Clint Paton

Email from Kathy "We have recommended him to others who are also impressed"

Clint has helped me buy my first property and is now helping my husband and I refinance a second property.
What I find valuable in Clint is his enduring patience and his ability to assess numerous options with us to ensure we get the best outcome.
He is professional, organised and his after hours service really suited our busy schedule. We have recommended him to others who are also impressed.
Kathy B. (Number available on request)

Mortgage Planning Part 3 of 3 - Planning for Children

If you missed the start of this series then click here for Part 1 and click here for Part 2.

Mortgage planning is really important for planning your family as well. If you don’t have children and plan to have them then you need to be thinking about:
How many children you plan to have?
Who will take time off work and for how long when you have them?
How many days a week will you work for when you return to work for between having children?
When all your children are at school how much will you work?
Family planning is an emotional one as well – it’s a different ball game working out when to go back to work once you have a child that you are really attached to as opposed to making a decision on what you’ll do before they’re even born. There are strategies to overcome all problems, it’s a matter of identifying things early enough and planning for them!

Life is always changing so with planning it’s a matter of basing your decisions today on what you currently know. Of course things will change but if you know where you are trying to head to, then when you go off course you’ll actually realise it and be able to plan a way to get back on course or change where you are heading to.
There is a saying that goes like this ‘if you fail to plan you plan to fail’.

Mortgage Planning Part 3 of 3 - Investing

If you missed the start of this series then click here for Part 1 and click here for Part 2.

In the realm of investing there is much that my mortgage planning approach can help with but you have to start with the end in mind. The purpose of accumulating wealth is different for everyone but in a general sense it means having more time and money to do the things you’ve always wanted to do. So the goal is to build wealth over time and different strategies can result in different amounts of wealth being accumulated over time.

On top of what you would otherwise do with investing, if you could buy an extra investment property every 5-10 years then in 30 years you’d have 6-12 additional properties and be enjoying the rental incomes and capital growth.

Part of my role is to find lenders who will support you in building a property portfolio ie who will actually lend you enough money to do what you want. Did you know that most lenders actually allow you to borrow less money when you take out an interest only loan? Here’s are some numbers:
On a $500,000 loan the principal and interest repayments are about $47400 per year, on interest only repayments you’d pay $44,000 a year. Probably 95% of lenders will lend you less money if you are paying the higher repayment which obviously doesn’t help you if you want to accumulate property to build wealth.

Other important considerations in building a property portfolio are how you structure your loans. The right structure gives you the flexibility to use the strengths of different lenders. Being able to borrow more money also means you can keep some money aside for ‘a rainy day’ eg set up your loans so you have access to $20K or more to cover unforseen events.
Finally part of mortgage planning is helping you understand how to do some research before buying through the access I have to the NSW property sales database and other sources.

Call or email me if you have any questions or are interested in a full borrowing assessment. This helps you to work out over the next 5-15 years what property portfolio you might be able to build.

Mortgage Planning Part 3 of 3 - Home Ownership

If you missed the start of this series then click here for Part 1 and click here for Part 2.

As a mortgage planner I can help you work out how quickly you’ll own your own home. It’s not the Australian dream to take out a home loan and have it hanging over your head for 30-40 years, the dream is actually to own your home outright!

If you haven’t yet bought a home then I like to start talking to first home buyers between 3-12 months before they are looking to buy. In this time we can come up with a plan of how much to borrow, when to buy and how to go about getting the deposit you need to get there. Other issues can be addressed like the need to have stable employment, the implications of getting a gift and what effect saving more will have. We can also look at how to maximise your borrowing capacity but still borrow responsibly and set things up so you act like you have a loan now and see what it feels like committing to those repayments before you're locked in!

Adapting to Change

From the book Who Moved My Cheese? By Spencer Johnson
The book tells a story which has a message behind it about adapting to change.
The story is about two little people and two mice in a maze trying to find cheese. The cheese represents the things we want in our lives – earning a certain income, job satisfaction, relationships, financial security, family, how we spend our time, anything you really want.
They find a large amount of cheese and start eating it. One day the cheese disappears and the 4 characters all react differently to this change. The mice could see it coming and they started searching for new cheese whereas the little people had become comfortable and hadn’t been aware that their cheese supply was dwindling. These are the lessons to be learnt from the book:
1.    The faster you adapt to change, the better off you’ll be
2.    Prepare yourself for changes and when they come work out how you’ll change, don’t play the victim and ask why is this happening to me etc
3.    Just start doing something small to move in a new direction and change. The more you move in a new direction the easier it gets.

The cheese analogies – remember cheese represents what you want in life.
1.    Having cheese makes you happy
2.    The more important your cheese is to you, the more you want to hold on to it
3.    If you don’t change you become extinct
4.    Smell the cheese often so you know when it is getting old
5.    Movement in a new direction helps you find new cheese
6.    Imagining myself finding new cheese even before I find it leads me to it
7.    Moving toward new cheese, not just finding it is fun and rewarding
8.    It’s safer to search in the maze than remain where you are without cheese
9.    The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese
10.    Old beliefs do not lead you to new cheese – new beliefs = new behaviours
11.    When you see that you can find and enjoy new cheese, you change course
12.    Noticing smaller changes early helps you to adapt to bigger changes that are to come

Fear of failing causes you to resist change – address fears by confronting them, do something to overcome your fear. EG If you fear public speaking then join a group that forces you to do public speaking! - toastmasters for example.
The main thing is to work out what you fear, think through is it true what you are telling yourself and then work out some small things you can start doing to overcome it ie make a change! Ask yourself what would you try to do if you weren’t afraid of anything? When you move beyond your fears you feel free and unburdened.
What you are afraid of is never as bad as you’d imagined.

Change is natural.  We should expect it.  In fact, we should be prepared for it.

Change is inevitable and ongoing.  If we are to score the goals we have set ourselves, we need to develop ways to deal with change in our work and our lives.

We all have a choice.  We can’t change the things that happen, but we can change our response to it. 

7 Key points to remember about change

1.    Change happens – they keep moving the cheese
2.    Anticipate change – get ready for the cheese to move
3.    Monitor change
4.    Adapt to change quickly – the quicker you let go of the old cheese, the sooner you can enjoy the new cheese
5.    Change – move with the cheese
6.    Enjoy Change – savour the adventure and enjoy the taste of the new cheese
7.    Be ready to change quickly and enjoy it again –they keep moving the cheese

With life in general, when change occurs our attitude is critical. 
We can become ‘bitter’ or ‘better’ – one letter can make a huge difference!

Thought provoking…

I came across an interesting website that gives global statistics which are updated continually.  It was hard to believe some of the information – the world population after allowing for births and deaths is growing at a rate of 68 million people a year.  I wonder at what point we’ll run out of resources for everyone? There’s even an oil counter to show how much we are using. It is really a great talking point for all the family.

Click here to have a look.