What Made You Feel Good Today

[Mrs Jeturbo]

I would mortgage it and within the mortgage get an offset account and park your savings in it therefore only paying interest in the lower rate and the lower amount to borrow ...

And it's a fairly steady rule u never plant all your savings money into hard assets that u can't withdraw easily or instantly incase of worst case

But then again I am in investor mode and that's why I pay a sh*t load for people to tell me to make those decisions.

[.Stripes.]

Mortgages have minimum amounts.

If I put my savings into it I'm only low 5 digits away from owning it.

Wow! That's an impressive situation to be in Brendo! Well done!

[Never had any say Panda]

Yeah I considered that.. But there are alot of other factors in this.

This is a big step as my job is currently uncertain. Currently I am positioned that I can survive pretty easily for 5 to 7 years without work. (Yeah my rainy day fund is more like a rainy decade fund and I even considered that could easily become 10 years in thailand). Aside from buying a crummydoor about the most expensive thing I have bought recently is my golf clubs.. and that was over a year ago.. I don't need much to survive..

I understand you looking at this as an investment thing and this is no shot at you or Jet because obviously you are doing something right. I refuse to pay someone for financial advice, or well almost any advice. I will read and learn and figure it out myself and be responsible for my own successes/failures. Personally I see no attraction in investing. Kudos to you but I think it would be too stressful for me. Every time I see someone who wants to invest I caution them to do it right (ie: don't buy a house with a 5% deposit and expect the tennant to cover the entire mortgage payment for you). However daily I listen to muppets bitch and whinge about not having a tennant for a week and struggling for a mortgage payment. I want to punch these people in the face if the doc would let me elevate my heart rate. I couldn't handle if a tennant moved into a place I was proud of and turned it into a dump. I would probably go to jail.

If I sink most of my available savings into this house I am 1 month away from a term deposit maturing which will cover the remainder of the loan (House is too nice to see if it's still around in a month) and get me some decent cash back in the bank. Then I'm due dividends on shares from the company I work for at the end of financial year. Plus I have the reduced cost of not paying $450 rent a week.

So really my decision is basically this:

Mortgage and Offset account - Straight away redo floors/kitchen/bathroom and consider extension of master bedroom and living rooms. Bolt a 2 bay carport in front of the shed so I can build in the shed for a workshop.

Buy outright - Enjoy the back patio and the view with a better coffee machine.. Be happy with what I have, start a vegie garden, kill a cow and enjoy not owing anyone money.

[.Stripes.]

Option B, for sure! Then save, like you're clearly wicked at, and pay cash for the renovations later.

[Mrs Jeturbo]

I'm not saying approach it from an investment perspective

Sorry if u miss understood me

Either way an offset works for both scenarios as u don't have to spend your money u can just park it in like a normal bank account

IPso facto u pay 4% Intrest and still keep your savings and pay off the house as u normally would be pay more off the principal not the Intrest rate of 10% on a personal loan

U end up essentially owing the same Same

Apples for apples except half the Intrest rate and can smash the payments in a quicker time frame

Then once the $50k or whatever u owe on the place is paid then if u want u can either keep paying it and keep your savings or pay it off with your savings

I haven't always been investor framed of mind either

I only do that now

Up until the house we just got my place I've always had was paid off other then $30k and the value on it is pushing half a mil .... I look from both perspectives I guess

All the decisions I've made have been my own and one of my smartest was seeing a financial advisor

I now am worth more dead then alive

Super has grown 5k in three months from investment options and paying someone to sit on a computer making decisions on the stock market which I don't have the time for or frankly the patience

The smartest and wealthiest people in the world are the people who will ask for advice and help and then make a decision on their own accord from there

I look at it in a way of yeah, I could take a bet and make some decision on my own without any advice or research but I also have a family to protect so if I fhark up its not all about me ...

Some people are cash rich and some are asset rich ... I look more to the future with most decisions

Having a wad of cash isn't necessarily the smartest financial decision in a lot of cases just like the old paying cash for sh*t

It doesn't work out beneficial anymore

Usually unless a financial collapse like the depression happens then the asset rich person usually comes out ontop because cash doesn't appreciate unless it's invested in sh*t that moves with the economy eg assets stocks etc

Which then again makes him an asset guy

Yeah sure on a rainy day the cash guy wins for five years ... But the asset guy will be retired by 55 with a huge bunch of assets to sell off or collect dividends from which makes him self sufficient (if he makes wise decisions)

No he's not gonna be a millionaire but he might get to keep the lifestyle he loves for the rest of his years

Where as the average person relies on savings and super

Which statistically $300k in cash no sat in a high interest account doesn't get u vary many years in retirement considering inflation.

Then super ontop

Yeah it is ok but not sustainable by most people's projections to live to a standard you become accustom to throughout your life

There's many ways to skin a cat and I think it's up to the individual to make either work not always the other they choose

I think having a balance of fun now because we might mot be here TOMORO and also living for our kids future as well as ours brings a good balance to my life.

Either way I wish u luck and I hope u get the house and are happy with it mate

Edited 24/03/15 10:18 AM by whinginator

[Never had any say Panda]

See that's the obvious difference fluff.. And it's very personal (So please don't think I'm having a dig). Asset vs Cash we could argue all night.. but I'm not interested in residential property assets (Solely because I can't handle the turds that seem to rent houses. and I have sh*t luck and I would get all the turds). I have focused on cash recently for the wrong reasons (My yo-yo marriage resulted in me deciding that cash was easier to split in half).

For a while a large part of my money was continuously being reinvested into the company I work for. why? Because I can control the outcome of that investment to a certain extent. It's worked well for me and it was a bit selfish because part of the corporate By-laws prohibited it being included in a divorce settlement (I actually don't know how that would hold up in court but anyway it sounded good at the time).

My retirement plan is not in rental properties. It is in business ownership/investments/constructions. If I continued saving at the current rate I was and lived within my means I guarantee I could happily retire at 55. (Again bearing in mind that compared to some people I have relatively simple tastes - ie: my sunglasses usually come from a service station and my clothing choices are functional). Also I have recently started looking at backing developments. Through work I meet a lot of developers who don't have the capital to actually start their development so I have considered entering into that game. Getting pre-selection on blocks of land at reduced prices in order to get the development off the ground. It's pretty risky yes.. But I hope with my experience that I can pick the risk and ensure the developer knows what he is doing before I hand over money.

If I ever make the move into residential property investment it will be only if I can afford to buy the property outright. Members of my family do it (Some are the ones I want to punch in the face). I just don't think that is for me.

However my current preferred investments with varying degrees of success are:

Term Deposits

Superannuation

Stockmarket (Very rarely anymore as I don't have the time this takes - As you said you pay someone, I like to do it myself).

Business Start up

Resource Exploration (I got suckered into this once by a mate - The return wasn't bad but probably never again)

Again opinions are like arseholes.. Everyone has one.. I don't give financial advice because I'm not qualified. Also as I said I don't take it because my own successes and my own failures blah blah blah. I have an opinion about financial advisors.. They aren't all bad.. But I've seen people burned by them. I've seen friends shut down awesome super accounts that you can't get anymore because their financial advisor told them to shift it to another company.. 2 years later they have made a fraction of the interest they were making and find out that everyone who used the same financial advisor shifted to the same super account because he got a kick back for everyone he signed up.

I actually love that you and Jet are having fun.. I love your cars and your bikes and that you enjoy golf together (well at least you enjoy it.. Jet may get slightly frustrated :-P).. I resisted the urge to buy a brand spanking new WRX because my last WRX owed me thousands in parts I didn't get when I sold it. But I think the fun for me will be once I'm back in a house.. If I don't owe a dime on the house that makes it easier to have fun later. If the 10% on the personal loan only exists for a month or two.. I'm not gonna pay much interest at all.

2200m2 of land. Already has a big shed.. Got room for another big shed and sitll have stacks of yard for the little bloke. Fun will be had. I'm not even 30.. I have just found I have heart problems, I probably haven't even had 10 weeks of holiday since I graduated high school. I think for me my fun is going to be a lot different and a lot slower moving into the future The block looks over a vallery.. Which has a nice hill perfectly to the west.. So I'm gonna enjoy some sunsets.. With a fake beer.. Because I'm not allowed a real beer..

[Kimberley Scott]

Get Ya health sorted mate. I would say your relationship to, but your not God and only he understands women.

Enjoy time with your little tacker while he is innocent and enjoys the simple things in life.

[trumpy955]

Im off for 5 days as of this morning (normal work break) and im gonna be heading to willowbank to take my bike on a track day. I cant wait.

[.Stripes.]

It's fly out day!

Edited 24/03/15 09:37 PM by .Stripes.

["Captain Retard"]

Fluff & Panda , I agree with both of you regards investments.

And that's because one size does not fit all.

Age plays a large part in how you invest.

When you're younger then you can afford to take more risk when investing as you can make great gains long term and take the odd hit when the economy goes south.

As you age then you need to gradually play it more and more safer as you've already built some wealth and have more too lose ,but less time to recover so investments that ride the storms are better.

You both sound like you have your heads screwed on so kudos to you both.