There’s a lot to think to about when it comes to moving home. And no matter how far you’re going or the type of home you’re moving into, moving house is undoubtedly one of life’s most stressful times. Much of that stress revolves around how much it costs to move home, which is why planning a budget could help you determine where you could save and provide a realistic overview of much you’re going to need to spend. Here are some of the costs to consider when moving home.

When it comes to renting out an investment property, it can be tempting to go it alone as a landlord, rather than enlisting the services of a property manager. It’s only when things go wrong though that the full benefit of a property manager becomes evident. If you’re in the process of choosing a property manager – or still debating whether to hire a property manager – to take care of your rental property, here are 5 important qualities to look out for.

Buying a home in Australia? Your lender will likely require a bank valuation to calculate the loan to value ratio (LVR) of your home loan. Bank valuations help lenders weigh up the risk of lending. A higher LVR means more risk for the lender, which could impact the amount you may be able to borrow. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the factors making up a bank valuation, as well as the impact they can have on your borrowing capacity.

Whether you’re working from home out of necessity or using your home as your principal place of business, it’s important you’re clear on both the tax implications – Capital Gains Tax on the sale of your property - and tax deductions that could impact you. Here’s a guide to each of these scenarios.

From electricity bills to phone plans, car insurance through to home loans, sticking with the same provider year after year could mean you’re paying “lazy tax”. Lazy tax is the penalty many consumers and homeowners are paying as a result of being complacent, not shopping around for the best interest rates, and failing to refinance when rates work in their favour. If this sounds like you, here are two ways to avoid paying lazy tax.

Australians are missing out on the full potential of refinancing. Results from a recent study into borrowers’ understanding of refinancing, and their reluctance to refinance, has revealed a number of startling results. And if you need a reminder about the value of refinancing, here’s a case study from mortgage broker, Alisha Scappin who recently helped her client save $65,000 by refinancing a home and investment property.

Getting a home loan with a redraw facility is a useful and flexible financial tool. Any extra funds you pay into your home loan, can be withdrawn when needed, to cover emergencies or pay for unplanned expenses. At the same time, those extra funds save you money too, as any extra repayments on your loan also lower how much interest you’re charged. To find out if a redraw would suit your home loan, here’s more on how a redraw facility works.

Buying a first home is a significant milestone that takes commitment to saving, careful decision making, and considered planning. The biggest hurdle for most first home buyers? Saving a deposit. Depending on where you are in Australia, it can take as long as eight years to save enough, all the while chasing down rising house prices which means having to save even more! If you are ready to buy your first home, here are a few things to consider.

Buying a car isn’t like buying an item of clothing! You can’t return it if you don’t like it. And unless there’s an actual fault, the seller has no obligation to refund you or to accept any liability if you’ve simply changed your mind. Because the car buying process is fraught with opportunity to make bad decisions and even lose money, it helps to know in advance what pitfalls you may face. Here are 5 mistakes to avoid when buying a car.

Personal finance is full of rules of thumb about saving, spending, paying off debt, and budgeting. These well-known financial guidelines help us apply proven methods for saving, investing, buying a home and even planning for retirement. They can be useful shortcuts for making quick calculations and decisions about finance. In this article, we’ll look at 3 financial rules of thumb that we believe are worth incorporating into personal finance decisions.