Ninety-six percent of all fears, worries and concerns in life are baseless'.  

Yet, from your earliest childhood - long before the concept of investing money even occurred to you - you found yourself immersed in unimaginable horrors of every conceivable making.

There were those terrifying dreams and nightmares that woke you and everyone else in your household at ungodly hours of the night.

There was that heart-stopping, jaw-dropping moment when your mum turned and left you in the care of your school teacher on your first day at primary school.

Then there were those dark and sinister nights when you lay in your bed, staring into the blackness like a demented cat in an effort to determine if those demonic-like shapes on the far side of the wall were, in fact… the 'faces of evil' … or just harmless curtain shadows.

Fears, worries and concerns have been a part of your life since the day you were born. It's a part of being human - and perfectly normal

Here are just some of the many fears we've all had at some point or other:

Scary stuff, huh?

What's even more scary is that NOT ONE of the above-listed "fears" has ever resulted in physical harm to anyone - because 'fear alone' is harmless!

Lets look at each of these, one by one…

Fear of Spiders: There are approximately 100,000 species of spider on the planet. Only 12 of these are venomous. This would suggest that you have a mere one chance in 9,000 of being bitten by a poisonous spider.

Fear of Sleeping Alone: It's safer, both physically and from a 'room-oxygen content' perspective, to sleep alone.

Fear of Masks: It would be most unusual for a piece of sculptured rubber, PVC, plastic or cardboard to lead to the demise of anyone.

Fear of School Exams: The act of studying for and then sitting an exam is not readily renowned for it's potential to cause lasting emotional and/or physical harm.

Fear of Taking Action: To be "scared of doing something" is, by the equal and opposite argument, to be "comfortable with doing nothing". Since when was "doing nothing" beneficial to your financial future? And since when was "doing something about it" a reason to panic?

Fear of Success: It's 'sad but true'… there really are some folk who are literally terrified of success! They often feel they don't deserve it or that success will alienate them from their firends. The reality is that "success never hurt anyone". Failure on the other hand? I think you know the answer to that  already.

Fear of "fear" itself: Fear is an emotion. It is not a physical or physiological threat (unless of course you've got a dicky heart!).  

Fear of Public Speaking: Despite the 'terror' involved with standing up and speaking to a large crowd; to the best of my knowledge, nothing nasty, harmful or sinister has ever resulted from such an action.

Fear of Heights: One of the most common fears amongst humans. Ironically, but hardly surprisingly, it's not the "height" that hurts - just the impact from the fall (if you are unlucky enough to have fallen from whatever 'height' you were at). 

Fear of being Stared At: It can be quite disconcerting when someone stares directly at you for any length of time. However, it neither harms you physically or emotionally.

Fear of People Talking About You: "Sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt you". Enough said.

Fear of the Dark: Technically speaking, darkness is simply a 'lack of light'. This in itself should not be cause for spine-chilling fear. I'm sure that science will back me up when I claim that "a lack of photons is not considered lethal and is not therefore a reason for prolonged shivering, heart palpatations or screaming!"

Fear of Mice: I've seen what a mouse-trap can do to a mouse. I've also seen what a cat can do to a mouse. But I'm yet to see any evidence of carnage left over from a rampant attack by mice on humans or cats!

Fear of Separation from Parents: Even "I" recall being in a heightened state of dismay when my mother left me in the care of my very first teacher at my very first school. I also know of children who have complete emotional meltdowns each and every time their mother pops outside to hang the washing up! But at the end of the day, neither I nor those 'temporarily abandoned children' suffered lasting harm from the well-intentioned acts of our respective mothers.

Can you see a pattern here? Can you see how the fears stated above, although vividly real in the minds of those who experience them, are completely unjustified?

Now take a look at your OWN fears. If you're really honest with yourself, can you genuinely justify the reason/s for having them?

No, of course you can't. 

And this leads me to rationalise a "fear" that many of my would-be clients have… a "fear" that stops them dead in their tracks when it comes to purchasing an investment property through us. It's the actual "fear of investing!"

This "fear" can be broken down into many sub-fears including: the fear of taking action; the fear of losing money; the fear of being ripped off; the fear of having a large mortgage; the fear of not being able to find tenants; the fear of tenants trashing the property; the fear of having their cashflow tied up; the fear of losing their job/s and finding the investment unaffordable; the fear of a property crash; the fear of rising interest rates; the fear of what the economy might do; etc., etc., etc. 

If only these same would-be clients realised that by allowing "fear" to get in the way of wealth creation, they are setting themselves up for something far more terrifying than anything they'd imagined i.e. a bleak and poverty-stricken retirement.

In my next article I will examine "The Fear of Taking Action" and how it can cripple any chance you might otherwise have had to become wealthy and successful.

Your views are valuable, so please feel free to "comment" on this article. Simply click on the blue highlighted "Comment" link (next to the Permalink and Print links) on the bottom-right of this page.

Tags: fear of investing property investing

Here I was, happily reading my copy of the Sunday Star Times in bed on Sunday morning (as ya do when you're my age - mainly coz it hurts to get out of bed too quickly   when a headline on the front page of the business section caught my eye…

"KiwiSaver fault exposes bank interest rate ploy"

  According to the Sunday Star Times article (which you can read in full by clicking on the blue headline above), "a technical glitch in allowing KiwiSaver funds to be used for mortgage payments has inadvertently exposed a nationwide rort allowing excessive interest charges on credit cards and personal loans".

KiwiSavers have been advised that it will be August before they can take advantage of mortgage diversion. This is due to the government needing to iron out "technical glitches".

What has NOT been told to these KiwiSavers is that those so-called technical issues include the practice of linking customers' "unsecured debts" to their home loan accounts.

It seems that the banks are regularly securing credit cards, personal loans, overdrafts and other monetary debts against customers' homes, but still charging whopping interest fees as if they were unsecured!  

For Pete's sake, it's hard enough trying to meet the interest rates on our home loans without learning that we're being systematically 'fleeced' by our own banking system on just about every other form of lending vehicle!

The article goes on to say that "the average standard rate credit card charges interest at 21.14%, a high rate lenders justify by arguing the borrowing is unsecured. But because the card debt is tied to the mortgage, this is virtually double what it should be. The average rate for a floating revolving credit mortgage secured over a property is 10.69%.

Banks charge an average 18.11% for personal loans, an extra 7.4 percentage points, again for a loan that is effectively secured".

I am going to be brave here and throw this post open for discussion. If you feel as angry as I do about the banks "milking us" for every cent they can get, post your comment below. But be sure to read the KiwiSaver article in the Sunday Star Times article first.

Tags: New Zealand home loans New Zealand property personal loans Sunday Star Times investment property mortgages

Honestly, the clap-trap appearing in our daily newspapers and on television regarding the future direction of New Zealand residential property and mortgage interest rates is mind-numbing to say the least! Real Estate in New Zealand will drop by 15% over the next 18  months".

Not one single "expert" agrees with each other!

Reserve Bank Governor - Dr Alan Bollard: "House prices will fall 13 per cent over the next three years".

Westpac Chief Economist - Brendan O'Donovan: "It would be rare to see house prices drop the way Dr Bollard has predicted.

Goldman Sachs JBWere Economist - Shamubeel Eaqub: "Average mortgage rates will keep going up over the next two years as people on lower fixed rates roll over to the higher rates being charged this year.

Property Market Analyst - Kieran Trass: "The recovery might be slower than predicted, as mortgage rates could rise further if banks increased lending margins to cope with the cost of more mortgagee sales and worsened lending terms with overseas banks.

"I believe this is for property what October 1987 was for the sharemarket," he said.

Real Estate Institute President - Murray Cleland: "Real Estate Institute figures out next week will give a truer picture of what the market is doing", said a surprised Murray Clealand when commenting on the Reserve Bank's gloomy predictions.

NB: Figures from Auckland real estate company Barfoot and Thompson showed the average sale price slightly increased last month despite the number of home sales falling.

Why am I even telling you this?

Because history has shown that even the country's leading experts have managed to "get it all wrong" at least two-thirds of the time! And on top of that, most of them disagree with each other most of the time!

So, if you can't trust the experts, who CAN you trust?

Answer: "HISTORY".

Historically, New Zealand residential property has increased in value at an annualised rate of around 10% pa for the past 100 years. Over the most recent 20 years that figure has been more like 15% pa. And that has been despite the 1987 sharemarket crash, the property crash of the late 1980's, double-digit mortgage interest rates for 12 years, the volatile NZ Dollar, the Asian Crisis, two changes of Government, six prime ministers including caretaker prime ministers… and a recession!

So, while the mega-salaried economists and professional know-alls would be better off taking up knitting, all you need to do is STOP MAKING EXCUSES AND START TAKING ACTION!

Ok, so the New Zealand property market only scraped home with a 10% gain for the year ending December 2007. Perhaps to some that might be a disappointment. But to me - and to all of you who have been in the New Zealand property market for some time - it's hardly a bad result!

However, the cooling effect on property prices looks set to continue for at least the next year. So, for those of you looking to invest in property in the near-term, it's important to seek out "real value".

Auckland HOT PROPERTY spots in 2008

What will drive property prices in Te Kauwhata?

When will Springhills Correctional Facility be operational?

What are the property investment opportunities available?

At this time of writing there are a limited number of brand new, rent guaranteed residential homes being built by G.J Gardner Homes and marketed through Compass Property Investments. These brick and tile homes will be superbly constructed; consisting of 4 bedrooms + study, full landscaping with paved walkway, master bedroom with ensuite, and double lock-up garage. Importantly, they will be within easy walking distance of Te Kauwhata High School.

If you'd like to download a specifications sheet on these rent guaranteed properties and see for yourself how promising the Te Kauwhata investment property opportunity really is, click here.