Another from Sydney

Hey Guys,

Well im nice and new, ive been doing alot of research over different forums in the past few weeks to get my head around the Hybrid trusts and the best way to set a structure before i actually start investing.

Im actual a final year accounting student and ive got a Job at one of the Big 4 accounting firms lined up but unfortunally we dont learn any of this in our degree, so its no surprise i hear people saying i go to my accountant and he has no idea..

By i have 6 months till i graduate and i really want to learn as much as i can in those 6 months as from July ill be doing the active investing.

Currently i have a Small stocks portfolio of about $35,000 which is geared on the high side of high (about 90%) thanks to margin lending and a loan. These are held in my own name but being an accountant i see getting asset protection a fairly high priorty so the majority of my questions will be about trusts for now...

Thanks in advance for the help. Cheers

Welcome DaveA - hope you do well with your new job when you graduate.

Congratulations! - however -

Don't stay there for too long. They will make you work massive hours for your $40k per year and sell you to clients for big dollars as an expert.

I don't have personal experience here but have family members in that boat. After 2 years they quit and double their money elsewhere.

Yep, totally aware of that...

I want to work there so i can work with my Chartered Accountants degree and they provide the best training and knowledge to make it the most easy. I need to stay there for 3 years for this. My Charge out rate is $160/hour for someone who knows nothing. Seniors (after 3 years) are charged out for about $500/hour. All i can say is there are some large companys being ripped off.

Unsure of my progression, it maybe a move in forensic accounting or liquidations, private company or maybe even my own boutique accounting firm (a bit like Nicks) all i know is i want my CA first.

Big 4s pay you limited until about 7 years experiance where there is absolutly no one qualified, where they pay an absolute arm and leg to keep u there as most people leave after 3 years. They were telling me average staff turn over is 3.4 years. Hiring costs must be enormous...

Yeah my sister stayed with KPMG until she got her CA. She killed it actually, almost 1st in the state. She became a Senior there, they paid for the CA, then she left and now works for an investment bank at over 2x her previous salary. The hours are still pretty bad but the environment is much better than KPMG.

Good luck, sounds like you'll go great guns.

Hi Dave,

Chris Battens web-site is quiet interesting if you haven't viewed it yet.

i just had a quick view, it seems very interesting and seems to be a heap of stuff in the members section which would be worth subscribing to... the how tos seem quite interesting and im sure would make the monthly fee totally worth while...

Chris is the same bloke who NickM gets his trust deeds from, correct?