How to Buy a House

October 1, 2024

It’s Spring – The family has grown, you want to be closer to schools… Or … the kids have left, it’s time to downsize … It’s time to shift house.

Spending your weekends going to open homes and after a while – it becomes so confusing…

My brother recently asked for help… so here is the Ask Alan suggestion – it’s a way my wife and I have used successfully many times.

Step 1: Grab a champagne… or a coffee… and sit together and JOINTLY list all the important things that matter to you in a house:

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Early Retirement – Be careful what you wish for…

April 5, 2024

I once wrote an article titled “A funny thing happened on the way to the cemetery”.

When the pension was conceived, average life expectancy was 62. Retirement age was 65.

The pension was predicated on the assumption that most would never receive it.

Someone born in 1950 had a life expectancy of 62.

But by the time they reached that age – life expectancy had increased to 82.

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Question of the Week: Inter-generational financial support

March 27, 2024

How best to deal with the worry of inter- generational issues…?

In my email last week, I posed the question of how best to prepare for your own future…

One client asked how they could help their (young) children – not yet born – because of their concerns about what the housing market would look like for them – and their ability to buy a house.

Another client asked how to help parents who had sold everything to live life on the road – but that life had caught up with them and the aged parents were now renting.

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Let’s Start a Conversation…

March 20, 2024

I spent time with long term clients and even longer friends over the weekend.

Here was one part of the conversation – and I’d like you to continue it, along any pathway you choose… more of that later.

“How much do I need to live comfortably in later life?”

Average weekly earnings have just hit $100kpa

How much do I need to have in assets to give that income?

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An open letter to Banks on behalf of my clients.

May 2, 2023

I am always open to opportunities with new lenders for my new to bank clients.

Under BID (Best Interest Duty) my obligations are clear – and they are obligations on me personally.

Banks have absolutely no obligations under BID.

This means that in the main – our interests do not align.

There is one place they do – new business.

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The “Why” about Rates

March 7, 2023

Covid came along and no government in the world quite knew how to respond… they planned for the worst.

  • We were all locked up.
  • While they developed a vaccine.
  • Which meant businesses and people lives were about to be financially destroyed.
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Waiting For The Crash…

March 7, 2023

I cannot count the number of times in my 25 years of mortgage broking I have heard the “I’m waiting for the crash” reason for delaying a buying decision.

First – EVERY buyer (me included) hopes for property to be “down” 5 minutes before they buy and then “up” 5 minutes after they have bought.

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Christmas Comes Early

December 6, 2022

Amidst all the bad news of 2022 comes some good news at last.

It is just possible that the rate of inflation in Australia has peaked (in October) earlier than predicted by economists (The Australian 1 Dec 2022: Robert Gottliebsen).

(By the way – what do you call 100 economists in a room?… a vacuum!)

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Corona Virus

Economic flu or just a cold?

February 6, 2020

Economically they used to say, “when America catches a cold the world catches the flu”.

At the moment because of the literal corona virus in China, the world is at risk of catching the economic flu.

Aside from the presidential election and the post Brexit trade negotiations (both of which are the long game for 2020 -being Nov and Dec respectively), the length of time that the world takes to adjust to the economic impact of the corona virus will be the story of significance in 2020.

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Tell me about the future..

June 6, 2019

Anyone can read in the media that The Reserve Bank cut the cash rate yesterday.

I always endeavour to let you know what this means – so that you can plan ahead.

In July 2016 – almost 10 years after the GFC, interest rates had been low for a decade, there was a growing sentiment that they would inevitably rise – which always makes people worry.

I like to take notice of the people who have the RED (rates) button on their desk so back in 2016 I read an article from Janet Yelland (the outgoing chair of the US Federal Reserve) who had just told Congress that rates would stay low for ANOTHER decade – yes until 2025.

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