So you’re telling me if i change the way i do my banking it WILL make a difference?
Smart ways to reduce debt and create wealth
It is all about how you do your banking. We are taught, often from a very young age to do our banking a standard way and it really is set up to make the banks the most money. Let me explain.
Most people do their banking like this. They have a couple of bank accounts, they often have a home loan, a car loan and a couple of credit cards, and even one of the dreaded ‘interest free’ cards from a furniture purchase.
They then bank their money into their bank account, then pay their loan payments, then their bills, they may try to transfer a little into a savings account to try to achieve that longed for holiday, or to save for Christmas and then life starts. There are mountains of other things to pay for like groceries, fuel, rates, rego’s not to mention kids! By the end of the week the account is empty and you feel you have been working hard and getting no-where… sound familiar?
You need to change the way you are doing your banking.
It isn’t how much you earn, and so often the more you earn the more you spend. The thing I look at it is how much leakage and wastage you have, and how you actually do your banking.
So let’s look at these two things:
Leakage & wastage - By leakage and wastage I mean, where is your money going that doesn’t give you any pleasure, lifestyle or reward. This can be credit card interest, sneaky little amounts for subscriptions that you are still having deducted even though you aren’t using them. Late fees, account keeping or admin charges for paying monthly. It can also be reviewing your insurances, your health cover and electricity to find extra dollars too.
And then let’s look at your household spending. When you find out the secrets to things like food storage, pantry control and grocery management it can make a serious difference to available cash for things like holidays, clothes and fun activities. Think about using meal planners to manage your shopping lists. How many times do you hit the grocery store in one week? Did you know that on average, you could save $150 every week and take back 6 hours of your time if you plan your meals prior to going shopping and doing your grocery shopping only once a week.
Imagine what you could do with an extra 6 hours and $150 every week!
I have even taught people who have worked in the banks for years and they couldn’t believe they hadn’t worked it out for themselves."
Changing the way you do banking.
We have seen clients reduce their debt on average by $28, 621 and often more in a year by using simple techniques! The trick is to get your advice from someone who has experience in doing their banking this way. I have even taught people who have worked in the banks for years and they couldn’t believe they hadn’t worked it out for themselves. So if a bank employee can’t get it, you shouldn’t feel too bad about doing your banking the wrong way.
First of all, in an ideal situation, we should consolidate the credit cards and car loan into the home loan – remembering consolidation can be your best friend or your worst enemy – if you learn from the exercise and don’t repeat the same mistakes, it can be your best friend. If you get back into the same situation in a year or so it can be your worst enemy as it means you will need to consolidate again and again using good equity for a bad purpose.
Once we consolidate the loans, we would then look at using some fast debt reduction tactics. Setting up an offset account or better still splitting the loan and have a portion as a line of credit is the beginning. Combine this with a cash management program, or a trackable budget that records what you are spending and compares it against what you budgeted for or planned to spend and you are really on the way to success.
The added benefit of using a credit card for your spending, and paying it out in full on the due date – which means you are using the banks money for free while your cash is sitting against debt reducing your interest is the magic sauce to increase your debt reduction and give you ultimate control over your money.
Is it easy, no... but is it worth it? Most definitely! With the right information, the right tools and the support of a wealth coach to keep it all on track – the sky is the limit.
Book your free Wealth Coaching Session today! Call: (07) 5430 4777 thinkmoney.com.au
The Courier Mail
April 7, 2017
ANALYSTS CRUNCHED THE NUMBERS TO SEE IF PROPERTY BEATS SHARES
In the battle between property and shares for investment dollars, which has better returns?
The answer depends on how much time you have, according to the latest Place Advisory report.
Place Advisory’s Lachlan Walker compared returns off the ASX All Ords Index versus the inner Brisbane apartment market over the past 30 years and had some surprising results.
Over the longer term, it’s the inner Brisbane apartment market that’s won out.
“The property market outperformed the share market over the past 30 years, with the Inner Brisbane apartment market recording 6.5 per cent price growth per annum, whilst the share market has recorded an annual return of 4.5 per cent,” Mr Walker found.
Even over the 10 year period, it was property that won with a return of 2.7 per cent versus 0.1 per cent for shares.
“Overall, the share market is much more volatile in comparison to the property market, with greater fluctuations from period to period. For example, in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, the share market recorded a 44 per cent decline in 2008, which then saw a 36 per cent increase in the following year.”
But over shorter periods, shares beat property, Place Advisory found, with shares returning 6.8 per cent over the five-year period versus 2 per cent for the inner Brisbane property market.
It was slightly higher over the 12-month period, while the apartment sector turned negative.
Overall, according to Place Advisory, “property is deemed to be the safer option, particularly if you are looking for stability and long term growth.
“Over the past 12-month period, the ASX recorded strong growth. As at December 31, 2016, the All Ords Index stood at 5,719, reflecting an increase of 7 per cent compared to the previous 12 months. Meanwhile, Brisbane’s apartment market saw a decline of 4 per cent,recording a median price of $485,000.”
Place Advisory found that the stock market and inner Brisbane apartment market moved in similar cycles over the past three decades — with the exception of the Global Financial Crisis when there was a “significant variation”.
“However, if you are an investor seeking strong capital growth, liquidity and willing to take some risks, the share market may be the way to go.
At the end of the day, informed decisions based on fact and good investment timing will generally see better returns on investment.”
Learn how to pay off your home loan in 5 to 7 years
The biggest fallacy our parents taught us is to believe a home loan is a "long term" debt.
Most of us saw our parents work hard all of their lives to pay off their mortgage, and then struggle to retire comfortably. It is nurture not nature that keeps most of us imprisoned on the mouse wheel of debt.
Our grandparents, god bless their little cotton socks, were taught by the banks how to do their banking, they passed this on to their children who passed it on to you. They had a lot to say about money...
- Money doesn’t grow on trees.
- A penny saved is a penny earned.
- If you count your pennies, the dollars will take care of themselves.
- If you can’t pay for it – don’t buy it.
Most of us believe that we should work hard, save to buy our home, spend the rest of our lives working to pay it off and hopefully, save a bit to retire on.
It just doesn’t have to be that hard. By treating your money right in the first place, learning the benefits of how loans work, and setting up the correct finance platform for both fast debt reduction and smart wealth creation, most of us can pay off our homes in 5 to 7 years (instead of 25) and acquire 10 properties in 10 years, without struggling with the holding costs and improve your lifestyle at the same time.
Let's look at your current situation:
Have you been paying your home loan off for years and feel like you are getting nowhere?
Add up the amount you have paid into your loan to date:
Your monthly payment – say $2k x 12 months x 5 years = $120k. Most loans have only reduced by $5k or so in that time... Now we have an OMG moment!
It’s time to do things a bit differently. Change the way you are doing your banking.
Make a time to chat with the debt reduction specialists at Think Money - they can change your life in 35 minutes.
www.thinkmoney.com.au
Ph; 5430 4777
Excerpt from our new ebook:
NINE REASONS YOU ARE NOT RICH AND... HOW TO FIX IT!
- You’re listening to the wrong advice
- You’re doing your banking incorrectly
- Your life is a mess
- The Einstein theory
- You’re buying assets that aren’t
- You’re working hard and getting nowhere
- You think wealth equals money
- You want to be debt-free? Big mistake
- You don’t write down your goals and read them every day!
2. You’re listening to the WRONG Advice
One of the most important things I say to people is to be careful who you take advice from.
I then add - ask them who they are, what they have and if they do have what you want, it might be worth listening to what they have to say.
They might just be able to tell you how to get what you are looking for.
This might not always be the case but you have a lot more chance of succeeding than you have by listening to someone who has nothing, right?
It is amazing who we take advice from.
(Be warned – I am going to get on my soapbox a bit for this topic, then I promise I will get off it for the rest.)
As soon as we start thinking about doing something different we look for advice and confirmation. Often the first place we look is to our friends and family. It is amazing how many experts there are at backyard BBQs.
Nine times out of ten, the ‘horror stories’ of why you shouldn’t invest, or shouldn’t buy that make of car or shouldn’t use that particular travel agent comes from hearsay. For every bad news story – and let’s face it bad news sells – there are 100 success stories that don’t see the light of day. After all, gossip and drama and stories of dramatic losses always make for riveting conversation.
You see this constantly in our everyday lives. The saying goes, if you have a good experience you might tell one other person, have a bad experience and you will tell the world, for years! Think about it. It is very true.
Many people never get past the first step. They want to do something, but face a bit of fear of the unknown. They then ask for advice, and go to...
yes you guessed it, family and friends for an opinion...
Friends and family are often trying to protect you. They don’t want you to try something new in case it fails, and you become worse off? Best be safe and sound and stay in your ‘norm’.
Throw in a few horror stories and you’re completely discouraged from trying. This has been happening for decades, for generations in fact.
We are taught by our parents:
- Go to school and work hard
- Get a good job
- Buy a home and start a family
- Pay off your home
- Don’t risk anything, and then
- Try to save for a comfortable retirement.
They were also taught by their parents to do exactly the same thing. Problem is, in your grandparents’ day (assuming an age here or your great grandparents’ day) they went through a depression, 2 world wars and for the next 40 years lived through a recession once every decade.
We have actually only had 3 negative growth or recession years, in the last 37 years, and they were mild ones! Even the dreaded GFC didn’t put us in recession....
The seven things I wish I learned at school (That would have made me a millionaire by the age of 25!)
1. Where to go for advice
Most people go to a bank for advice on the right bank accounts and loans to have. A bit of a laugh really when you consider their profit margins. It’s like asking the mouse where to put the cheese! I wish I had been taught to ask someone who has money the best way of handling it.
2. Credit cards are like fast cars
A fast car driven recklessly is dangerous, but treated correctly it isn’t. Credit cards are the same. Most of us just use them to help the banks, but you can turn the tables and use the banks money for free and use your money to reduce your interest. This secret could have saved me thousands!
3. More organised = more money!!
It is a fact that if you get organised with your money, you have more of it. Bills get paid on time, you don’t waste precious money on fines, fees and overdue payments, and you make your money work for you instead of against you. A cash management program accelerates your debt reduction and wealth creation.
4. You can make compound interest work for you or against you
Saving to buy something instead of borrowing can halve the price you pay for most items. This sounds boring to us in this ‘have it now’ world, however, compound interest working for you instead of for the loan company saves you thousands. I wish someone had told me that ‘interest free’ isn’t free at all. The interest has been tacked onto the price – ask for the ‘cash’ price and see.
5. Debt consolidation can be your best friend or your worst enemy
Consolidating credit card and consumer debt onto your home loan can reduce your repayments each month and lower the amount of interest you pay. I wish I had been told to use this extra money to then reduce the home loan much faster, and not fall into the same trap again and again – burning up precious equity that could have been used for investing.
6. The power of separating your life from investments
There are 1.7 million people in Australia who invest in property, less than 2 per cent get to five properties or more. Why? They don’t keep their personal and investment money separate. I wish I had learned the key to successful investing and stress-free living was to keep these sides quite separate from each other.
7. Don't assume a home loan is a long term debt
I wish I had been taught that a home loan doesn’t have to be a stone around my neck for 25 years, or best case, if I paid weekly or fortnightly, 17 years. What most people don’t know is that handled correctly, a mortgage should be paid off in five to seven years just by doing your banking differently.
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