With an aging population and ever decreasing government resources, Australians are looking at being less reliant on the social security safety net and planning personal strategies to give themselves comfortable financial security in later years. Given the vagaries of the stock market, investing in property is being recognised as a less risky way of owning…
Articles by Ken Raiss
Ken is director of Metropole Wealth Advisory and gives strategic expert advice to property investors, professionals and business owners. He is in a unique position to blend his skills of accounting, wealth advisory, property investing, financial planning and small business. View his articles
Capital gains tax (CGT) is the tax you pay on profits from selling assets, such as property. In essence, you make a capital gain when the difference between what it cost you to acquire your property (or another asset) and what you gained from selling it is greater than zero — in other words,…
Do you make the most out of your potential tax deductions? Do you keep good records to substantiate your tax claims? Well you should because the ATO regularly targets property investors, so it’s important that you know what you can and cannot claim as a tax deduction. Of course, expenses incurred in earning income, such as…
When is the most tax-effective time to undertake a renovation? You’ll find out as you watch this week’s Ask the Tax Expert video as Ken Raiss answers Lynda’s question about when is the best time to renovate the new home that she’s buying using a First Home Owner’s Grant. You see…she plans to make her…
Today it’s common for couples to purchase a property before they’ve walked down the aisle or even lived together. Naturally, they assume they’ll be together forever, and don’t put a lot of research into the long-term consequences of how their ownership should be structured. So to help better understand this, let’s take a look at…
A new client recently came to see me. He was a little hesitant at first as he had been using an accountant, lawyer, and financial planner and was apprehensive about the value Metropole Wealth Advisory could give. He left my office almost in tears when he realised the cost of his poor previous advice. Given that…
Testamentary discretionary trusts are great estate planning tools because they can offer tax minimisation, asset protection, and flexibility. Watch this video as Ken Raiss, Australia’s leading tax strategist, and Michael Yardney explain the benefits of setting up a Testamentary Discretionary Trust which is a type of trust created under a will and comes into existence…
Many of the property investors I speak with are often confused about the differences between Line of Credit facilities and Offset Accounts. Understanding how these two types of loan-related products can function will help determine the best fit for your property investment strategy. What is a Line of Credit? A Line of Credit (often abbreviated to ‘LOC’) is a…
Every year at tax time I wonder whether property investors are the only people in Australia who look forward to submitting their tax return! That’s because property investment not only provides us with the ability to create long-term wealth through the purchase of income-producing assets, but our tax system allows us to claim legitimate expenses…
Too many people consider life as a game of Monopoly. They think they can gamble on property, or the share market, without the right knowledge or advice. But unlike the famous board game, there is no miraculous pot of money in real life that we can dip into whenever we need it. Launching yourself into…