mrd

I learned the meaning of the word slipstream as a young teenager with a pushbike. By getting a couple of metres behind a moving bus my friends and I found we could be dragged along,  making our efforts peddling somewhat less demanding. The irony was that you had to peddle like crazy to keep up with the bus and stay in its slipstream, so all-in-all the idea was better in theory than practice. Being “older and wiser” I now cringe at the thought of teenage kids riding in the slipstream of a bus on a busy highway… but hey, like you, I thought I was bullet proof back then!

Most people like the sound of doing less to receive more and with right knowledge understood that is very possible! Today I want to touch briefly on the subject of population growth; particularly Australia growing to 35 million people by 2050 and how YOU can prosper in the associated slipstream this will create! Firstly, a few definitions of the word slipstream:

• “The turbulent flow of air driven backward by the propeller or propellers of an aircraft”
• “The area of reduced pressure or forward suction produced by and immediately behind a fast-moving object as it moves through air or water”
• “To drive or cycle in the slipstream of a vehicle ahead”

If you watched the 7:30 Report on the ABC you would have seen the four part series they ran this week that focussed on the population growth issues being debated right now. Our population currently sits at around 21 million people but is expected to hit 35 million by 2050; producing many social, environmental and political consequences. The ageing of our baby boomer workforce will see a huge chunk of current tax payers move onto pensions. As a result:

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By Martin Bell

Recent figures from RPData inspired me to hit the keyboard again.

The capital growth figures for last year (median prices up to November 2009) show that Australia wide units showed better growth over the 12 months than houses.

Yes that’s right… in 2009, based on median prices, houses with the big land content did not grow in value as much as units with minimal land content.

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IT is being touted as the “Perfect Storm”. According to Gold Coast property experts, prices will continue their upward swing in 2010 but a looming “massive undersupply of housing” is set to reach critical levels.

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Don’t blame us… we didn’t write these!

After marriage, husband and wife become two sides of a coin; they just can’t face each other, but still they stay together.
Sacha Guitry

By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you’ll be happy. If you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.
Socrates Read more…

GOLD Coast Airport’s anticipated $100 million terminal redevelopment is open for business.

The terminal was officially opened by Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Anthony Albanese (pictured) and Queensland Deputy Premier Paul Lucas. It has more than doubled in size to 30,000 square metres and boasts new luggage screening and lounge facilities.

Gold Coast Airport is Australia’s sixth largest airport and now handles around 5 million passengers annually, contributing more than $1 billion to the region’s economy.

Albanese says the redevelopment will significantly boost the local economy.

Read More >>> $100M AIRPORT TERMINAL OPENS.

Are you sure you are weighing yourself correctly…? Read more…

By Frank Lockhart

You will guess from my name that I am related to Nick and Katrina and, to save you the anguish of wondering, I will confess up front to being Nick’s father.

A few who are aware of this sympathise with me however, the majority of those who know us both, do tend to sympathise with Nick.

You may well imagine that this is going to be one of those articles praising MRD to the skies and eulogising on the exemplary conduct of Nick, Katrina and their staff in the conduct of their business. In fact it is not, although that is what I know and believe to be true. I will not bore you with a parent’s lengthy bias.. rather, I shall endeavour to help you better understand how you can help yourself, as an investor, and create greater value in your property.

So What Is An Investor?

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By Martin Bell

In last Friday’s newsletter, January 15th, I spoke of some recent valuations I looked at for a few of my properties. During the week I received new information from RP Data (Nov 2009 figures) that included average growth figures for the past 10 years median prices. I thought this was timely and would be of interest; especially since we often talk about property doubling every seven years or so.

Firstly; Some “Ground Rules”

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A police officer pulls over a speeding car.

The officer says, ‘I clocked you at 120 kilometres per hour, sir.’

The driver says, ‘Impossible officer, I had it on cruise control at 60, perhaps your radar gun needs calibrating.’

Not looking up from her knitting the wife says: ‘Now don’t be silly dear, you know that this car doesn’t have cruise control.’

As the officer writes out the ticket, the driver looks over at his wife and growls, ‘Can’t you please keep your mouth shut for once?’

The wife smiles demurely and says, ‘You should be thankful your radar detector went off when it did.’

As the officer makes out the second ticket for the illegal radar detector unit, the man glowers at his wife and says through clenched teeth, ‘I don’t believe you! Keep your BIG mouth shut!!!

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KEVIN Rudd has warned of economic disaster from a looming wave of retirees unless Australia embraces a decade of nation building and workforce reforms.The Prime Minister yesterday foreshadowed a shake-up to remove workforce barriers and lift workforce participation – themes likely to be central to a planned overhaul of the taxation system.

Revealing findings of the third Intergenerational Report, Mr Rudd said that, by 2050, there would be only 2.7 people of working age for each person aged 65 years and older, compared with 7.5 people in 1970 and five-to-one this year. Within 40 years, the proportion of the population aged 65 years and older would almost double to 23 per cent.”Unless we make big changes, we will either generate large, unsustainable budget deficits into the second quarter of the century or else we will need to reduce government services – including health services – as the needs of an ageing population become greater,” Mr Rudd said.”At a national level, public finances will be burdened with the increased costs of looking after the needs of older Australians in health, aged care and age pensions. But with a smaller proportion of Australians in the workforce, tax revenues wont keep pace with those rising costs.”

The Prime Minister warned that working families would feel the impact, with slower economic growth holding back increases in wages.”Average family incomes will grow at a slower rate than weve become accustomed to.”The Prime Minister said that removing work barriers for women, getting the unemployed into work and introducing paid parental leave would help minimise the impact of the nations ageing population, but it would not be enough to reverse an economic crisis.”Even with all these measures, workforce participation will fall over the next 40 years, from its peak of around 65 per cent now to around 60 per cent by 2050,” he said.Despite Australias resilience to the global financial crisis, Mr Rudd said Australias productivity growth could not match the 2 per cent recorded during the Hawke-Keating governments.

Last decade, it fell to 1.4 per cent.”If we let this trend of lower productivity growth continue, Australia will struggle to meet the major challenges facing our economy in decades ahead,” Mr Rudd said.He said raising productivity growth to 2 per cent would mean every Australian would be $16,000 a year better off.Mr Rudd, speaking at an Australia Day function, did not give specific examples of new policy, but said productivity would be boosted by current programs, including pumping $18 billion in roads, rail and ports; doubling investments in schools over five years; building a national broadband network and cutting red tape for business.

via Nation building plan to offset ageing population – Kevin Rudd | The Courier-Mail.