Re: So, forum financial gurus...

[skully]

And they count on that. The few people willing to get off their arse and actually threaten to take their mortgage and savings elsewhere allegedly can do better interest rate deals.

[JGK]

And i've also got quite a substantial amount of money in a Lloyds tsb offshore account, earning a pretty meagre 2.4% (below UK inflation, which stands at 2.8%). The only reason i'm keeping it there is because of the lousy exchange rate the pound is getting at the moment. Toying up whether to bite the bullet and move it all to a higher earning Aus account (And on top of higher interest rates, Aus inflation is only 1.6% atm), or sit it out and hope that the pound strengthens again in the next 6-12 months, and has more worldwide buying power again.

Might be better off switching it to USD. At least if the shit hits the fan, the USD will go up v the AUD.

[Henry]

Or take a massive gamble and put it into the cheap as chips Euros.......


Hmm. Nope.

[JGK]

Or take a massive gamble and put it into the cheap as chips Euros.......


Hmm. Nope.

If you do that, you might have to be prepared to move to Europe because that will be the only place left you could afford to live.

[Red]

The only problem with interest though is that the ATO watches you like a hawk and for e.g. last year sent me a letter with a bill attached for the interest I earned.

[JGK]

Aye. Interest after tax and inflation makes TDs a pretty crappy investment.

[skully]

e.g. last year sent me a letter with a bill attached for the interest I earned.

It's the Tax law, Red. Your financial institutions send off all the interest details to the ATO every year. They are pretty reasonable though. My wife and I have a number of TD accounts earning interest in her name, and I lost track of one that had matured early in the Financial Year. We too got a letter, so we rang and humbly apologised for the oversight and happily paid what was owed without penalty. You don't get anything for nothing these days.

[Henry]

It would be nice if Christmas Island became Australia's answer to Jersey and the Isle of Man.......

[skully]

Aye. Interest after tax and inflation makes TDs a pretty crappy investment.

Happy to listen to your grown up advice.

[JGK]

e.g. last year sent me a letter with a bill attached for the interest I earned.

It's the Tax law, Red. Your financial institutions send off all the interest details to the ATO every year. They are pretty reasonable though. My wife and I have a number of TD accounts earning interest in her name, and I lost track of one that had matured early in the Financial Year. We too got a letter, so we rang and humbly apologised for the oversight and happily paid what was owed without penalty. You don't get anything for nothing these days.

That's the great thing about capital gains and, ahem, foreign investments. No one else dobs you in to the ATO.

[skully]

e.g. last year sent me a letter with a bill attached for the interest I earned.

It's the Tax law, Red. Your financial institutions send off all the interest details to the ATO every year. They are pretty reasonable though. My wife and I have a number of TD accounts earning interest in her name, and I lost track of one that had matured early in the Financial Year. We too got a letter, so we rang and humbly apologised for the oversight and happily paid what was owed without penalty. You don't get anything for nothing these days.

That's the great thing about capital gains and, ahem, foreign investments. No one else dobs you in to the ATO.

So why do you berate me about the good Capital Gains deal I get on my investment properties? Seems a tad contradictory.

[Henry]

The stock market might be worth tentatively dipping a toe into again in about six months time. Assuming the EU doesn't just consist of Germany and a few Nordic Countries by then......

[skully]

The stock market might be worth tentatively dipping a toe into again in about six months time. Assuming the EU doesn't just consist of Germany and a few Nordic Countries by then......

Aye Trev. I'm waiting for some signs of stability. There are very few places for the average punter to get a good return at the moment so stocks have to start looking good again soon. It's still far too shaky for me to gamble just yet, so am parking my investment in cash ATM.

[JGK]

e.g. last year sent me a letter with a bill attached for the interest I earned.

It's the Tax law, Red. Your financial institutions send off all the interest details to the ATO every year. They are pretty reasonable though. My wife and I have a number of TD accounts earning interest in her name, and I lost track of one that had matured early in the Financial Year. We too got a letter, so we rang and humbly apologised for the oversight and happily paid what was owed without penalty. You don't get anything for nothing these days.

That's the great thing about capital gains and, ahem, foreign investments. No one else dobs you in to the ATO.

So why do you berate me about the good Capital Gains deal I get on my investment properties? Seems a tad contradictory.

When did I do that?

[Red]

e.g. last year sent me a letter with a bill attached for the interest I earned.

It's the Tax law, Red. Your financial institutions send off all the interest details to the ATO every year. They are pretty reasonable though. My wife and I have a number of TD accounts earning interest in her name, and I lost track of one that had matured early in the Financial Year. We too got a letter, so we rang and humbly apologised for the oversight and happily paid what was owed without penalty. You don't get anything for nothing these days.

That's the great thing about capital gains and, ahem, foreign investments. No one else dobs you in to the ATO.

So why do you berate me about the good Capital Gains deal I get on my investment properties? Seems a tad contradictory.

I profited albeit accidentally by property too but I think there is a slight difference. People who choose to put their money in savings are making discretionary choices. People who negatively gear property are too, but the taxpayer is funding it and if they're smart they can avoid paying capital gains tax anyway. So the person who saves gets penalised while others who squander an equal income might end up going on the pension, and/or need public funding housing. In some ways the govt. doesn't provide any incentive to save yet from time to time bleats about how we're not saving enough!

Anyway Skully I can't remember berating you that often!

[skully]

e.g. last year sent me a letter with a bill attached for the interest I earned.

It's the Tax law, Red. Your financial institutions send off all the interest details to the ATO every year. They are pretty reasonable though. My wife and I have a number of TD accounts earning interest in her name, and I lost track of one that had matured early in the Financial Year. We too got a letter, so we rang and humbly apologised for the oversight and happily paid what was owed without penalty. You don't get anything for nothing these days.

That's the great thing about capital gains and, ahem, foreign investments. No one else dobs you in to the ATO.

So why do you berate me about the good Capital Gains deal I get on my investment properties? Seems a tad contradictory.

When did I do that?

You've said a number of times that the Capital Gain rules on investment properties are ridiculously generous. My view is they are excellent incentive for people like me to build the houses for others to live in.

[skully]

Anyway Skully I can't remember berating you that often!

The "berated" post was directed at JGK.

[Red]

e.g. last year sent me a letter with a bill attached for the interest I earned.

It's the Tax law, Red. Your financial institutions send off all the interest details to the ATO every year. They are pretty reasonable though. My wife and I have a number of TD accounts earning interest in her name, and I lost track of one that had matured early in the Financial Year. We too got a letter, so we rang and humbly apologised for the oversight and happily paid what was owed without penalty. You don't get anything for nothing these days.

That's the great thing about capital gains and, ahem, foreign investments. No one else dobs you in to the ATO.

So why do you berate me about the good Capital Gains deal I get on my investment properties? Seems a tad contradictory.

When did I do that?

You've said a number of times that the Capital Gain rules on investment properties are ridiculously generous. My view is they are excellent incentive for people like me to build the houses for others to live in.

Yes but it might have been necessary when it was brought in to encourage more building but there have been a lot of articles of late and anecdotal evidence that cashed up investors are actually pricing first home buyers out of the market so we're creating a society which is subsiding upper middle class wealth at the expense of those trying to get into the market. Without the tax incentives this might not be the case. The young ones might be able to avoid the rental trap which is making these landlords rich, partly funded by taxpayers' largesse.

[Henry]

The stock market might be worth tentatively dipping a toe into again in about six months time. Assuming the EU doesn't just consist of Germany and a few Nordic Countries by then......

Aye Trev. I'm waiting for some signs of stability. There are very few places for the average punter to get a good return at the moment so stocks have to start looking good again soon. It's still far too shaky for me to gamble just yet, so am parking my investment in cash ATM.

Stocks for most European banks (ie Lloyds) are dirt cheap at the moment. Any sign of a stable recovery and their price could shoot up by as much as 50% in a year. You could play safe and invest a moderate amount (say $50,000) and still get a very tidy return. But don't get greedy and hang on to them for too long. Banks being banks, they'll forget the past, go and push the limits again, and we'll be back to 2008.

[JGK]

You've said a number of times that the Capital Gain rules on investment properties are ridiculously generous. .

Well that is true. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be doing it if the rules allow you to though.

[skully]

The stock market might be worth tentatively dipping a toe into again in about six months time. Assuming the EU doesn't just consist of Germany and a few Nordic Countries by then......

Aye Trev. I'm waiting for some signs of stability. There are very few places for the average punter to get a good return at the moment so stocks have to start looking good again soon. It's still far too shaky for me to gamble just yet, so am parking my investment in cash ATM.

Stocks for most European banks (ie Lloyds) are dirt cheap at the moment. Any sign of a stable recovery and their price could shoot up by as much as 50% in a year. You could play safe and invest a moderate amount (say $50,000) and still get a very tidy return. But don't get greedy and hang on to them for too long. Banks being banks, they'll forget the past, go and push the limits again, and we'll be back to 2008.

Sage. Will keep a close eye on things.

[skully]

You've said a number of times that the Capital Gain rules on investment properties are ridiculously generous. .

Well that is true. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be doing it if the rules allow you to though.

You've chucked in my face a couple of times during Pinko v Blues stoushes. Just thought it odd, given your line of work. As you know, I deem you a classic enigma.

But no sweat, it's all good fun.

[skully]

You've said a number of times that the Capital Gain rules on investment properties are ridiculously generous. My view is they are excellent incentive for people like me to build the houses for others to live in.

Yes but it might have been necessary when it was brought in to encourage more building but there have been a lot of articles of late and anecdotal evidence that cashed up investors are actually pricing first home buyers out of the market so we're creating a society which is subsiding upper middle class wealth at the expense of those trying to get into the market. Without the tax incentives this might not be the case. The young ones might be able to avoid the rental trap which is making these landlords rich, partly funded by taxpayers' largesse.

Your memory is short. That great hero of the people, Paul Keating, abolished negative gearing in the late 80s/early 90s. It absolutely killed the housing investment market and sent rents through the roof due to lack of house building activity. He backflipped very quickly and it has been in place ever since.

I find the notion of resistance to "upper middle class wealth creation" (and I am very much middle class, I assure you - have watched the pennies very hard to get where my investments are these days - and I will never earn the sort of folding that a number on here do) Pinko welfare state thinking in the extreme. I was a typical first home buyer once. Let the farkers work as hard as me and my wife have the past 30+ years to get something behind them in the way of investments. I have a typical first home buyer couple living in an investment property up the coast, happily saving for their first home, which they can't afford right now, but will in 3 or 4 years.

[JGK]

You've said a number of times that the Capital Gain rules on investment properties are ridiculously generous. .

Well that is true. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be doing it if the rules allow you to though.

You've chucked in my face a couple of times during Pinko v Blues stoushes. Just thought it odd, given your line of work. As you know, I deem you a classic enigma.

But no sweat, it's all good fun.

I don't see it. You don't have to agree with the world to live in it.

In fact, part of the nobility of my line of work is to help exposure the flaws in the system by ruthlessly exploiting them. You can't get more community minded than that.

[horace]

hahhaha...there is a lawyer I know in Sydney who has the most odd hoby I have heard of...which is combing tax law for loopholes and advising the ATO on how to close them

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