OLDER PROPERTY  Pros  One of the main advantages of buying an established home is that you know what you’re getting. Any defects should show up in a building inspection report, giving you an accurate picture to help you make better investment decisions. Knowing whether you need to factor any repairs or maintenance into your budget, gives you greater clarity.  When you buy an older established home, you’re not just buying the house, you’re also buying in the neighbourhood. This can …

Our lovely friends at Carbon Landscapes have been busy out at Talopea Downs, preparing the property to begin reintroducing endangered native wildlife species like our favourite little mallee emu wrens. In the meantime the sensor-activated cameras on-site have welcomed some wonderful visitors, we hope you enjoy these photo-bombs!

Property investment guru and Sky Business Host, Chris Gray, explains what to do and what to avoid when investing in property to build your wealth. There are many different property investing strategies, and no one single strategy is perfectly suited to meet everyone’s needs. Choosing the right strategy for you will depend on your income, life stage, time availability, skill and your attitude to risk – among many other factors.  Before becoming a property investor or adding another property to …

Every now and then the ‘next thing’ comes along for investors and a lot of it is just inter-generational change.  ‘NFT’ is the next new thing to come along; and suddenly people who are into crypto are dinosaurs! Before crypto people with an appetite for risk invested in tech stocks and we had the Tech Boom of the 1990s. The generation before that favoured FX trading and other derivative products and before them it was a mix of trading gold and …

Current design trends are all about extending the inside of your home outside and bringing the outdoors indoors. The expansion of outdoor entertaining areas and the use of indoor plants are reminding us to focus on how important it is to live close to nature. Chloe Warren, from The Greenery Sydney, shows us how… Not only for design focus but also because of the many health benefits that being close to nature brings. I am a huge advocate for being …

Dr Steve Enticott from CIA Tax is a tax expert and a financial media presenter recommended by First Option Bank. Dr Steve’s Tax Tips for 2022 are below, we hope they’re helpful! For everyone Superannuation Superannuation guarantee payments by employers are set to rise to 10.5% from 1 July 2022 for the 2022–23 financial year, and set to increase by 0.5% every year until it reaches 12.0% from 1 July 2025. COVID text expenses Again, for employees and business alike …

As our electioneering political parties start talking about superannuation and home loan deposits… it sees timely to introduce Dr Steve’s 90sec suggestions for your own superannuation strategy!

To keep your bank accounts secure and well-managed, alerts and reminders can be quickly and easily set-up to automatically notify you by SMS or email when… Money comes into, or goes out of, your accounts If your balance drops below a certain amount There is a login to your First Option internet banking  You receive a secure message  Just go to ‘Alerts’ under ‘Inbox’ in your internet banking portal and follow the on-screen prompts, if you need assistance just call our …

Following lots of speculation regarding interest rates, the Reserve Bank has this week announced an increase to the official cash rate. What does that actually mean?  What is the Reserve Bank?  The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is the nation’s central bank; producing and issuing currency (notes, but not coins), managing a secure payments system, and setting monetary policies to ensure a stable financial system operating within defined target ranges for inflation and employment.  The Reserve Bank is also essentially …