2012

Mortgage Tips and building you own Business

April 6, 2013 by Reporter Leave a Comment

More and more Australians are taking the plunge and starting their own home-based businesses. There are currently over 1 million individuals operating a business from home, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This number looks set to grow even larger with the easy availability of website building software.

The best website templates allow new business owners to create a professional ecommerce site from scratch, with little to no prior knowledge of web design. Recently there has been a surge in Real estate Start ups in Australia

However, starting a home business requires more than simply setting up a website. You’ll need to think of legal issues like registering for company names, business licences, and taxation. Using your residence as a place of business will mean that you must comply with all state, territory, and federal government regulations. To get started with this process, it’s best to contact your local council for more information.

At the same time, home business owners in need of a new mortgage may find that they face some unique issues. Applying for a home loan when you are self-employed can involve a completely different process than the usual one for salaried workers. There may be zoning issues that could affect your mortgage, as well as different standards for assessing your income. It’s best to weigh all these issues to finance a home that will be suitable for your business needs as well.

Choosing the Right Live/Work Property

One of the first unique challenges that a home business owner faces is choosing a property that provides adequate room for business needs. If you have just started up a basic ecommerce site using a Shopify website builder, you will most likely only need one spare room. However, those who plan on meeting with clients could need a full floor of the home. This could also impact your mortgage rates if a significant percentage of the property is used for commercial purposes. The exact percentage will depend on the lender.

How Lenders Assess your Finances

Every lender uses its own methods for assessing your income. In most cases they’ll look at your income using one of three basic methods.

1. Using the most recent year’s income – Although most lenders will use an average over a greater time period, some will only look at earnings from the past year to assess your income.

2. Using the average income from the past two years – Calculating the average income from the past two financial years gives lenders a well-rounded picture of your self-employed earnings.

3. Using the lowest income out of the past two years – If the most recent year’s income is lower than the previous year’s, it may worry a lender who will assume that this downward path could continue into the future. In this circumstance, they may use the lower figure out of the two years as the basis of their assessment.

To assess your earnings from a home-based business, lenders will look at your most recent tax returns as well as other expenses and financial information. Income from other sources, such as rental income, will usually be deducted from the figure that is scrutinized.

Low Document Loans

If you’re unable to find a lender who will help finance a mortgage using traditional methods like tax returns, you may qualify for a low doc home loan. These are available to home business owners who don’t have adequate financial proof available to satisfy income requirements. However, they usually require a higher down payment of at least 20% of the purchase price, and incur higher interest rates than traditional mortgages.

Fat tax introduced by Samoa Airlines

April 3, 2013 by Reporter Leave a Comment

Have you ever wondered if that fat person sitting in the aircraft has possibly left you with less luggage allowance.

Well Samoa airlines have taken steps so that everyone gets charged fairly. Samoa Air has become the world’s first pacific airline to introduce the ‘fat tax’, which will see overweight passengers paying more for their seats.

The Pacific island nations have some of the “world’s highest rates of obesity”, with Samoa usually included in the top ten countries for obesity levels.

The airline’s chief executive Chris Langton, has said that the fee is the “fairest way of travelling” with the added benefits to promote health and obesity awareness to locals.

How the fat tax works

Passengers will be required to type their weight and the weight of their baggage into the online booking section of the airline’s website.

Passengers will also be weighed on scales at the airport

The rates will then vary depending on the length of the trip and will see travellers paying $1 per kilogram on short haul flights to about $4.16 per kilogram on flights between Samoa and American Samoa.

The Samoa Air homepage reads "We at Samoa Air are keeping airfares fair, by charging our passengers only for what they weigh. You are the master of your Air’fair

According o Fiji times.com “The world’s first airline to charge passengers by their weight rather than per seat says the policy has helped to raise obesity awareness and improve public health”

Samoa Air flies from Samoa to American Samoa, North Tonga, Niue, North Cook Islands and French Polynesia. The airline does not fly large commercial aircraft, but rather small planes that are more susceptible to weight variances.

Do you find this Fair or just plain rude?

Let us know !!

Gillard crew Puts media speculation to end

March 21, 2013 by Reporter Leave a Comment

The time line of events leading from media speculation created by the media of a split in the labour party to the proposed caucus vote to choose a new leader and Kevin Rudd refusing to challenge Julia Gillard in a leadership if given below.

"The leadership has been settled in the most conclusive fashion possible," Ms Gillard told a press conference.

Major Media Corporations threatened by the new media laws reforms have been publishing on News channels, Print and Online websites of a split brewing in the labor party, which is likened to a destabilising of the running government

Time line of events

1. Government announces Media law reforms

1. Medial TV channels repeatedly announce/speculate of a split brewing in the labor party

2. Coverage backed up and escalated by radio news, Online websites and Local tv channels leading to a proposed caucus vote in labor party.

3. Julia gillard calls for caucus vote to put a end to a challenge if any raised or intended to be raised and puts a end to speculation with no challenge to the leadership .

4. Media agencies report that this is not the end of the issue, even though Kevin Rudd Announces that he will no challenge and support the current leadership into the coming elections

While the political instability has been terminated by the caucus vote outcome , this whole event has damaged the Image of the labour party even if it was brought upon by external agencies and speculation on the part of the media

Questions raised by the political drama

Was this motivated by media agencies or corporations who did not like the current government reforms ?
Was this done to destabilize the current government ?
Was there bigger powerbrokers orchestrating he whole drama behind the scenes?

Now what remains to be seen is if Labor party can come through and repeat a win like in the last elections, when Kevin Rudd was elected :0

Five Common Strategy Mistakes

March 12, 2013 by Reporter Leave a Comment

It’s easy to make mistakes in business. While big businesses may have the capital cushion to absorb most errors, small businesses don’t, and a mistake can finish a business before it’s managed to get off the ground. While overlooking a couple of figures in the ledger may be expensive, a strategy mistake can be fatal. So here are five pitfalls to avoid when you’re developing your small business strategy.

#1 – Marketing is NOT strategy

This is one of the biggest mistakes that new businessmen and women make. It may be intuitive to think of marketing as a big part of your strategy, but in fact it is merely a means to an end. A marketing-only strategy overlooks the fundamental points of a business strategy, such as projected growth, product development and other value-based considerations. Yes, marketing is crucial (after all, if people don’t know you’re there, they won’t buy your product!) but don’t let it become the all-consuming factor in your overall strategy. It’s a part, not the whole, so keep it in its place. This approach also prevents marketing expenses from escalating.

#2 – Size matters – be the biggest, be the best!

A common belief is that the bigger your company is, the more profitable it is. While there may be a small amount of truth behind that theory, it shouldn’t be the be-all and end-all of your business strategy. With greater growth comes greater expense, and just because a goal sounds good does not necessarily mean that it will be financially good for the company. A good fiscal balance is essential, so steady growth that’s sustainable and doesn’t put a strain on existing resources is more likely to succeed in the long term than rapid expansion and an attempt at market domination.

#3 – Growth is not a strategy

Following on from #2, let’s reiterate that growth in itself is not a ‘business strategy’ – it’s an aim or goal, yes, but not a strategy! The strategy part is how you achieve that growth, and again to ensure that it is sustainable. Don’t confuse strategy with actions. Strategy is your causation, and growth (if you do it right!) is your effect. The actions you take to achieve growth are part of your strategy.

#4 – Do ‘What you’re good at’ – your competitive advantage

It’s very easy to overestimate your business’s strengths and therefore skew your overall strategy because of the inclusion of incorrect or inaccurate data. Yes, you may be good at making product A, but if your customers want product B then making too much of product A is obviously the wrong strategy. Be realistic about your strengths and advantages, and remember that an advantage is often something more visceral, such as providing a better standard of customer care than your rivals. This gives you a competitive edge in that particular area of the strategy, but it also demonstrates that there may be other parts of the plan that need to be addressed for the overall strategy to work, such as making more of product B!

#5 – High growth markets are where the money is

High growth industries may look attractive on paper, but for small businesses it can be a case of reaching too high, too fast. Growth is also no guarantee that a business will be profitable, and may over-stretch a business’s resources and finances. It could also put your suppliers in control, rather than you. Nobody ever got wealthy chasing after a fast buck, and rapid growth is often followed by extremely rapid decline, especially if you can’t pay your suppliers and they end up cutting you off. Again, the key is sustainability, so ensure that your strategy revolves around the long-term, rather than short-term rapid gains.

Author Carlo Pandian is a management graduate and blogs about finance, small business and technology. He also writes tutorials on Intuit small business accounting software and loves sharing tips for entrepreneurs about how they can boost their businesses.

Stock market Picks : Toxfree

March 9, 2013 by Reporter Leave a Comment

A 33 % jump in net profit definitely signifies a positive outlook for a company and tox free ( waste management and industrial solutions ) should be happy in the direction they are going.

Toxfree Solutions Ltd (Toxfree) is a integrated waste management and industrial service provider, who provides sustainable waste management solutions for all types of waste including commercial, household, industrial, construction and hazardous waste..

“Tox free” has reported a jump in profit of $10.5 million for the first half of the financial year and its shareholders are pleased with the results.

Website:www.toxfree.com.au

Toxfree share price: $3.450
(Updates every 20 minutes)
Click here for full details

Tox free is a WA owned company and it revenue has risen to 43 percent to 131.6 million with earnings before interest, tax ,depreciation and amortisation up 39 % to 28 million

They have over 30 facilities nationally and employing a team of over 800 people and service over 20,000 customers nationally

Tox free has also been lucky with expansion into the coal seam gas industry in Queensland as a result of its acquisition of Absolute Liquid Waste services earlier which is based in towoomba, which has also added to its rapid growth.

The company has performed very well this year and is in great shape to extend its winning run of earnings growth into the current financial year.

Links

31 December 2012
Toxfree Half Year Results – period ending 31 December 2012

12 December 2012
ASX Announcement Acquisition Absolute Waste – 10-12-2012

http://www.asx.com.au/smalltomidcaps/asx.pdf

More midcap stocks and penny stock picks can be found at australianpennystocks.com

Liability disclaimer : Advice received via the Australian business times web Site should not be relied upon for personal, medical, legal or financial decisions and you should consult an appropriate professional for specific advice tailored to your situation.

Pros and Cons of Getting Life Insurance from Your Employer

March 7, 2013 by Reporter Leave a Comment

Benefits offered by your employer are always a plus; it helps show that your employer cares about you and wants to help reward your time and effort dedicated to the company, and with the economy fluctuating all the time, it probably seems unreasonable to turn down any offers. Life insurance coverage offered from your employer may be tempting to accept without any hesitation, but before you sign on too quickly, it’s important to consider both the advantages and disadvantages of employer sponsored life insurance plans.

The Perks

Life insurance offers financial peace of mind to you and your family, and it allows your employer to be better able to continue the company if something were to happen to you. There are many advantages for having your employer sponsor your life insurance policy. Not only is it paid for (or at least greatly reduced), but most life insurance policies provided by employers require no medical evaluation of your personal insurability. Factors such as smoking, weight, current health conditions, and health history that would usually make your premiums skyrocket, or even cause you to be deemed uninsurable, aren’t considered when a group life insurance policy is taken out. It’s a one-for-all kind of a deal, and it’s a great incentive for those who wouldn’t qualify for or otherwise couldn’t afford their own individual policy.

If the life insurance is offered at a discounted rate, it’s much more convenient to pay off. Most employers will deduct the amount out of your pay check, or more recently, right out of your super fund. That way, you don’t have to worry about keeping up with payments as the administrative duties are already handled for you.

The Kinks

As with most things in life, there are both negative and positive sides to accepting employer-sponsored life insurance. As nice as it is saving money on life insurance by going through the company’s policy, there are a few things to consider; it’s important to really sit back and think about you and your family’s needs. Many group life insurance policies don’t offer adequate coverage for employees with dependents, and if the purpose of having a life insurance plan is to be able to allow your family to pay off your debts as well as be financially provided for in case something were to happen to you, group life insurance probably won’t cut it.

One other thing to think about is that your company insurance plan covers you for the time you’re employed there; it does not protect you if you should decide to find employment elsewhere, if the company goes under, or if you’re laid off or fired. Having to start a policy over again can be more costly, and if you decide on term insurance, your cycle will start all over again. Some insurance companies offer a continuation plan in the event you lose your employer sponsored coverage, but those generally come with significantly higher premiums. If you’re working at a company with a strong reputation, and if you plan on sticking with it for a while, this might not be of too much concern. On the other hand, if you don’t like the feeling of being tied down, then getting an individual plan would probably be the best option.

A group life insurance policy is owned by the employer, and therefore, he/she is the only one who can make any changes or additions to the plan. Often times, employers do this without consulting their employees, so if there are certain things that you strongly want or need to stay consistent with your plan, it’s best to own your own policy and have full control over it.

Evaluate Your Needs

After weighing the pros and cons associated with what insurance plan your employer is offering, it’s time to make the decision. Many experts recommend using any free or discounted life insurance policy being offered as a supplement to your own plan, but not as the sole provider. You can never have too much coverage, but you can certainly have too little. It’ s best to work out your individual needs , compare it with what is being offered by the company, and make sure to cover the rest yourself. An individual policy is usually the best choice because it allows for mobility, adequate coverage, and freedom of changing or modifying the policy. After all, it’s best to be the one in control when it comes to matters regarding the future safety of you and your family. Mark Haberfield writes for AAMI life insurance when he’s not spearfishing off the NSW coast.

Low doc loans solutions for self employed business people

March 5, 2013 by Reporter Leave a Comment

Are you a self-employed professional? Do you find availing loans for your business or personal needs difficult? Did you face unending hassles the last time you applied for loan from the bank?

Self employed low doc loans

If the answers for all the questions are in positive then it means you are facing some serious hardships in availing loans, which be quiet disappointing for the future plans you’ve made.

However, the long wait is finally over.

No longer would you be facing trouble standing in the long queue and waiting your turn only to find that the application for loan approval has been rejected.

The answer is in the form of a path-breaking financial products—– “low doc loans” or “low documentation loans.”

How do they help?

Low doc loans are specially designed for the people who are self employed and who face difficulty in furnishing up to date documents related to the income source and various other financial details. There are situations where the produced documents don’t actually reflect the source of consistent income. Hence the application for loan, receives rejection wherever applied.

Regular loans lenders find it very unsafe to offer loans to people categorized under self-income groups due to the instability of their business in comparison to regular income holders.Therefore, lending funds to such individuals is termed as a huge risk and banks generally refrain from lending it to them.

These loans could very easily add on to the list of Non Performing Assets (NPA’s) for these banks.

Other advantages of low doc loans:

· The number of financial documents required to avail the low doc loan is fewer than otherwise. It solves the major problem for the loan aspirants categorized under self-employed groups.

· Low doc home loans in Australia is available up to 90% of the market value of the property. This means that the applicant receives higher amount of the funds than from regular sources.

· The options under this category are innumerable and the aspirant can easily decide on the best possible choice as per the needs.

· Low doc loans offer redraw repayment facility. This is one of the main features of the loans that impart unique credibility and attractiveness to them. This feature is present in much selected regular loan schemes.

· In addition, the applicant receives the option of flexible repayment and unlimited extra repayment without any early exit. This adds a unique cover of security to low doc loans. In short, they have all the necessary features that make them more preferred.

Therefore, even in conclusion, we can state that low doc loans or low documentation loans are the best option for self employed people. However, they should make it a point to enquire about the stamp fee and miscellaneous expenses along with the total repayment amount before applying for these loans.

These loans are easily available at all the banking institutions where they can be easily accessed. It is always better to evaluate your borrowing potential before thinking of applying for low doc loans. Red Rock Mortgage Group is an independent mortgage finance company specializing in property finance solutions.

Britons Served horsemeat instead of beef

February 19, 2013 by Reporter Leave a Comment

A food scandal has erupted in UK and France where horsemeat was used instead of beef in popular ready top eat quick food like lasagne and pasta dishes.

In more recent update the food scandal is still unfolding with Nestle, the world’s biggest food company now having to remove beef pasta meals from shelves in Italy and Spain after tests revealed traces of horse DNA.

In the quick food packed products , the meat in some cases was found to be more than 60 percent horsemeat.

This seemed to be the biggest meat scandal after the “mad cow disease” incident In the United Kingdom, the country worst affected, more than 180,000 cattle have been infected and 4.4 million slaughtered during the eradication program

The ready to bake quick meals widely available in France and UK and also Europe Deli and stores were made in Luxembourg for the Swedish firm Findus.

Up to 16 countries have now been implicated in a European horsemeat scandal

Britain’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) has confirmed that its horse meat with Packets of lasagne being withdrawn in Sweden as well as in the UK..

Findus and its French supplier, Comigel have been the parties involved in getting this products to the shelves of stores

Australias’s biggest supermarket chain will DNA test its home-brand meals in the wake of Europe’s horse meat scandal .Supermarket chains in Britain, France and Sweden have pulled millions of packs of lasagne, other pasta dishes, shepherd’s pies and moussaka on fears of it containing horsemeat

Nestle withdrew two chilled pasta products, Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini, in Italy and Spain.

Lasagnes a la Bolognaise Gourmandes, a frozen product for catering businesses produced in France, will also be withdrawn.

About horse meat

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“Horse meat is the culinary name for meat cut from a horse. It is a major meat in only a few countries, notably in Central Asia, but it forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many others, from Europe to South America to Asia.

The top eight countries consume about 4.7 million horses a year. For the majority of mankind’s early existence, wild horses were hunted as a source of protein. It is slightly sweet, tender, and slightly higher in fat content than beef”

The UK and Germany have both pledged to step up testing of frozen food products on the wake of this “meat scandal”.

Significant investor visa 888 Opens doors for Chinese Immigrants

February 14, 2013 by Reporter Leave a Comment

The government has launched a new significant investor visa. The New Permanent) (Subclass 888) visa will enable Wealthy chines to jump the queue and get permanent residency in Australia.

The Australian 888 Investor visa

The number of the subclass of the visa 888 which is a lucky number in china, indicates who the visa is targeting.

The visa requirements are a bit relaxed except for the investing part, where the applicant would need to invest $5 million or more to be eligible to get this visa.

The usual age , language and residency requirement for other visas does not apply to this visa making it easier to the investor to gain residency irrespective of these factors.

Requirement of the VISA

Complying investments for the Significant Investor visa include:

• Applicants should submit an expression of interest in Skill Select
•applicants should be nominated by a State or Territory government
• Applicants should make investments of at least five million Australian dollars into complying
investments as below.

• Commonwealth, State or Territory government bonds
• Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) regulated managed funds
with a mandate for investing in Australia; and
• direct investment into Australian proprietary companies.

For more details and requirements click here

Visa applicants may hold investments in each of the above investment options and may also
change between complying investments, provided they meet specified reinvestment
requirements

Similar Investor visa schemes have also been introduced in other countries like UK , New Zealand , United states, Singapore and Canada.

The previous “Investor (Provisional) (Subclass 162) visa” is closed to new applications from 1 July 2012. Only eligible dependent applicants can be added to an existing application that was lodged on or before 30 June 2012.

Australian Business Investor Stream Visa

The Australian Business Investor Stream (Provisional) visa is a temporary business skills visa that allows successful business people to invest in a new or existing business in Australia.

The Australian Business Investor Stream (Provisional) is valid for four (4) years and visa holders may be eligible to apply for permanent residence after meeting the obligations of their visa.

UK investor visa

The Tier 1 (Investor) category is for high-net-worth individuals who want to make a substantial financial investment in the UK.

Other UK VISAS

US INVESTOR VISA

EB-5 Immigrant Investor

Under the government’s EB-5 Immigrant Investor program, foreign investors can get conditional visas that allow them and their families to live, work and attend school in the U.S.

To qualify for the visa, they must invest at least $1 million in a new or recently created business, or $500,000 for businesses in rural or high-unemployment areas

New Zealand Investor and Investor Plus

The Investor Visa (Investor 2 Category) is an option if you plan to invest a minimum of NZ$1.5 million over a four year period.

If you’re looking to invest $NZ10 million or more then the Investor Plus Visa (Investor 1 Category)is more suitable. Click here to see the difference of these two visas

Links for Australian Visas:

Significant Investor Visa ( 68KB PDF file)
Significant Investor Visa – Frequently Asked Questions ( 90KB PDF file)

Other business Investment visas

Telstra plans to throttle customers internet speed

February 10, 2013 by Reporter Leave a Comment

Telstra is now planning to slow the speed at which its ADSL and Broadband customers download content through peer-to-peer (P2P) networks in peak periods as part of a new trial to provide them with better bandwidth savings.

A Telstra statement said it would be conducting the trial on a "small number" of ADSL customers in Victoria.

Broadband networks have been coming under increasing pressure in recent times with the explosion of hand held devices like FAST smartphones and tablets that now also add to the list of devices that consume internet , other than the traditional Desktop PC.

AS per a statement , P2P networks are commonly used to download pirated material such as movies, music and video games and so speeds of many consumers could be affected. Many popular software’s like torrents software’s and DC++ use peer to peer networks, including some chat messengers with the capability in the past.

As per media reports “the telco planned to introduce throttling as a "trial" that could become permanent and which required users to opt out if they didn’t want to take part in it.The trial could begin as soon as this week.

Critics of ISPs says that interference with P2P downloading or throttling could also affect users that use peer to peer networks for legal purposes.

"Once the trial is complete we will consider the results as part of our future network planning and product development activities," the company said.

Telstra published a blog post explaining its trial after Fairfax Media published this story.