First published in 2020 by Major Street Publishing Pty Ltd
E | info@majorstreet.com.au
W | majorstreet.com.au
M | +61 421 707 983
Stuart Wemyss 2020
Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations and others. For details, contact Lesley Williams using the details above.
Individual sales. Major Street publications are available through most bookstores and can also be ordered directly from Major Street at www.majorstreet.com.au.
Orders for university textbook or course adoption use. For orders of this nature, please contact Lesley Williams using the details above.
The moral rights of the author have been asserted.
ISBN: 978-0-6487530-3-2
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher.
Cover design by Simone Geary
Internal design by Production Works
Printed in Australia by Ovato, an Accredited ISO AS/NZS 14001:2004 Environmental Management System Printer.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Disclaimer: The material in this publication is in the nature of general comment only, and neither purports nor intends to be advice. Readers should not act on the basis of any matter in this publication without considering (and if appropriate taking) professional advice with due regard to their own particular circumstances. The author and publisher expressly disclaim all and any liability to any person, whether a purchaser of this publication or not, in respect of anything and the consequences of anything done or omitted to be done by any such person in reliance, whether whole or partial, upon the whole or any part of the contents of this publication.
Contents
About the author
Stuart Wemyss is a licensed independent financial adviser, registered tax agent, chartered accountant and licensed mortgage broker. He has over 20 years of financial advisory experience and founded his Melbourne-based practice (ProSolution Private Clients) in 2002.
Stuarts goal is to inspire people to take action to achieve their lifestyle and financial goals through advocating the benefits of holistic and independent advice. Many important financial decisions involve numerous financial disciplines such as taxation, financial planning, risk management and borrowing; he therefore believes people will maximise their wealth if they receive holistic and honest advice.
Stuart writes a weekly blog which he also records as a podcast called Investopoly . He regularly contributes articles to the Wealth section of national newspaper The Australian .
He is married and has two teenage sons, whose only advice to him is Dad, put the pen down. Suffice to say that his sons arent avid readers of his books (yet)! Stuarts passions include travelling to new destinations with his wife, all things French, red wine, enthusiastically supporting the Geelong Football Club and spending time with his family.
You can follow Stuarts musings on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/stuartwemyss) and Twitter (twitter.com/StuartWemyss).
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my beautiful wife for her unwavering love and support. She does so much to support me at work and at home: everything from bringing me coffees while I wrote this book to helping me navigate important life and business decisions. She looks after me so amazingly that everything I achieve personally (such as writing this book) is the result of her contribution. I couldnt do it without you. I love you very much.
My personal goal is to inspire people to achieve their lifestyle and financial goals through advocating the benefits of holistic and independent (honest) advice. Its why I write books like this one, record podcasts, publish blogs and choose to do the work I do. The team at ProSolution Private Clients has been helping me work towards this goal now for nearly 18 years. Thank you to all the staff for your dedication to doing work that youre proud of. Id especially like to thank the two longest-serving members, Jodi McKeown and Kristy Dishon, whove been working with me for well over a decade. Thank you, ladies.
Why you need this book
When I applied for a mortgage to buy my first property at the age of 24 (many, many years ago!), I had no idea what I was doing with the mortgage and with life in general! There were so many mortgage options and so much different terminology that I couldnt make head or tail of it, even though I was an accountant at the time.
I was more excited about buying a property and building wealth than about the boring mortgage. I just wanted to know that the bank would give (lend) me the money and that was pretty much it. The mortgage was a mere distraction.
I ended up putting my trust in a mobile banker from one of the Big Four banks (the Big Four are the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, NAB and Westpac, and well discuss these further throughout the book). The mobile lender came out to see me at home. I didnt speak to anyone else for comparison purposes, and there were no online mortgage comparison websites or access to the enormous volume of information that is available online today. I didnt spend much time considering cash flow and affordability. I didnt think about my future needs or the future use of the property. I probably didnt even ask about the interest rate! I pretty much just said, Show me the money and went on my merry way.
I think my experience would be similar to that of a lot of people. A mortgage is a means to an end; its really nothing to get excited about or is it? Well, Im going to propose that it is something to get excited about. I believe that building wealth and getting ahead financially is a game of finance. And those who know how to play the game get ahead. Most people consider mortgages to be liabilities. However, if used correctly (and Im going to show you how), a mortgage can be an asset a very powerful and effective asset.
The rules have changed
Prior to 2016, getting a mortgage approved was easy-peasy! You would just walk into a bank and tell them what you earned, and they would typically be prepared to lend you way more than you would ever feel comfortable borrowing. Youd hardly have to provide any documentation, sometimes you wouldnt even have to sign an application form, and the lender certainly would not ask you what you spent your money on and how much cash you had left over. Lending policies and processes were very loose definitely too loose.
That all changed after 2016 and dramatically so. The process of applying for a mortgage these days is like a criminal forensic financial investigation. Its intrusive. Its laborious, and often pedantic. But you can make it easier by becoming borrowing ready. Ill tell you how.
Why read a whole book about mortgages?
If you find it hard to get motivated to ensure youre structuring your loans correctly, then imagine how hard it is to write a whole book on the subject! I completely understand that people generally fall in love with the idea of buying property, not with taking out a mortgage. I get it.
![Graeme Stuart [Graeme Stuart] - Introducing JavaScript Game Development : Build a 2D Game from the Ground Up](/uploads/posts/book/121400/thumbs/graeme-stuart-graeme-stuart-introducing.jpg)
