the honest truth is that 98% of us don\’t do it properly and as for the 2% of

Australian\’s that do budget well …..they aren’t very much fun at parties !

The key to setting a budget and actually sticking to it is one of Self Discipline.

Self Discipline is defined as \’doing what needs to be done, when it needs to be done

regardless of whether or not you feel like doing it.\’

Hence, why we are all so hopeless at it, getting ourselves into payday loans with extremely high interest rates! Especially when you have guys like Mr

Harvey Norman throwing interest free deals at you day in-day out, your desire for the

latest plasma TV or couch becomes too much to resist, and our self discipline goes

out the window.

We as Australians, have gone from living in a \’savings\’ based society to what is now

a \’credit\’ based society. What I mean by that is, back in \’the good old days\’ if our

parents didn\’t have the cash or savings to buy something (a car for example), they

wouldn\’t buy one. Whereas these days, if we don\’t have the cash or savings to buy

something we will simply go and put it on credit just so that we can fulfill our need

for short-term gratification.

There are 2 secrets to budgeting, and they are simple:

DON\’T USE CREDIT CARDS
KEEP YOUR SURPLUS OUT OF SIGHT (and therefore out of mind)
When you use credit cards, all you are doing is spending money that you don\’t have.

We as humans all think the same, and I know from my personal experience that if I

have $500 in my bank account, I will spend $500. I also know that if I have $2,000

in my bank account I will spend $2,000. It is just the way that our minds work……

In regard to the 2nd point – \’keeping your money out of sight and out of mind\’, this

really comes down to your banking structure. I recommend that all of my clients have

a seperate \’living account\’ in which all their food, fuel and bills money is

deposited into by their payroll office each pay day. They then have another account

setup for them, which is not directly accessible. They have their payroll deposit

the remainder of their income into this 2nd account where all the surplus money will

accumulate. Note: I personally advise all of my clients to use their home loan as

this 2nd account because they can\’t directly touch it or see the surplus, and it also

goes to work for them by off-setting the interest payable on their mortgage each day.

By following these 2 simple steps it will just about be impossible for you to spend

more than you earn, and you\’ll accumulate a very healthy surplus in your mortgage

account, where it can just sit and work for you until you REALLY do need it.

Begin Considering these Debt Consolidation Techniques today.

Consolidation. It is a technique that is really well known throughout the US, but not

so many people are familiar with it here in Australia. I thought I\’d share some of

my views on it with you.

By simply rolling a number of your smaller individual debts such as credit cards,

personal loans and car loans into the one loan it actually allows you reduce your

monthly debt repayments quite substancially. By getting your credit cards (16%), AGC

Cards (24%), Car Loans (11%) and Personal Loans (11%) all onto a lower interest rate

of approximately 7% the money you save is mind blowing.

As an example, rather than paying 16% on a credit card which is maxed out at $5,000,

you can consolidate it onto your home loan. The saving is around $37 per month in

interest repayments. That may not sound like a lot in savings, but keep in mind

interest is charged daily, so that is a saving that compounds each and every day of

each and every month.

This debt consolidation technique allows you to knock more money off of the principal

each month, as you are now paying at least HALF the amount of interest on the debt.

By utilizing debt consolidation you will end up having all of your debt under the one

loan with just the one, low simple monthly repayment.

Many Australians are so highly geared at the moment, that they are only living a week

or two ahead of the debt collector. As interest rates continue to rise over the next

year, the average Australian will be feeling the pinch.

In summary, debt consolidation is evolving as a clean and simple way of restructuring

your finances onto a more effective and efficient financial set-up.

cards. This is a direct result of clever marketing campaigns, softening lending

policies and the convenience associated with credit cards.

Our parents all lived in a \’savings\’ based society, where if they didn\’t have the

cash they didn\’t buy it! These days we are continually being exposed to direct

marketing and easy access to credit. This has resulted in us transforming into a

\’credit\’ based society, where if we don\’t have the money we just put it on credit and

worry about paying for it later!

One of my clients Daniel owned a house with a mortgage and after reading about the

option of refinancing his home loan, he decided to contact one of our fully qualified

refinancing specialists to find out more about how refinancing his mortgage might be

able to help him reduce his monthly repayments and pay less interest on what he owed

on his credit cards.

Daniel was making a repayment each and every month of $400 to the credit card

companies, with an interest rate on his credit cards of 16%.

We did some calculations for him and found the following:

He would pay $9,484 in interest before his credit cards were clear.

It would take 5 years and 9 months to pay off the cards if he didn\’t make any more

purchases with them.

Daniel wanted to reduce his monthly repayments to $300.

By refinancing his home loan at 7% and consolidating his credit card debt into the

new mortgage it changed the figures quite dramatically:

He would pay only $4,153 in interest charges, less than half the previous interest

charges.

It would take 6 years and 2 months to repay his credit card debt, slightly longer,

however he would have an extra $100 to spend each month during that time.

If Daniel had decided to continue making repayments of $400 then:

He would pay $2,895 in interest and;

It would take him only 4 years and 4 months to pay off the debt.

Every day we are assisting clients like Daniel lower their credit card debt.

Due to the fact that every situation is unique its important you let one of our

qualified refinancing specialists help assess your situation and in turn provide you

with the available options.

Click here NOW to get your free quote!

interest for each month with the next mortgage payment (meaning you pay the interest

for January with the payment on February 1). Therefore, whenever you pay off your

loan, you will owe a certain amount of interest to your old bank from the last

payment up until the closing.

This amount will vary depending on the interest rate of the loan you are paying off

and the day you close your new loan or sell your house. A good guess is to add about

75% of your monthly payment on the old loan to the current principal balance of that

loan. This should give you a good cushion and be close to the final figure for your

payoff amount.

The other side of interest in arrears is that when you close on a new loan, you

\”skip\” a payment, meaning that the first of the month passes one time without you

paying a mortgage payment. The truth is that between the higher payoff and interest

per diem or \”prepaid interest\” on your new loan, you have already paid those 30 days

of interest.

I am always available should you have any refinancing questions on documentation or

any other aspect of mortgages. Please feel free to leave a comment.

mortgage will be the best decision youll ever make.

You will save thousands of dollars in interest repayments and free up some much

needed cash flow.

Our debt consolidation specialists are able to let you know exactly how much time and

money they can SAVE you by consolidating all of your existing debts and putting them

under the one roof.

With just one monthly debt repayment to worry about, your life will be far less

stressful and your money problems will disappear.

An example of a standard debt consolidation client:

Home Loan $200,000 $1,400 per month repayment
Credit Card $15,000 $450 per month repayment
Car Loan $20,000 $445 per month repayment

TOTAL $235,000 $2,295 per month repayment

After the Debt Consolidation $1,565 per month repayment

A massive SAVING of $730 per month in repayments

To find out how much money we can save you, contact one of our debt consolidation

specialists NOW!

wanting to know more about mortgage offset accounts.

Q. What exactly are the benefits of a mortgage Offset account ?

The key to this question is, why is an offset account better than a standard home

loan? To start with, if you have any sum of money sitting in your offset account,

that sum of money will directly offset the interest payable on your debt. Eg. If

your mortgage for a home with home elevators is $200,000 and you have an offset account with $5,000 sitting in it,

then you\’ll be paying interest daily on $195,000. The result is a saving in interest

of approx $30 per month (based on an interest rate of 7%).

Now those savings may not sound like too much, but \’interest saved is interest

earned\’ !

In theory it sounds great, but realistically the everyday Australian doesn\’t have a

\’lazy\’ $5,000 just sitting around in an offset account. If you want a loan with a set

repayment and a set term with the option of having any excess or surplus funds

working for you, then the mortgage offset account will suit you

Personally, I do consider the offset account to be a better home loan than your

standard 25 or 30 year loan, but it is by no means the best loan out there on the

market as the benefits certainly aren\’t as great as one first thought !

the loan term. It can happens to everyone, the roof is leaking, the credit card

bills are pilling up and it is almost time for a new car. But where are you going to

get the money to do all of these things? The need for extra cash can be very

frustrating and worrisome, however if you are a home owner you have a variety of

financial options available to you that you may not even be aware of. You should look

into refinancing as a viable option to solve your financial worries.

Why Should I Refinance?

There are a few reasons for refinancing your mortgage:

* To lower monthly payments
* To shorten the length of the mortgage
* To take advantage of low interest rates
* To finance a home project or CFD Trading renovation
* To consolidate bills
* Reduce Risk

Refinancing your mortgage can give you a lot of options as far as the freedom of a

little bit extra cash. There are a few different ways that you can go about

refinancing and the best way for you depends on what you are hoping to accomplish and

what your own personal situation is.

When should I Refinance ?

The best time to refinance your mortgage is when you have outstanding personal debts

on higher interest rates, such as credit cards and car loans and a lack of equity in your self managed super . This way you are able

to get your personal debt off these high interest rates of 16% and down onto rates of

around 7%. This results in a massive saving in interest as well as freeing up some

much needed cash flow for you and the family !

Refinancing is a great time to re-assess your loan structure, as it gives you the

opportunity to get your broker to shop around for Australia\’s best home loan. An

article on a refinancing blog

http://mortgagerefinance.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2005/3/29/488091.html

details a few of the reasons and benefits of looking at your refinancing options over

the net.

\”Online, you can view a lot of information very quickly. After looking at a few

mortgage loan websites, you will know quickly that when you refinance you have many

options. Do you want to get cash out of your home? Do you want to borrow more than

your homes current value? Do you want an interest only loan? And, you will know right

away which mortgage companies offer these options. There are many different kinds of

refinance loans, and all of these options can be learned after a few minutes of

searching online.\”

There are a few loan structures out there on the market, which will give you

exceptional flexibility and freedom. This means that you will never have to worry

about refinancing your loan down the track, which will potentially save you on

incurring more application fees, valuation fees, solicitor fees and stamp duty !

One of the latest stats in the mortgage industry is that the average Australian

refinances their home loan every 3.9 years. Now as we all know, banks are

exceptionally clever businesses. They are able to generate profits of up to $1

million p/hour per day.

During the first 5 years of your mortgage, the majority of your repayments will go in

interest (bank profit). When you refinance your home loan to purchase a car or go on

that holiday, the banks are quite cheeky as they reset your home loan clock back to

the start of another 25 or 30 year mortgage. Hence you start all over again, having

to pay back an obscenely large amount of bank profit (interest) for the first 5

years, and the vicious cycle begins again…..