investing now?? advice

property developments can make money, and can also loose lots of money if things are delayed, approvals not granted, material costs up, expected selling price not reached due to falling market etc etc,

we arrange safe guards as with all investing limiting risk the key

project choice (mum & dad homes) easy to sell

fixed price building contracts (eliminates cost increases)

time penalties (delays are paid for )

pre-approvals for each protect before start

markets falling affects all investments residential property is less volatile than shares

Hi I'm new here and don't have advice about what you should do but I would like to give my experience.

We went to seminars, got phone calls etc and had a few financial advisers come out.

All advised us to use our equity to buy shares in a managed fund and to change our super to their recommended one AND get insurance with their fund.

Now I know there are some great financial advisers out there but there are a lot of shonkys too.

I asked about salary sacrificing which was totally ignored. When I pointed out my super fund charged a lower rate and had a better performance than the one they were pushing it fell on deaf ears.

My point is- is your person out to help you or just make a commission?
Tough decision I know. We deliberated for years but after research we have made some decisions and are heading in the right direction (we hope so anyway).
Good luck to you.

catalyst,

did the advisors disclose what commission/benefits they will get from selling products to you? I think they are required to by law.

Do you have insurance in your existing super fund? Having income protection insurance in your super is a good idea, because income protection insurance is important (depending on your circumstances, but most people need it) and it generally costs you less if you buy it in a super fund.

They might not have wanted to talk about salary sacrifice because perhaps your employer has salary sacrifice arrangements with only their own employer nominated super fund - thus salary sacrifice to the super funds the advisors are trying to sell you might not be possible. If that is the case, i would agree with your suspicions of them not having your best interests at heart.

good to see you are on the ball, ask them lots of questions.

If you are worried about commission influencing recommendations you might want to see an advisor that charges upfront (hourly or something like that). I understand these advisors are hard to find.

Thanks, At the end the commissions were written down.

I don't have income protection. But if I lost my job tomorrow It wouldn't worry me. Financially I'd be OK. And my job is as secure as a job can be. Plus I have 4 months long service leave and a months sick leave. I think I'm covered.

My main reason for seeking financial advice a few years back was that we had paid our mortgage out and wanted to know what to do with the extra cash each week. I wanted advice on weather to increase my salary sacrifice (I was already doing this), pay off my investment property, buy more property or buy shares (or a combination).

Anyway we gave up, bought another property, increased my salary sacrifice and am now looking for another property.

Right thing to do??? I guess I'll find out.

Well at least you're taking charge and action, which is a lot more than the majority of people out there. Out of interest, where are you looking for your next IP purchase?

If you use borrowed money now (from the LOC) to invest in managed funds, you will be buying the funds cheaper than they were a year ago (ie you will get more units per dollar) but for the time being you will also get smaller returns than when we were in a bull market. If it was me with 140K to spend I would keep some money aside to pay the interest for the next year or two (perhaps keep 20k) on the assumption that the returns from the funds will not be enough to pay the loc interest in the short term. Another approach might be instead of putting a large amount into funds in a one lump, you could average into it, perhaps put 10k-15k a month. You would do this as a safe guard if your view of the market is that there was still plenty of downside. Of course you wouldn't invest in funds if you didn't believe that long term (perhaps 7 years) that they would average at least 15-20%. Just my view, your mileage may vary, and the 20k loc that we have sitting idle, will be used for an IP purchase instead of funds...

If you think oil prices will only get higher and higher, consider investing in companies that stand to benefit from this. That is, energy companies. In Australia there is Woodside Petroleum, Oil Search, and Santos. Share prices in these companies in the last year have increased more than oil prices.

If you want a managed fund consider the Colonial First State Global Resources Fund, which as the name suggests invests in resource companies all over the world.

I don't do this however because I just have a feeling oil and petrol prices might go down. The future is uncertain.