Financial Management

Using Crowd-sourced Funding to Start or Expand Companies

Public companies not listed on a stock exchange such as the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) or Chi-X will soon be able to raise funds through crowd-sourced funding.  From 29 September 2017, companies will be able to use crowd-sourced funding to raise funds to assist with start-up or expansion.

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) advise that eligible companies can raise up to $5 million a year, as long as they have less than $25 million in assets and annual revenue.

Anyone providing crowd-sourced funding services must hold an Australian financial services licence.  Investors can invest up to $10,000 a year per company and, in exchange for the investment, the investor will receive shares in the company.

More information for intermediaries and companies seeking to raise funds is available at ASIC’s website.  Further information about investing in a company via crowd-sourced funding can be found via a link on ASIC’s website.

Before considering this type of funding, make sure you read the information provided by ASIC and seek professional advice from your Accountant, Solicitor and Financial Advisor.

Sally Balwin Balanix Solutions

What Your Credit File Means for You

There is a lot of talk about your credit file these days. Every time you apply for a loan or credit card you have the enquiry on your file. It tells the date, the finance company you applied with credit for and the amount.

The most common issues we see are either multiple enquiries or defaults. Multiple enquiries usually come from people who go and see their bank for a home loan or car loan. Let’s say for example “Andrew” banks with Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). He goes to CBA for a home loan, it all looks promising and they say lets apply as we can help you. Then it gets declined because for example Andrew has had a late payment on a credit card 3 months ago. Andrew has an account with ANZ from a few years ago so he then walks into ANZ. ANZ say it looks good so they apply and then it gets declined due to him not having savings in his bank long enough. Andrew then goes to a barbecue and his cousin says mate call Brenton from Dream Financing on 0423030533 he helped us into our house. Andrew rings me and I meet up with him. I tell him I wish he saw me first as I would have been able to tell him it did not fit with the other banks early on and give him some options. I put it to another lender which have advised Andrew’s situation is ok with then after I have workshopped the deal with the lenders. I cover off in my notes with them the reason for the decline with the other lenders and it gets approved however they are hesitant as they think CBA and ANZ know something they don’t and question the credit enquiries on his file.

Any more enquiries and almost certainly this would have not been approved. When you apply for loans with banks they always check your credit file. Some banks score your file and basically it automatically gets declined or approved depending on the score you receive. Other banks do not decline on the score however they still check, so as long as I cover of in my notes the other enquiries it can still be approved. This is why it is so important to see a broker who knows what they are doing. More often then not we obtain a better rate then customers can get by going direct anyway so it is even more imperative. If you have a default on your file whether it is paid or unpaid it will be automatically declined with some lenders depending on the amount the default is for.  Everyone can check their credit file for free by going to http://www.mycreditfile.com.au/products-services/my-credit-file  If you need it instantly there is a fee however if you are happy to wait up to 10 days it is free. I encourage everyone to check it if they are unsure.

Brenton Pavey Dream Financing

 

E-mail: brenton@dreamfinancing.com.au

Mobile: 0423030533

http://www.dreamfinancing.com.au

Changes to Credit Cards Rules and Minimum Payments

There have been changes to the credit card rules as the Government tries to tackle the increasing levels of personal debt.

The current Government is proposing four reforms:

  1. Assessing applications on the basis of being able to pay off the debt in a reasonable time frame rather than minimum payments;
  2. Extending banning unsolicited offers to include electronic or over the phone offers (currently the ban is of unsolicited written offers of credit limit increases);
  3. Interest to be calculated on outstanding amount from the end of the statement period and not the date of purchase;
  4. Provide online options to either cancel credit cards or reduce the limit.

While these reforms are positive, in my opinion, the mandatory increasing of the level of minimum repayments, as the first reform does, does not go far enough to help those credit holders who for whatever reason only make the minimum payment.  The time it takes to pay off a credit card under the current rules could be up to 30 years + depending on the credit card limit and the interest rate.

What is the point of a bank assessing a client’s ability to pay the debt off in a reasonable time if in fact the client’s history shows that that is unlikely even though they may potentially have the financial capacity to go so.

If people have not been taught good financial management at an early age then managing debt is not always easy to do and unfortunately, here at Balanix we see the outcome of poor financial management far too often.

Contact me today on 07 3264 4783 if you want to talk about managing your money either in your business or personally.

David Balwin Tax Accounting CFO Business Advice

How to Help Kids Build Wealth

It is never too early to start kids saving.  Children have one enormous advantage and that is time.  Time is on their side in relation to adding to their savings, compounding their wealth and generally building financial stability for life.

Teaching your kids how to save and invest for the long-term is a wonderful gift any parent can give.  As the Proverb goes, “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

For example, let’s look at helping a child from birth until they attain the age of 16.  That’s 832 weeks of life or 5,824 days (not including leap years).  Let’s also assume that when pocket money kicks in (making sure that the kids have things they have to do to earn the pocket money) it is $10 per week on the condition that at least $5 per week goes into savings.  Start putting the $5 per week into a bank account from day one, then when your child reaches 16, at a minimum there will be $4,160.  But wait, there’s more!  Ask family and friends who may give birthday and Christmas gifts to your kids to make part of the gift $5 each time (ie, $10 per year) to add to savings.  Then that’s an additional $160 per person who participates over the 16 years.

So, by the time your child reaches 16 years of age, with the interest on the savings, your child could have around $5,000 without much effort or hardship.

Although my wife and I didn’t start from birth saving with our son, we have insisted a portion of his pocket money and relatives’/friends’ cash gifts be put away in savings.  This process has resulted in a year or so ago buying some shares in trust for my son.  Through this process, he is learning about other investment as he must research some shares that I think would be good and tell me which one he wants to buy next and why.  Involving your child in the process and letting them learn is how they will be able to continue to make decisions to build their wealth.  The first shares purchased have recently shown capital growth and have also provided a steady dividend over the time he has held them.

Remember, keep some money in cash for those emergencies that crop up from time to time.  An example of this is my son wanted a Macbook Air for his birthday which was fine as he had saved the money, however, part of the deal was that after buying his Mac he had to have an agreed amount left in his bank account to continue his wealth building.

It is our role as parents to ensure that our children have the greatest chance of success in life.  Going to the best school you can afford and sending them to university means little if they do not understand the value of long term saving.

Setting a goal to always have some money left from whatever money you earn whether it be pocket money, odd jobs, part time job or whatever will ensure that your children learn sound financial skills that will last them a lifetime.

Please note, I am not a financial planner or advisor and the information here is general.  You should seek independent financial advice from an appropriately qualified person where appropriate.

David Balwin Tax Accounting CFO Business Advice

A Tip on the Road to Financial Happiness

HappinessOne of the biggest economic impacts on both business and private costs over the last 12 months has been the drop in oil prices internationally which has resulted in lower fuel prices. The price per barrel has dropped from over $100/barrel down to $47/barrel. Watching Sunrise the other morning Craig James from Commsec stated that the flow-on effect was the equivalent of a .25% drop in interest for a person on a $350,000 home loan.

Given that the Reserve Bank yesterday dropped the official rate by .25% we should really be making sure that we are taking advantage of the current situation.

The old saying of paying down non tax deductible debt as your primary goal is never more true. I have not in my 40 years as an adult seen an economic environment where the opportunity to reduce debt has been more favorable. Yes there are some concerns on the job front with the end of the resource boom in Australia but with home loans at their lowest rates for a longtime and petrol prices way down from when they were above $1.50 to now (the lowest I have seen at 97.8 cents) it really is a great opportunity to reduce personal debt and set yourself up for the future.

If you take the 50 cents per litre on petrol and the quarter of a percent interest cut on home loans and put this against your credit card or home loan you are on your way to financial happiness.

These opportunities do not come along every day and it is very easy for us not to realise just how much this saving adds up when you take into account how not only can you reduce your debt but in doing so reduce the interest you will have on your reduced outstanding balance. It is a win win situation.

David Balwin FCPA Registered Tax Agent Accountant Business Advisor

David Balwin
FCPA | Registered Tax Agent | Business Advisor

 

Balanix Solutions – Taxation | Accounting | Business Advise

Situated in Strathpine on Brisbane North, we partner with our clients to assist them in their accounting, business management and bookkeeping needs. Our clients vary in industries from professional services (such as law, vet and dentist) to the trades (mechanic, bricklaying, plasterer etc), hospitality and retail. Are clients are located in the Pine Rivers area (including Brendale, Lawnton, Albany Creek and Eatons Hill) through to Kallangur, Petrie, North Lakes and Caboolture, as well as Brisbane South, the Gold Coast and various other parts of Queensland.