Note: If you’re a regular listener of Ben’s RBA releases, you may have noticed that this update is relatively concise. We’ve mentioned on the podcast that Ben won’t be providing a detailed economic breakdown for this release due to personal reasons. However, rest assured that we will resume our regular programming for the August 2023 release. 😊
Before delving into this month’s RBA Release, it is crucial to acknowledge the current climate of uncertainty, which has led some Australians to make rash decisions relating to their finances. We have seen some members of our community considering delaying their wedding plans, selling their cars, and even selling their properties.
While some of those decisions are well-considered, we are concerned that others might be jumping the gun a bit too soon.
There is no doubt that the stress level when it comes to money is at an all-time high, and we are seeing a similar trend of uncertainty, like at the start of COVID. Back then, to help our community better understand their cash flow, we built this tool called MoneySTRETCH, which lets you know how long your money will last if there’s a change in your circumstances. It really helped our community then.
What is MoneySTRETCH?
In a nutshell, this tool lets you know how long your money will last if there’s a change in your circumstances.
For example, if interest rates go 2% or 3% higher, you can enter the expected repayment value to see the impact on your current and future financial position – down to the exact cent and month! Can you last another 36 months at your current spending level if interest rates are at 9% as another example.
And yes, it can pretty much cater to other questions such as:
Can I even afford anything anymore? Should I take up a second job? Should I start a family this year? Maybe I should push back our wedding. Should I quit this job that I love and get a higher-paying job? Do I have to sell off my car? Should I sell off my property?
Now that we are facing another round of uncertainty, we thought we would share this tool with a wider community and hopefully help others in making better and more informed financial decisions.
If you would like to know more, click here to find out how Money Stretch can empower you to make more informed financial decisions.
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Alternatively, if you would like to book a free and no-obligation consultation with us to review your finances and potentially, chase down a better deal and save more interest, simply fill in the form below to get in touch for a Free Mortgage Review.
Or Click here to learn more about our mortgage team.
Now, let’s get into the RBA announcement.
Transcript:
Ben Kingsley here with an important message for all of us mortgage holders.
Today the RBA board met and they kept the cash rate on hold at 4.10%. Now that said, inflation is still a little bit of a problem so we may be still to see higher interest rates in the short term. Why am I bringing this up as a message? Well it’s really important because at the moment our mortgage costs have been higher than they have been for many many years.
It’s too often I see households which don’t take action. They just accept the current status quo and pay the higher interest rates and pay those higher repayments to their lenders.
Well, I’m here to tell you that if you do ask the question, there are potentially thousands of dollars in interest savings available to you. By way of example, just in the last 12 months alone, our award-winning mortgage broking team has saved over $3.5 million in interest costs.
So again, you’ve got to ask the question.
Now, what I am saying in terms of what’s happening from a competitive environment in the mortgage space is number one; there are still cashback offers available in the space. Now, what does that mean? Well, it means you could be reversing maybe one or two interest rate rises with several thousands of dollars in cash back.
In addition to that, we’re seeing super competitive interest rates. So we do know in the industry, we call it a loyalty tax. So if you’ve been with the land for, say, two or three years, you’re often paying higher interest rates than new customers pay for that exact same bank product. So it’s really important that you continue to keep shopping around.
And finally, one of the latest developments in this space is around refinancing – if you’re trapped in mortgage prison. So you may have gone back to your current lender and they said, look, there’s nothing we can do. And you’re thinking you can’t move because maybe six months ago you spoke to another lender and they said no. Well, there are recent developments around how servicing calculators can be worked around to allow you to refinance from your existing lender. We call that mortgage prison into a new, cheaper line. So even that is worth asking the question from your broker.
Now, if you don’t have a broker or if you’re not happy with your broker, we are definitely putting our hands up here at Empower Wealth, which is our award-winning mortgage brokerage team.
And we are saying to you, let us be that. Ask the question through us. Our services are completely free of charge to you. So what are you waiting for? You’ve got everything to gain and very little to lose. Let us do all the work for you in terms of hunting down a better deal. And if we can’t get a better deal, you haven’t lost anything other than just asking the question.
So if you’re interested in asking the question, all you need to do is fill in your details below and we’ll be in contact with you shortly.
Let’s go out there and chase down a better deal. That money is worth more to you than it is to the bank. Let’s go on and hunt, and find that money for you.
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