Thursday 5 November 2015

RBA Cash Rate Announcement

At its meeting yesterday, the RBA Board decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 2.0 per cent.

If you would like to discuss the implications of this decision further, please don’t hesitate to contact Andre Thane on 0437 922 210.

Please also see link below to the RBA site for Statement by Glenn Stevens, Governor: Monetary Policy Decision.



Many thanks

Tuesday 1 September 2015

RBA Cash Rate Announcement - Tuesday 1st September, 2015

Good Afternoon,
At its meeting today, the RBA Board decided to again leave the cash rate unchanged at 2.0 per cent.
If you would like to discuss the implications of this in the market, please don’t hesitate to contact Andre.
Please also see link below to the RBA site for Statement by Glenn Stevens, Governor: Monetary Policy Decision.
http://www.rba.gov.au/media-releases/2015/mr-15-15.html
Disclaimer: This email and or its attachments or the content of the email or attachments do not represent the views, intentions or advice of any business component of the Thane Group.
This email and its attachments are not intended in any way to formulate any part of advice formal, personal or otherwise. 
This email is designed for the information only purposes of its recipient and therefore is not intended for re-circulation.

Thursday 27 August 2015

 
Congratulations on completing your Diploma of Management Lillian, we know you worked very hard to achieve this!






Tuesday 23 June 2015

UK PENSION TRANSFERS

There have recently been (additional) changes within the UK regarding the transfer of UK Pensions to foreign Superannuation funds. With all UK Pension transfer currently being put on hold until further notice. 
These changes have effected all UK Pension transfers to Australia across the board as the HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue Council - the body that governs the UK Rollovers) has changed the requirements that a Superannuation Fund needs to meet in order to be a compliant fund – or previously known as a QROPS fund (Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme).
In order to receive pension funds from the UK, an Australian fund needs to now be a ROPS scheme (Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme), however the requirements to meet a ROPS status have been slightly altered, with a new requirement that any funds within Superannuation are not permitted to be accessed prior to having met preservation age (retirement) – this means no early access is allowed.
This causes a problem for Australian Super funds because under the SIS Act Regulations (Superannuation Industry Supervision Act – the rules which govern our Superannuation) a member is able to obtain early access to their Superannuation funds if they are experiences financial hardship and compassionate grounds. This conflicts with the new ROPS requirements in order to be eligible to receive any UK Pension funds.
This has caused all Australian Super funds across the board suspend the rollover of any UK Pension funds.
As a result the ASFA (Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia) and the FSC (Financial Services Council) are in discussion with the Australian treasury who are in discussion with the HMRC for further clarification on the new regulations while applying for an exemption.
We hope to have a clear indication of how we can proceed with UK Pensions in the near future.
-Riechanne Ratering
Thane Financial Planner
Disclaimer: This email and or its attachments or the content of the email or attachments do not represent the views, intentions or advice of any business component of the Thane Group.
This email and its attachments are not intended in any way to formulate any part of advice formal, personal or otherwise.
This email is designed for the information only purposes of its recipient and therefore is not intended for re-circulation.

Saturday 20 June 2015

Interesting Article on Negative Gearing

I thought that this may be an interesting read on the future of negative gearing (from The West Australian online)… There is a lot of rhetoric building on the subject of whether negative gearing will be here in the future and what impact that will have on housing sales and pricing,
Please give me a call if you have any questions.
Andre Thane

ANZ boss Mike Smith has added to the push for Australia's negative gearing rules to be overhauled, saying the current system "doesn't feel right".
Mr Smith said the government should look at negative gearing - which allows property investors to claim interest on loan repayments against their income - as part of a broader review of the tax system.
"It is somewhat ironic that we live in country which encourages borrowing and discourages saving. That doesn't, somehow, feel right," he told a Trans Tasman Business Circle lunch on Wednesday.
"But I don't think you can look at negative gearing in isolation, I think the whole tax system needs to be looked at."
Mr Smith's comments follow calls from economists and the Greens to abolish negative gearing, with claims it unfairly benefits rich investors and pushes up property prices.
The Greens this week released research from the parliamentary budget office showing how axing negative gearing for new investors would save the budget nearly $3 billion over four years.
Bank of America Merill Lynch Australia chief economist Saul Eslake has said there is a "very compelling" case for scrapping the tax incentive to cool the hot Sydney and Melbourne property markets.
However, Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Treasurer Joe Hockey have ruled out any changes to existing rules, with Mr Hockey saying abolishing negative gearing would push rents up.
A report by HSBC on Wednesday showed Sydney prices have jumped 39 per cent in the past three years, while Melbourne prices were up 22 per cent, though the average price for the rest of the country was 10 per cent.
But Mr Smith doesn't think the Sydney market is in a bubble, yet.
"I don't think its quite a bubble yet but it certainly has the potential, so I think it has to be watched closely."
And he said while there were growing concerns about housing affordability in Sydney, it was still much cheaper compared to other major cities overseas.
"It's all a relative game, I was speaking to an investor the other day who was saying `oh house prices are getting higher in Sydney, but compared to Hong Kong and compared to New York, Sydney's quite good value'," he said.
Disclaimer: This email and or its attachments or the content of the email or attachments do not represent the views, intentions or advice of any business component of the Thane Group.
This email and its attachments are not intended in any way to formulate any part of advice formal, personal or otherwise.
This email is designed for the information only purposes of its recipient and therefore is not intended for re-circulation.

Tuesday 5 May 2015

RBA Cash Rate Announcement

The Reserve Bank of Australia Board have met yesterday and made the decision to lower the cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.0 per cent, effective 6 May 2015.
Please see below link:
This is good news for home buyers, but I am sure that it also raises a lot of questions for mortgage holders moving forward.
There are broader implications besides the fact that it lowers our mortgage repayments, both positive and negative.


Please contact Andre Thane on 0437 922 210 to discuss further.

Sunday 18 January 2015

What the New Year Holds:

Welcome to the New Year.

When we ask ourselves the question of what the new year holds economically, the best place to start is interest rates. The projection from the chief economist are a mixed bag - with NAB and Westpac backing a rate drop and ANZ backing a modest rate increase, CBA are sitting on the fence having recently changed their forecast from rise to cut. The RBA governor, Glenn Stevens, has indicated that he is still cautious about any talk of interest rates rising given the current market sentiment is still measured as low. He is however receiving some opposition from business leaders who propose that the fall in the AUD (now hovering on the 80cent/USD) will lift sentiment.

Overall the forecast is still for interest rates to remain in the historically low brackets for the medium term. The cash rate has remained a historical low for the last 18 months.

This sounds like good news for home owners and investors, but this has not played out in housing prices, with the majority of the capital cities experiencing a reduction in the average house prices (including the Eastern States that had previously been fuelling a pricing bubble). Perth prices (overall) have definitely stagnated or fallen. This has been brought about by the talk of an overheated Australian market. Whilst this talk of an overheated market is now holding back pricing it is also having an effect on demand, with housing approvals nationwide down on the previous quarter and down on the same period last year.

Many economist have predicted that the Perth will have a “tough” economic year, given the uncertainty in the mining sector, and this will flow on to the housing activity (buying and selling).

I find this view a little negative. Given that housing prices are pushing down and interest rates will remain low, we could hope to see the current demand levels continue and activity remain stable. We will just need to give the market some confidence of economic stability for this to remain true.

Of other economic interest… we expect rental yields to continue to fall by up to 10% (this is a product of low interest rates) and we expect housing surrounding mining to continue it’ sharp fall in value.
The AUD is tipped to drop further over the next calendar year.