You might have heard the terms ‘income return’ and ‘capital return.’ These are the two different ways to make money on an investment. Income return is the return you receive while you continue to hold an investment. In the sharemarket, the income return comes as dividends. In the property market, the income return comes as … Continue Reading

The Federal Budget was handed down last Tuesday, May 8, 2018. While the measures announced in the budget are yet to be passed by Parliament, we can generally assume that most of the announcements will become reality. From an individual perspective – especially if you do not grow illegal tobacco or participate in the black … Continue Reading

Positive gearing is the opposite of negative gearing. It is jargon for borrowing to buy an investment where the expected assessable income is more than the expected deductible interest cost (and other costs). Income is greater than expenses, and your assessable income increases accordingly. In the context of housing, if you borrow the full purchase price, … Continue Reading

As financial advisers, we want you to manage all of your financial affairs as effectively as possible. So, we want to explain a simple but powerful concept that makes sure that any donation you give does as much good as possible. The idea is to give donations to charities for which you can claim a … Continue Reading

This story was recently told to us by a fellow adviser. He does a lot of work with doctors. Dr Ethan and his wife Esther migrated to Australia in 1988. They were Russian Refuseniks, brought to Australia from the USSR under a special deal done by the then prime minister, Bob Hawke. Ethan’s medical qualifications … Continue Reading

As any business owner knows, there are ways to express the cost of anything: before tax and after tax. And as any successful business owner knows, it is the after-tax cost that needs to be minimised. This is especially important when it comes to the interest you pay on your debt. Minimizing the real after … Continue Reading

Financial planners divide debt into two types: deductible debt and non-deductible debt. Deductible debt lets the borrower claim a tax deduction for the interest incurred on the debt. Non-deductible debt does not. Whether interest is deductible or not can have a massive impact on how expensive that debt actually is. When interest is not deductible, … Continue Reading

Most business owners eat at least one meal a day in the office or factory. So here is some good news: if you run your business through a company or trust, then the food you eat at work is probably tax deductible. Some background Usually, meals are a private expense. And usually, there is no … Continue Reading