Your superannuation is one of the most important, not to mention tax efficient, ways to save for the most rewarding stage of your life – retirement.

Unfortunately, almost half of Australians aged between 45 and 64 do not feel confident they have adequate funds to do what they want in retirement.

Having the right plans in place to manage and grow your super can make a significant difference to your retirement goals. For some, this includes managing your own super independently through a self managed superannuation fund (SMSF).

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Changes to property investment loans in Australia have dominated finance news over the past few months. Barely a week goes by without yet another financial institution announcing changes to their investment loan interest rates or lending criteria.

So what does this mean for YOU, a current or potential consumer of finance products? Well if feedback across the industry is anything to go by it would seem it is mostly CONFUSION!

Let’s take a look at the changes that have occurred and break it down into simple language.

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Getting a clear idea of your financial situation and arranging finance ahead of time can save you unnecessary headaches later on and let you focus your energies on house hunting.

In a market of greater credit history scrutiny, it is now even more important to have your
financial situation fully assessed before placing your home on the market. Lenders’ servicing criteria, although more flexible than early post GFC days, still have strong boundaries and the uncertainty of how long the booming property market will continue makes it more important to drop the assumption that you will be able to afford the property you want.

If your home is realistically priced, you should expect to sell quickly. So be mindful – when you sign a contract to sell your home it is legally binding.

If you leave it too late to organise finance pre-approval, or you don’t have approval for your maximum borrowing capacity, you could find yourself in a dilemma during a pressurised auction without the full confidence that you can exchange on that contract.

Before determining your borrowing capacity it is important to understand all the financial impacts during the sale of your existing home and the purchase of a new home.

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It is not uncommon in the world of finance to find out many years later that the home loan that was set up for you wasn’t actually followed through as intended with the lending institution. We have all heard of lenders over charging interest every now and then, some accumulating to a few thousand dollars. But how could a lender over charge $81,000 without you even noticing?

 

Here’s how…

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Do you ever worry about how on earth YOU (or your children) will ever:

• Pay off those enormous uni fees?

• Move out of home?

• Find a job they enjoy working in long enough to create some decent work place skills?

• Enter the property market?

• Build a different life in retirement that will sustain them without having to work until they are 70?

• Handle a ‘real’ financial crisis?

• Manage financially if they become ill or are maderedundant?

• Handle a mortgage while bringing up kids?

• Afford to renovate, upgrade, move closer to work?

• This list could go on…

If you were like me, your parents probably didn’t encourage you to invest when you were younger.

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