Bank exit fees

The ban on bank exit fees, which may be recorded on a contract as deferred establishment or early repayment fees, applies only to all new home loans taken out after 1 July 2011. Some home loans already do not have them and some lenders have made the ban retrospective.
Think carefully before making any moves.
Ensure that you as the consumer understand the exit fee ban applies only to new home loans taken out after 1 July, not existing loans, and that there are still other switching costs and home loan aspects that must be considered.
Educate yourself as the borrower about what it means for you as satisfaction with your home loan commitment comes after making a well informed decision

Property millionaires, are U one?

The property market is one of the main reasons why more and more Australians are becoming millionaires, according to an annual report by Capgemini and Merrill Lynch.
Dorus van den Biezenbos from Capgemini Australia says the total number of millionaires in Australia rose 11.1 per cent to almost 193,000 in 2010.
Despite the current downturn in the property sector, the long-term rewards of real estate and hard investing are putting more Australians on the millionaire map –and property is fast becoming a better alternative to make money than a wage.
"We see the real estate market as a big contributor to the positive growth number of millionaires in Australia," van den Biezenbos says.
"GDP grew by 2.8 per cent last year, compared to 1.3 per cent in 2009, so that's good growth.
"Market capitalisation also showed a gain of 15.3 per cent."
The combined wealth of Australia's millionaires was also up 12.1 per cent to $550 billion.
In another positive sign for investors, our neighbours are becoming richer too. The Asia-Pacific region has also taken over second position and is now just behind North America, in terms of millionaire population.
"They've taken over the place from Europe now with 3.3 million millionaires, whereby Europe has 3.1 million millionaires."

Its a long way to the top.....

Still a long way to the top for Australian women?

The successful Australian woman is passionate, driven, focused, determined and resilient – but she has had to make a number of sacrifices in the name of success, and while regret might be too strong a word, she is fully aware of these sacrifices and is striving to ameliorate them.
These are the findings revealed in ‘Long Way to the Top’ a White Paper authored by Melbourne financial planner, Charmaine Curtain from Global Partnerships Financial Consulting.
Curtain said Long Way to the Top provides extraordinary insights into the Australian woman’s journey along the pathway to success and the challenges she continues to face.
“Australian women have jumped some amazing hurdles that a hundred years ago seemed insurmountable,” Curtain said. “They now hold some of the most powerful positions in the country – we have a female Prime Minister, two female state Premiers, a female Governor General and two female state Governors. One of our female executives – Gail Kelly – is ranked eighth in the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women in the World.”
However, Curtain said that while Australian women have much to celebrate, they still have significant hurdles to overcome.
“Many of the women I interviewed believe they have made significant sacrifices in the name of success,” Curtain said. “These sacrifices included time, money and personal relationships. If my findings are typical, professional women are still being paid less than men, they still lack the financial resources or security to appropriately fund their own ventures, they still have poor access to business funding and they still have insufficient savings for retirement. In the twenty-first century, it is not good enough.”
Curtain said that her research suggests that successful women are powerful consumers and expect service that surpasses their expectations. The consumer is, in fact, Queen,” Curtain said. “If providers expect to win them as customers or clients they must deliver exceptional service.”
According to the findings, women want to be listened to, valued, appreciated and respected by service providers. “Service that takes into account how time poor professional women are and how torn they feel between home and work; lifestyle and career will win the day,” Curtain said.
Curtain also took the opportunity to thank the women she interviewed for the project.
“As a woman and as the owner of a business myself, I set out to discover how women achieved, in some instances, such outstanding success. I was curious about the barriers to success and how successful women had surmounted them,” she said. “But what I came away with was powerful insights into women, their ability to face obstacles, their great willingness to help each other and their generosity towards younger women just starting out on the corporate ladder. I feel as though I have been coached by some of the best women in the business – and for that I thank each and every one of them.”
Key findings

• Many women (69%) believe they had sacrificed some aspect of their personal life in order to achieve success
• More than half (58%) felt the challenges they face were the result of external put on them by others in the workplace
• Almost half (41%) felt the challenges they face were the result of the internal pressure they put on themselves
• Most (80%) felt women were overcoming these challenges
• Most women (73%) were able to articulate an exact moment in business that stood out as a bad experience; only half were able to articulate a good experience
• Women recognised they faced three major financial challenges – lack of security/financial backing to go into business; having enough money for retirement; being paid less than their male colleagues
• More than half (53%) said they relax by doing some form of exercise – typically, walking
• Most women were voracious readers, with 84% saying they read their daily newspaper regularly. Only 15% said they had abandoned the traditional paper format in favour of online versions. Many women (69%) also admitted to reading gossip/women’s magazines
• Women are generous givers with 84% donating their time and/or money to charity/charity events. Children’s charities were far and away the most popular, with 81% of women favouring them

CPI March 2011

The long-awaited inflation figures released this morning have shown a higher-than-expected jump for the March quarter, heightening expectations of an interest rate rise later this year.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics says Australia's consumer price index lifted 1.6% for the three months to March 31, versus expectations for a 1.2% increase.
The increase takes the annual CPI rate to 3.3%, well above the Reserve Bank's 2-3% target.
While the headline figure was influenced by the price pressures created by Australia's horror run of natural disasters, core inflation was also higher than expected.
ABS said the weighted mean measure came in at 0.8%, versus expectations for a 0.6% lift, while the trimmed mean measure was 0.9%.
The Australian dollar, already pushing past the $US1.08 barrier, was trading at $US1.0846 after the CPI data, with investors betting the central bank will be pressured to increase rates sooner than expected.
The local currency reached $US1.08 this morning, for the first time since it was floated in December 1983, after closing for five days for the Easter and Anzac Day break.
Bank of New Zealand currency strategist Mike Jones said the Australian dollar remains the darling of the currency markets, boosted by a "buoyant" global risk appetite and expectations the US dollar will remain weak, AAP reports.
"Certainly, the commodities backdrop is still very strong. Gold and silver prices are making record highs on an almost daily basis and industrial metal prices are still very strong," he said.

Gillard says ties with China in good shape

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said Australia's relationship with China remains in good shape and that its economic ties are crucial for the nation.
"The relationship with China is in good shape," she said after a meeting with Premier Wen Jiabao. "Of course, our economic relationship is a vital one for Australia's national interest, and it is growing in leaps and bounds."
Gillard added that human rights concerns were raised during the meeting, although China said it did not take a step backwards with regard to its approach.

Abbott attacks carbon price

Opposition leader Tony Abbott says the introduction of a carbon price will put thousands of jobs at risk. He told ABC Radio this morning jobs in industries such as the steel manufacturing business will be hurt by such a tax.
"It's very important that workers right around Australian understand that this carbon tax won't clean up the environment but it will clean out their wallets and it will wipe out jobs big time," he said.
"The Coalition has a strong and effective policy to reduce emissions by planting more trees, getting better soil and using smarter technology."

Sharemarket flat after break, but Origin, banks lift

Before midday, the S&P/ASX 200 was trading flat at 4909.8, while the All Ordinaries was down 0.11% to 4990.
It was helped, however, by a rise in Origin Energy shares, which were trading 4% higher to $16.88 at 1135 AEST.
Origin announced an agreement before the long weekend that China's Sinopec would be liquefied natural gas and a 15% stake in the Origin-operated Australia Pacific LNG project.
The big miners were mixed, with Rio Tinto higher before midday and BHP Billiton lower despite Deloitte tipping strong commodity prices for years to come.
A report in Sydney Morning Herald said the Senate inquiry would focus on encouraging new entrants to the financial sector, rather than more strictly regulate existing players.
The market was also boosted by a solid performance on Wall Street last week, with US stocks reaching their best levels since June 2008 after key companies Ford Motor Co and 3M Co reported strong results.
"It is really from the multinationals that have been reporting good numbers and speaking of good things to come – these are big, big blue chips that are starting to see a bright light," Joseph Benanti, managing director at Rosenblatt Securities in New York, told Reuters.
The wire service says three-quarters of S&P 500 companies to have reported earnings so far have exceeded analysts' expectations.

Private lenders and SME's

SMEs are experiencing a finance crisis due to the scarcity of lenders and a return to strict lending criteria, according to the Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia.
The MFAA, which represents around 1,000 finance brokers who raise debt facilities for SMEs, says recent feedback from finance brokers suggests difficult times for their clients.
According to the MFAA, company directors outside the corporate economy are putting up their family properties as collateral, as the major banks return to dominance in business lending.
MFAA chief executive Phil Naylor says SMEs are being forced to raise capital from a decreasing number of lenders, with tightened criteria excluding many of them from mainstream borrowing.
Naylor says brokers unable to attract funding from mainstream lenders are relying on private lenders, which charge interest rates of up to 20%.
"Many of the smaller banks and the non-bank lenders have left the SME market, especially when it comes to property developing and office equipment and fit-outs," Naylor says.
"That leaves the large retail banks with most of the market."
Naylor says finance brokers are frustrated that cashflow lending, where the decision to lend is made on the quality of the business and the receivables, has been dropped in favour of a return to fully secured lending.
Secured lending focuses on the quality of the collateral, not the business.
"The GFC created a liquidity issue in our banks, and in response most of them have re-absorbed their business finance arms into the main operations of the bank," Naylor says.
"It means experienced business lenders, who negotiated deals with brokers on their business merits, are now subject to more conservative practices."
The MFAA says it's obviously easier to get business finance for an existing business rather than a start-up because lenders tend to view start-ups as "inherently risky".
One way of getting around this is by entering into a franchise because while the business may be new, it is based on a proven formula.
Naylor says while there's nothing wrong with banks being careful with their lending, SME debt finance is an important part of the economy and the MFAA would like to see more competition in this area.
The MFAA's concerns are substantiated by Reserve Bank of Australia data, which shows lending to businesses declined by 1.7% in the year to February 2011.
The RBA says the four major banks controlled 86% of the SME debt lending market in September last year, yet they only wrote 74% of all business loans.
This article firsts appeared on StartupSmart.

quota for women on boards

Opposition frontbencher Joe Hockey says he would back enforced quotas that ensure 30 per cent of board positions are occupied by women.
He says corporate Australia has been given long enough to improve gender equality on the executive level after talking about it for more than a decade.
"If they don't meet a reasonable target within a period of time, then more punitive measures need to be taken by the parliament," he told ABC television on Monday.
"I would think that you would need to have a target of about 30 per cent."
Women make up about 25 per cent of board appointments in Australia at the moment, but it slips to 11 per cent for the top 200 companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.
On the eve of International Women's Day, Mr Hockey said it was time for real action, although he insists quotas were a last resort.
"Corporate Australia has had so many warnings, they've put in place so many programs ... but Australia has actually fallen behind," he said.
"I just don't understand how you can claim that as a director of a company, that all wisdom and knowledge lies in the hands of men only."
Minister for the Status of Women Kate Ellis said the government was committed to its election pledge to have women make up 40 per cent of public board positions by 2015.
It is hoping for improvements in female board numbers when a census wraps up in 18 months, but Ms Ellis wouldn't be drawn on taking faster action with the opposition's help.
She said businesses were shown to be more productive with female board members and it was time Australia got the return from educating and training them.
Westpac chief Gail Kelly, one of Australia's most prominent female executives, said she was already seeing significant changes in the boardroom.
But she'd like to see organisations left alone to make their own targets, rather than be forced by law.
Ms Kelly earlier laughed off her standing as one of Forbes magazine's 10 most powerful women in the world, noting that she was "sandwiched between Lady Gaga and Beyonce".
"I absolutely hate it when people introduce me in that way. It's one of those sort-of, lovely, causes-a-laugh kind of conversations."

De-stress

In order to be a successful entrepreneur you need to be physically able to do so. Stress is the main cause of illness and an unfulfilling life.

The Healing Codes are a revolutionary healing technology that utilizes the body's healing energy to eliminate destructive energy patterns residing in cellular memories, thereby enabling the body to remove the root cause of disease. Thus, it restores the body's immune system to its normal functioning.

Most medical doctors agree that the immune system is capable of healing just about anything if it is not suppressed by stress. And it is a widely accepted belief that when your immune system is working correctly, it's impossible to get sick.

Although The Healing Codes are designed to eliminate internal stress, they can ALSO be used to eliminate stress caused by external conditions such as ...

... a job you hate
... a demanding boss
... messy relationships
... stacks of unpaid bills
... tight deadlines
… or a downturn in the economy

It's hard to turn on the TV or radio these days without getting bombarded with depressing news about the economic recession, double-digit unemployment, the escalating numbers of foreclosures and bank failures. Even if we wanted to remain detached from such news, the stress has a way of occupying our waking moments -- and consequently threatening our health.

In recent years, stress has become so commonplace and people have begun to regard it as a necessary evil inherent in modern life. Furthermore, people have begun to ignore the potentially deadly effects of stress, and assume an indifferent, or even complacent attitude -- as though there's nothing they could possibly do about it, so why bother?

But the fact is, you do NEED to bother because stress wreaks infinite havoc on your health. For example, scientists have discovered that everyday stress is a factor for the growth of cancerous tumors. This recent discovery, published in Nature, a science journal, shows that the conditions for developing cancer can be affected by your emotional environment -- including everyday work and family stress.

And that's just for starters. Stress is associated with your physical, emotional and mental health, and also causes serious behavioral effects. It is a well-established fact that stress is a major cause of heart disease. Stress induces the fight-or-flight response that can become lethal when it is allowed to become a way of life.

Perhaps the most deleterious effect of stress is this: It shuts down the immune system. And when the immune system shuts down, your body becomes susceptible to any and all diseases! No matter how you look at it, stress kills!

When they are "stressed out" some people tend to drink heavily, smoke or take over-the-counter or recreational drugs as a way of getting immediate chemical relief from stress. Some turn to excessive food consumption -- and others seek the temporary respite of sleep. In the midst of severe stress, most people find themselves too anxious or jittery to turn to meditation or prayer.

In an effort to prevent stress from destroying your health, your sanity, and your ability to function during the day or to sleep at night, I've designed a Healing Code which I call The 6-Minute Antidote to Stress.

The 6-Minute Antidote to Stress is your opportunity to experience the powerful effects that The Healing Codes has on the body. You can use this 6-minute getaway when you feel depressed or overwhelmed by the stress of daily living -- or when you need to energize yourself, feel renewed and revitalized. It's like a "virtual spa" or a mini-vacation that's more than just a brief escape from life's stressors. It also rejuvenates you so you can function more effectively throughout the day, have a better outlook on life, have more restful sleep at night, and enjoy better health as a result.

The 4 Healing Centers of the Body

The Healing Codes involve the use of the fingertips of both hands pointing towards one or more of the 4 different healing centers in the body. The healing centers are located as follows:

==> Adam's Apple: Directly over the Adam's apple

==> Temples: One half inch above the temple, and one half inch toward the back of the head, on both
sides of the head

==> Bridge: In between the bridge of the nose and the middle of the eyebrow, if the eyebrows were grown together

==> Jaw: On the bottom back corner of the jawbone, on both sides of the head

The 6-Minute Antidote to Stress neutralizes the underlying reason for your specific reaction to external stress. No two people process the same stressor the same way. What causes fear and overwhelm for your neighbor may not affect you the same way. Your neighbor could be calm, cool and collected even though he had a stack of unpaid bills -- while you, on the other hand, might become anxious or have palpitations if you missed paying a single bill by its due date.

The difference in the way you and your neighbor react to external stress has to do with your respective programming, which goes back to cellular memories. The 6-Minute Antidote to Stress is a Healing Code that is specifically designed to eliminate the destructive energy patterns of your cellular memories which govern your adverse reaction to external stress. The code is very easy to do while you're sitting on your desk chair at work, from the comfort of your bed, a recliner or anywhere you happen to be. It's called a "code" because the procedure involves activating the healing centers with your fingers in a specific coded sequence.

Here's how to perform the Healing Code for neutralizing external stress:

Always perform the Healing Code in a quiet, private, place where you can relax without distractions or interruptions. Aim all five fingers of both hands at the healing centers listed below for the amount of time indicated. The fingers need to be 2 to 3 inches away from the healing center they're aiming at (as shown on the diagrams).

Here's the sequence:

Fingers of both hands pointing towards bridge -- 20 seconds
Fingers of both hands pointing towards the Adam's apple -- 20 seconds
Fingers of both hands pointing towards the jaws -- 20 seconds
Fingers of both hands pointing towards the temples -- 20 seconds

Continue to rotate through the positions in the specified order for 6 minutes. Do this 3 times per day. You can start with as little as 1 per day, and increase frequency as needed.

And that's all there is to The 6-Minute Antidote to Stress.

Go ahead and try this Healing Code and FEEL what happens. Once you've demonstrated the power of The Healing Codes and proven to yourself that it works, you'll begin to realize the tremendous impact it will have on your health. You can then confidently download the entire Healing Codes package because you've had already experienced its power firsthand. You'll then be ready to start using The Healing Codes to melt away virtually any illness, pain or disease from your body -- or help your loved ones do the same.

There's a specific Healing Code for the underlying cause of every disease (including cancer) -- and it effectively clears the destructive cellular memories from your body. In doing so, you turn your immune system back on. Even if you're already sick, once you remove the internal stress caused by those destructive cellular memories, your immune system will begin to function the way it's supposed to -- and there's nothing the body is not capable of healing.

When you download the Healing Codes manual, which is a component of your Healing Codes package, you can turn to the Problem Reference Chart in the back of the manual which lists dozens of symptoms and problems – including diabetes, arthritis, asthma, cancer, AIDS, hypertension, Alzheimer's Disease, hepatitis and emphysema, to name a few. Right next to the symptom or problem is the page number where you can find the Healing Code that addresses the underlying cause of your particular condition.

Simply perform 6 minutes of that specific Healing Code in order to remove the destructive energy pattern caused by cellular memories. Once you remove that destructive energy pattern, the cause of any illness or disease melts away every single time.

By Dr. Alex Loyd / Source: The Healing Codes