PROPERTY UPDATE BY DEAN LETFUS

What’s happening out there?? The next 12 months is going to be very interesting I suspect for us all. On the one hand it is a great time to be investing and getting a good plan in place and executed. (I guess there is never a bad time but now has lots of fringe benefits).

On the other hand the level of uncertainty in just about every part of the world makes us wary of poking our head out of our shells. At the risk of sounding like a broken record I still maintain we are only exiting part 1 of a 2 part slump. The dead cat will eventually come back to the earth as the impact of printing trillions of dollars hits us with inflation and the subsequent fall out.

So I am anticipating unemployment to continue rising and our dollar being eroded in terms of buying power. All this makes investing in property an essential of course. I literally laughed out loud this week when I saw a government agency had just announced that their research showed that the superannuation system was unsustainable. I have only been saying that for 3 years and trying to get people to start investing because the pension wouldn’t be there. Finally the government has realised what was as plain as day to most intelligent people :

Sadly their solution, kiwisaver, is a joke in as much as it is voluntary and way too small. They should have and I believe ultimately will be forced to follow the much better OZ model, 9% and compulsory. And you can INVEST IT IN PROPERTY!!

People, all people, you and I excepted, are stupid and do not do what is best for them so in some cases force is the only answer, if the result is critical to a nation. And NZ avoiding bankruptcy is pretty critical I reckon.

So can I remind you again do something about your retirement yourself, get an investing plan documented, planned and implemented, start today!!

FINANCE UPDATE BY KRIS PEDERSEN:

Kris Pedersen Finance Strategist

Are the banks knocking???

Obviously the global recession has hit hard and many people are falling further and further behind in bills and wondering where they are going to get the funds to keep their heads above water. Even though the traditional bank low-docs have gone there is still finance company funding around for those who have equity but no income or cash and need assistance.

We write a number of deals every month where people are heading towards mortgagee sale and we manage to refinance them away, give them some cash flow relief and more time to sell.

If you have a lender knocking at your door this could be a great option to buy you some time so you can sell over the seasonal summer period when prices are often stronger.

Contact me here if you or someone you know is in this position and needs help.

MINDSET SCIENCE BY DEAN LETFUS

Studying people and success is like a lot of other areas, it sounds fascinating until you get really serious then you discover it also has boring bits and involves work. So for me the boring bits are the theories behind different models of success and therapies. I just want to study and implement what is true and what works.

So for a theory to be considered a valid “model” it must define what a normal person is and that IS interesting.

It has often been said that the weirdest people you will ever meet are psychiatrists, (personally I’d go for politicians but you get my point), so how can weird people define what is normal??

So before I go down that path what I wanted to talk about today was whether you had thought about what was normal for you?? No 2 people are likely to have the same definition of normal and you certainly can’t get it out of a book so we have to define it for ourselves. If you will then you are able to know when things are out of whack for you and that is the pathway to finding out why.

It doesn’t have to be complicated but it is very powerful.

For me personally my definition of normal is “waking up looking forward to the day”. If I wake up and I want to stay in bed or just avoid the phone or people etc. then I know I am not “normal”, something is wrong. It might not be solvable short term and knowing might not make me feel any better at all but it does help me set rules for myself to ensure I don’t do anything silly. For example if I am not good I never make big decisions and I never buy a property deal because I know I will not be thinking how I should. It’s a bit like not going shopping when you are hungry to avoid impulse buys.

So there is great strength in knowing what is normal for you and how to handle yourself when you are not normal.

And best of all I can say to Raewyn “I am not normal today” and she knows what I mean. In fact she agrees whole heartedly that I am not normal so the edge is lost over time but she finds it entertaining

So thought for the week, think about who you are and start to define what your version of normal is and do you need some rules to keep you safe when things aren’t good for you!!