Plan Assist offers “Get Started” sessions designed to map out your property strategies and achieving your goals.
Below are two recent articles I found over the Xmas break. Both these articles made me review my own financial strategy, my property strategies and debt strategies. It really made me think about the long term and review my plans.
Remember, failing to plan is a plan to fail…
Borrowers crippled in 2010
Australian households paid financial institutions $3.86 billion more in 2010 than in 2009 thanks to increased interest charges.According to recent research by RateCity, more than $3.47 billion of the total amount came from increased mortgage repayments.Using the average mortgage size of about $300,000, RateCity calculated that variable mortgage holders paid an extra $1,615 in interest on their home loans in 2010.
But RateCity’s consumer advocate Michelle Hutchison said these results were not surprising.“We’re not surprised by the RateCity comparison of how much money households have had to pay for rising interest rates over the past year. Not all of this $3.9 billion will go towards banks’ profits because the cost of funding loans has also increased including the Reserve Bank of Australia lifting the official cash rate by 100 basis points to 4.75 percent,” she said
(Source: www.theadvsier.com.au, Thursday, 06 January 2011)
Retirees feel mortgage pain
Almost half of all Australian households will be paying off their mortgage in retirement.
According to new research by RaboDirect, 49 per cent of surveyed respondents said they would be older than 60 before they finish paying their mortgage.The survey by RaboDirect, a subsidiary company of Rabobank Australia, questioned people about their attitudes and behaviour towards debt and savings.The results found that a significant portion of Australians have a low level understanding of many financial services and products.About half the survey thought transaction and savings accounts were the same thing.
(Source: www.theadvsier.com.au, Thursday, 04 January 2011)
