used your investment property to bring the tribe over for a BBQ or a for dip in the pool or to have friends over for dinner (don’t you think the tenant might have something to say) or what about the last time you took a relaxing massage in your managed funds or share portfolio or that these investments treated you to a fabulous night in your home theatre or that you danced like crazy at a party you had inside them or that they suddenly turned into a new extension to your home but when you felt like it, they magically turned back into an investment again so you could keep making money from them? Of course it never happens … because it can’t!

The best you can hope for is that at some point in future you’ll be able to cash-them-in and pay whatever tax you need to or to live off the income these may provide. That’s an ok strategy if you’re happy to wait for years or even decades to get some “fun factor” out of it all but to be to more the point, it’s not that great if you want to LIVE BETTER NOW! The fact is that it’s very lame and that the only way to make it less lame and less dull without cashing in either in part or in full, unfortunately involves you borrowing more money from time to time as the need arises and because it would be for personal use, you’d probably also know that none of the interest on those borrowings can be tax deductible! Hence, any financial expert worth their salt will tell you this type of debt is “bad debt”. Also don’t forget that you’d be relying on rising house prices to support future bank valuations and as this can’t ever be guaranteed at any particular stage of future investment cycles, then when you might really want the loan, the numbers may not stack up for the lender and so you’ll still miss out on the “fun stuff” to be left both regretting your strategy and languishing thereafter for who knows how many years until your local market recovers and then rebounds!

Clearly, only we have navigated a safe and sure course through this ridiculous maze of clutter and compromise to have produced a range of home business property, wealth and lifestyle enrichment procedures that are highly efficient and second to none and which are in fact, SIMPLY WITHOUT PEER. Effectively, these provide the homeowner the best of both worlds (business and pleasure), allowing you to partially run your home no different to how any business runs its premises.

This provides you as the business owner, a wide range of financial benefits which also extend to matters of expenditure not directly connected to your home. For example, if you set yourself up as a professional writer, you could legitimately incur travel and accommodation expenses in researching your topics and so on and so forth. Indeed you could also purchase a computer and general office equipment, a motor vehicle for work related use and various other relevant and related business items as needed. Amidst all this, it also allows you the personal freedom to live your life in the nicest home in the best location that our financial, legal and taxation systems permit. Our methods have never before been envisaged by Australia’s various professional advice communities and financial product manufacturers let alone commercialised into a simple to set up and operate, turn-key, highly consumer-friendly product!

Make It Good Debt!

When your clients open the financial section of any newspaper or watch or listen to the financial news, read business portals online or allow themselves to be purposely exposed to other form of business and financial media and if they pay any attention at all to the constant advertising bombardment that their eyes and ears are subjected to every day just watching or listening to ordinary commercial tv and radio, then you may agree that they our drowning in a sea of complex information and enumerable claims and offers on how to create wealth and improve lifestyle and yet, there is more risk and ambiguity than ever before.

Inevitably, the gap between the rich and the average is ever-widening whilst the poor old “poor” barely get a look in!

As a professional practitioner, do you really think you’re insulated?

Your clients need you now more than ever to help them make sense, to help them make better choices.

Stop wasting time with those who obviously don’t know how to help you to help others to save thousands every year on unavoidable, home expenses.

This is a big deal to most people and you have many on your database who fit the bill even though they don’t know it yet.

What are you waiting for?

Make It Good Debt!

IS THAT SO? SURELY THEN ONE MUST WONDER – HOW ON EARTH COULD ALL THIS HAVE BEEN HIDDEN RIGHT UNDER OUR NOSES FOR SO LONG?

It’s a good good question in respect of how the various advice industries upon which Australians depend, have long been asleep at the wheel, having subsequently and quite lazily if we’re to be brutally honest, allowed everyone to believe in some tired, constricted and expensive myths rather than boldly seeking out and embracing vastly superior and cost and tax-efficient ways to run any type of home-based business and how that leads to a very long list of benefits.

I mean you’d think it was their business to show clients how to legally;

* Save tax

* Build wealth

*Pay off their homes quicker

* Optimise their standard of living

* Retire richer

* Be more self-sufficient

* And much more.

We’re confident however that we’ll find true “professionals” in these fields who will exhibit the hallmarks that make them so and strive to improve themselves and to only work in their client’s best interest.

Indeed we look forward to meeting them and to working with the very best!

Make It Good Debt!