The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has announced it will maintain the official cash rate at 2.50%. Most Economists are now forecasting this period of interest rate stability to continue until mid-2015, notwithstanding an improvement in business confidence, as measured by a recent Dun & Bradstreet survey of 800 businesses in Australia. 40% of the […]
From 12th March 2014 significant reforms to privacy laws came into place under the Privacy Act. What are the changes and how will they affect you? As part of the reforms, you will be able to: Request access to your personal information held by an organisation (eg. a Lender) Request a correction to your personal […]
For business owners, this concession has provided an immediate deduction of $5,000 for any business related motor vehicle purchased. In a recent announcement the Government proposed to repeal this deduction, along with the mining tax and some other measures. If you are considering purchasing assets in order to obtain the accelerated tax benefits bear in […]
Prepared by Bank of Melbourne The pace of growth in building approvals appears to have hit a speed bump with back-to-back declines over May and June. The annual rate of decline slipped to 13.0% in the year to June, but we expect approvals should return to positive growth in July. Weakness over the past two […]
Volatility was crunched again overnight as the Fed released several doves to comfort the ailing bond market. I’ve put a full synopsis below courtesy of TradeTheNews.com but in brief the message was that the market has totally overreacted, policy is still data dependant and no significant shift has occurred. Rate hikes are a long way […]
Home loan approvals surge in March “The biggest jump in home loan approvals in four years has all but confirmed the housing sector is recovering after a difficult couple of years” http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/business/breaking-news/home-loans-rose-52-in-march/story-fni0xqe3-1226641015083?utm_content=buffercb34b&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer
The Victorian Government has announced some changes to state taxes and grants which will be included in the 2013-14 State Budget when it is handed down on 7 May 2013. Please be aware of the following important changes affecting First Home Buyers purchasing residential property in Victoria from 1 July 2013.* First Home Buyer Grant […]
Firstly, what is the LVR? The Loan to Value Ratio (LVR) is the amount you are borrowing, represented as a percentage of the property value. For example, if you are considering a loan of $400,000 and the property is worth $500,000 the LVR is 80%. Why is the LVR important when you are considering the […]
Self-Managed Super Fund (SMSF) Borrowing – Peter Reber – First Point Group Like other superannuation funds, SMSF’s are primarily used to build wealth for retirement. SMSF’s are different from other superannuation funds as all members are also trustees (or trustee directors, if the SMSF has a corporate trustee). Members are responsible for running the fund […]
First Point Group won this years 2012 FAST Group Operator of the Year Award.
