Empower Wealth experiences?

Hi Linda,

Interested to see how this process goes for you being further on than a lot of the rest of this conversation. Please share if you find the time

 

Hello! Happy to share!
I am probably about half way through my plan at the moment and I can honestly say I am so relieved. For me personally, I had the following questions that i didnt know the answer to:
1. How can I retire on $x a year
2. Should/can i purchase another property now (before i plan for a second child and substantially affect my borrowing power)
3. How does my financial state look if kids went to private school. Can i afford this?
4. How does my financial state look when the existing investment properties convert to P&I
5. Should I convert 1 of the investment loans to P&I now.

So, after a few meetings he (Damien M) came up with a plan (which is still currently being revised). I cant afford to purchase another property now (even though in my head I thought i could) but when he showed me what happens when i take maternity leave, it wasnt worth the stress financially. He has retargeted the next property purchase for 2029 and thats it! 3 properties for us to retire on! not 10 properties. lol.

It took me a long time to engage Empower Wealth after the initial consultation (4 months i think) because in my head, i couldnt answer things like : Am i going to upgrade the existing house, am i sending my kids to private school, how often are we upgrading our cars. stuff like that.

But then, I realised our lives change. This is a base plan for me to work with for now. When my life changes financially, I will ask them to amend it accordingly (with a small price ofcourse!) but im ok with that.

After Damien showed me my draft plan, i felt so relieved. Our family was heading in the right direction.
They also told me i have maxed out my borrowing capacity but when I spoke to another company (selling new off the plan type stuff) they told me I could still borrow quite abit. So thats a scary thought.

Hope this helps. Hope I havent crapped on too much.

 

Congrats on your position I'm glad to hear more positive experiences using EW. I think I might call them at some stage but unsure if at the moment I have the funds for an IP. I guess they would help with that thought process anyway.

Thank you for your informative reply

 

Curious if that's 3 rental properties fully paid down (in additional to primary residence)? How much towards your retirement do you think that'll provide?

 

@Linda888, just curious whether you need to own those 3 IPs and PPOR outright to retire? How much passive income from the 3 IPs? Thank you.

 

Oh, D.T has asked the same above. Sorry, didn't see it before.

 

Hi guys, trying to revive this thread. Thinking of going for the Property portfolio plan with Empower Wealth. Also need to use BA for my next purchase, need to choose between Empower Wealth and Propertyology. But before that, any input on property portfolio plan would be really appreciated.
All the concerns raised above are a bit scary as it is quite a money to make that plan.
1. Are the planners good enough as Ben is not doing any plans himself now.
2. Issues around their BA services including bad properties for which B&P failed.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Hi SydneyInvestor. I completed the property portfolio plan with them just over 12 months ago. We have a number of properties, but couldn't see the exit. We decided to use Empower Wealth after watching their CPA presentation on their software that they use to develop the plans (). We have two young children so we didnt know how the option of private schooling would impact our retirement date. It was an expensive exercise, but it was incredibly detailed. Although expensive, I believe it was very valuable. It was such a great feeling to have someone show you the evidence that you're doing the right thing and that retirement is on the horizon. We were able to play around with different scenarios and see how this impacted our future retirement dates and income. ie, do we put the kids in private schools, can mum afford her sports car lifestyle again, what if we bought more properties or no more properties.... Their figures are quite conservative (using high interest rates for repayment projections and lower yield and CG figures). We now have a retirement date of ten years in a six figure income. But I see this as a line in the sand. If anything, it has given me perspective and the focus to try and beat what EW have set as our retirement goals. I now have a document that gives me my monthly cashflow goals so every 30(ish) days I can see if we are tracking along where we should be. Its great to have that focus when family and work etc can so easily distract you from the bigger picture. EW also run annual review session to adjust figures as needed - because we all know, not everything goes to plan! Feel free to PM me if you want more details.

 

I totally agree with Lou above.
I have to say it has been the best money I have ever spent. Just the cash flow projection alone was worth it. And the plan has given me a very conservative and in depth goal for me to work towards. I wish I could have been smart enough to do it earlier. I worked with Paul and he was very knowledgeable and helpful through the whole process. And Sarah the mortgage broker just as good on that side of the house.
I can't thank them enough for what they have helped set up for my partner and I, and I can't recommend them enough to anybody who is serious about planning their retirement.
My partner and I are planning to buy another property at the end of this year and I will be using their BA service along with their mortgage broker service. It is very helpful to have all of these options under the one roof.
I have had a wonderful experience. If you decide to use then please share, as it is nice to hear others experiencing the same

Josh

 

Thanks @Lou and @josh76 for your answers.
The dilemma I am in is that as per some feedback on Forum, not all of their advisors are good and Ben is no longer doing all the plans by himself. So, just worried of getting into hands of some not so good planner

 

Well I guess you can only go by what others' experiences have been, and what they have perceived as "good" or "not good". I think you could feel more happy with the decision if you go ahead with it, knowing that Bryce and Ben are both very ethical in their dealings, and I believe they would be very picky with who they hire for their business, as it is their reputations on the line. So I would think that every advisor would be acting from the same skills and standards especially being trained from these guys.
Anyway, I hope you do what ends up working best for you. enjoy the process

 

I've just started pre-filling the myWealth portal they use. Seems pretty powerful.

 

you can get a "not so good planner" anywhere. you dont need it to be Ben "the man" himself @Ben Kingsley. I would like to think they employee and train a team of professionals following their own stringent guidelines and business objectives. You could be unlucky and get a muppet but unlikely if they are working within the couch guidelines.

 

They coach from the big red couch. Sometimes bryce falls asleep but the team wakes him

 

Hi all,
Just revitalising this thread as I’m currently speaking to BAs for my next IP in Brisbane. I’m a big fan of Ben and Bryce on the couch but I have deep reservations about using the company - and some other agent handling my business. I don’t see how the model can work, now that it’s so big and they have so many clients. What kind of coverage does Bryce actually have over his agents and what QA is in place? Some concerning comments here and at a cost of 14k, I’d want to feel much more reassurance than I do.
As it is, contacting the main switchboard requires you to go through an admin person, then make an appointment online to speak to an agent, etc etc. I want someone on the end of the phone who can speak to me straight away, as is the case with smaller operators - highly experienced ones at that.
Would really appreciate some more recent experiences.

 

I can only comment on the Property Portfolio plan so far as my wife and I had this done for us mid last year. I think they are very thorough and very personalised without agenda (hence paying for service). So much so they didnt recommend our next purchase till 2020 based on our current aspiration to knock down and rebuild a new PPOR. I think very useful and you can do a skype interview (or in person) to discuss initially for free and get a feel if for you or not.

 

This may be like going into McDonald's and wanting to be served by Ronald. He just runs the circus and tells the clowns what to do

To expect bryce or ben is a big ask and very unlikely. Take a punt with an unknown independent or a punt with the "couch family"

 

Their value add is those guys. It won’t cost me 14k for a cheeseburger. Who knows who you will get within the ‘family’.