Tough times, sudden loss of employment, emergency, illness or retirement can create life-changing financial hardship and debilitating stress.
The ONLY WAY to survive in these circumstances is to have a bullet-proof Personal Balance Sheet.
As part of the loan application process, all clients must complete a Statement of Position.
An SoP is a personal balance sheet – Assets and Liabilities.
Assets are good. Liabilities are mostly bad.
A refresher from Accounting 101:
- Assets produce income – goods, cash, investments, shares in quality companies, bonds, goodwill, property, plant and equipment and so on.
- Liabilities are a drain on income – loans, credit of any kind, hire purchase, debts of any kind, any type of financial obligation, mortgage finance, etc.
- Liabilities need to be serviced by the income which the assets generate – sales, interest, dividends, annuities, lease income, rent, etc.
- Generally, the greater the number of assets versus liabilities, the greater the income, the stronger the business.
- In business, this is called a strong balance sheet or financial strength.
- A strong balance sheet means the business can withstand periods of lower sales, can weather storms, is safer, more secure and has more value than a company with a WEAK balance sheet.
What gravely concerns me, is the overwhelming number of WEAK Personal Balance Sheets we see. I mean, it’s frightening.
You may recall from reading my book, Millionaire Mortgage Secrets, one of “The 8 Money Laws” is “Treat Yourself Like a Business”.
Businesspeople obsess, worry, and lose sleep over the strength of their balance sheet.
Being honest with yourself, how strong is your personal balance sheet right now?
If you were to make a list and reconcile it, how many assets could you list and how valuable are they?
How much income do they produce?
What’s been added to the asset column over the past year?
If your answer is ‘not much’ or ‘not many’, then you must take action – now.
In the assets column, you can’t include your home – you have to live in it.
It doesn’t produce any income: it provides utility – a roof over your head. You could sell it, but you’d have to buy another or rent.
Leave out your cars, too.
Superannuation is vital, but you can’t access it until you retire. And for most people it’s only a few hundred grand which is going to run out fast if you want to enjoy 20-30 years of retirement without penny-pinching. It’s definitely a non-current asset.
For true peace of mind, you will need Financial Security BEFORE retirement.
How many of these do you own?
- Commercial and residential property investments
- Shares in quality, built-to-last companies
- Investments or or part ownership in other businesses
- Bonds
- Ownership of assets that are leasable – trucks, equipment, plant, boats, fishing licences, mining licences, rights, etc, etc.
- A franchise such as Anytime Gym, Auto Tune, Subway, etc.
- And on and on and on.
Based on the 150+ loans we write annually and the alarming absence of strong balance sheets we see, I could guess that your personal balance sheet could do with some strengthening.
In fact I would estimate that only 3 in every 100 applicants we see have a strong balance sheet. Maybe 5 out of 100 at most. What’s more, most of our clients live in the best parts of Perth and Fremantle and amongst the highest earners!
NOW is the time to add assets to your balance sheet.
Each day, I work on replacing my ‘earned’ income with ‘investment’ income. I’ve built a tremendous small business which represents a significant personal asset and the foundation of my strategy.
My own personal balance sheet is lopsided in favour of assets. I’m not a gazillionaire, but I’m going okay, thanks.
Daily, I’m having dozens of conversations with people who are succeeding and failing. (If you’re an active client of ours you know I’m on the phone for 6 hours each day so I’m not bullshitting)
In 20-years, I’ve seen it all and can tell you what’s going to work and what won’t.
Here’s just a small handful of the many ways BH Brown Mortgage Brokers in Fremantle can help:
- Assessing the effectiveness of your loan repayment strategy.
- Reducing and resetting the interest rate on all debt to the very lowest in the market.
- Consolidating and restructuring all outstanding finance, home loans, mortgages and car loans.
- Eliminating expensive unsecured credit like credit or store cards.
- Freeing up cash flow by switching principle and interest repayment on an investment property to interest only so you can prioritise repaying your home loan.
- Assessing your readiness to purchase an investment property and guide you on how to go about it.
- Introduce you to vetted, tried and tested Professional Financial and Tax Advisers.
- Introduce you to buyer’s agents, building and subdivision experts.
Get to work on your asset column TODAY.
Use this scheduling link to Book a Call with me now.
Remember, we’re here to help you in Creating Financial Security and Wealth through Professional Mortgage Advice.
Cheers,