Inline Wealth

26/08/2026

The deposit is the part everyone saves for, and it is only part of the number. On an $800,000 purchase in this example, you also need stamp duty, settlement costs and a buffer for the month after you move in. The deposit gap is $160,000 and the cash you actually need is closer to $220,000. It is like budgeting for a holiday and forgetting the flights. Work out your real number before you start making offers.

22/08/2026

Earning good money does not automatically mean a big loan. Lenders look at what is left after tax, living costs and everything you are already paying off. A higher earner with a car loan, a large credit card limit and school fees can end up borrowing less than someone on a smaller income with nothing owing. It is the commitments doing the damage rather than the salary. Follow for more borrowing capacity tips.

18/08/2026

Borrowing capacity is not your income. It is what is left once a lender takes out your living costs, your existing debts, and a safety buffer they add on top. Picture a bucket. Your income fills it, then the lender drills a hole for every commitment you already have. Whatever is still in the bucket at the end is what they will lend against. Two households on the same salary can end up with very different numbers. Drop me a message if you want yours worked out properly.

14/08/2026

A bank can only tell you what that one bank will do. That is not a criticism, it is simply their job.

A broker takes the same numbers to a panel of lenders and finds out who says yes, who says no, and who says yes with conditions you can live with.

Same income, same debts, genuinely different answers.

It is the difference between asking one shop whether they have your size and asking the whole shopping centre.

10/08/2026

Most people think a broker just finds a cheap rate. That is the small part.

The bigger part is working out how the loan should be set up, which lender actually suits your situation, and what this purchase does to the next one.

It is a bit like using a builder instead of buying your own timber. Anyone can compare the price of materials.

What you are paying for is someone who knows how the whole thing fits together. If you want to understand your numbers before you start looking, reach out.

07/08/2026

If you've been thinking about investing but unsure of the path through it and not sure where it could lead.

Send me a message and we can get a plan like this built for you.

Know exactly how much each property is projected to cost you, what income and growth rates the properties need to achieve to reach your goals and what your retirement could look like in today's dollars.

Happy to currently do these plans for free - can't promise they'll stay free forever.

07/08/2026

To anyone in Perth reading that the Australian property market is crashing: check which market they're actually talking about.

Cotality's July numbers had the national index down 0.7%, the largest monthly fall since December 2022. That's the figure driving the headlines.

Here's what sits underneath it:

1. Sydney fell 1.4%, Melbourne fell 1.2%, Brisbane fell 0.6% in its second consecutive month of decline, and Adelaide fell 0.2%.

2. Perth rose 0.1%, and regional WA rose 0.9%.

That's the whole problem with averages. A national figure of minus 0.7% contains a market falling 1.4% and a market rising 0.9% in the same month. It describes neither of them accurately.

3. The rental data says the same thing. National vacancy was 1.3% in June. Perth was 0.6% and still falling, with 1,247 dwellings available across the entire city. Sydney and Melbourne were both sitting at 1.6%. Perth house rents are $750 a week, up 5.0% on the year, against a median house price of $950,000.

4. But Perth isn't immune, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. June was revised down to minus 0.5%. Listings have gone from 3,292 this week last year to 6,784 now. Weekly sales are running at 753 against 822 the same week a year ago. Rents eased 1.6% over the month. More stock, fewer sales, and rental growth slowing.

5. Both of those things are true at the same time. Perth is holding up far better than the east coast, and Perth is not the market it was 18 months ago. Anyone telling you only one half of that has something to sell.

Headlines report what already happened, at a level of aggregation that describes nobody in particular. There is no such thing as "the Australian property market". There's your suburb, your price point, your borrowing capacity and your timeline.

If you want to know what the numbers actually mean for your position, drop me a message.

Send a message to learn more

06/08/2026

Lenders were busy last week, while everyone was watching the RBA.

Five of them cut 26 owner-occupier and investor variable rates by an average of 0.11%. Another five cut 76 fixed rates by an average of 0.27%. NAB was among the banks trimming fixed.

Lenders are moving. The cash rate has not.

A common question I hear is whether you should hold off on the next purchase until the RBA makes up its mind. Fair question. The problem is nobody can tell you when that'll land.

Canstar's Sally Tindall summed up the mood ahead of the next meeting. A hike is still seen as a chance rather than a probability. Economists are split, and employment is still holding up.

So no certainty is coming. What is available is the pricing sitting in front of you right now.

The average variable rate for a new owner-occupier on principal and interest is 6.66%. The sharpest on my lender panel is 5.89%, though that comes from smaller lenders with their own criteria.

Still worth a look. If you are half a percent above where you could be on a $620,000 loan, that is roughly $3,100 a year in interest on money you are already borrowing. Modest, and available now.

For investors the structure matters more than the rate anyway. Whether your finance is set up so you can buy the next one is worth a lot more than 0.11%.

Rates are moving. If you think yours needs to, reach out to us for a free Portfolio Strategy Review.

01/08/2026

To the 120,000 Australians with a HSBC mortgage or personal loan: your loan is being sold, and nobody asked you.

HSBC announced yesterday that it's closing its retail banking business in Australia after nearly 40 years. The $36 billion mortgage and personal loan book goes to Blackstone, with Pepper Money appointed to service it. All 19 branches shut over the next 18 months, and everyday products like savings accounts, credit cards and term deposits get phased out along the way. The deal is expected to complete in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approval.

What it actually means:

1. Nothing changes overnight. Your contract carries over, your rate doesn't move because of the sale, and this isn't a default event. Pepper Money becomes who you ring, and because they hold an Australian credit licence your consumer protections carry over as well. No need to panic.

2. You're now a BACK BOOK customer. It's the same as when an investment property changes hands. Blackstone is the new landlord, Pepper Money is the property manager, and you're the tenant. Your lease terms carry over exactly as written, but the new owner bought the building for yield, not to grow a tenancy business. A lender chasing new customers keeps rates sharp. A book in run-off has no reason to. Over a 25 year term that gap compounds quietly and it comes out of your pocket.

3. Investors just lost a lender. HSBC had policy positions that suited certain scenarios, and if they were part of your plan for the next purchase, that path is closing. When you're building a portfolio, lender sequencing is strategy, and there's now one less option in the sequence.

4. Refinancing is an option, not an obligation. Check what's actually available before you do anything, sometimes staying put is the right call. "My loan got sold" isn't a reason to move on its own.

5. If you haven't reviewed your loans in the last 12 months, treat this as the nudge. Not because of HSBC, but because most people never check, and the cost of not checking shows up slowly.

If you've got a loan caught up in this and you're not sure what it means for your portfolio, drop me a message and I'll take a look.

14/07/2026

Most property investors know what they own.

Far fewer know what their portfolio can realistically do next.

That’s why I built the Inline Wealth Portfolio Planner.

It brings your full financial position into one place, including:

• Income, expenses, savings and personal debt
• Existing properties and loan structures
• Future purchases and planned sales
• Portfolio value, equity, debt and cash flow projections
• Borrowing capacity over time
• Interest-rate stress testing
• Alternative strategy comparisons
• Actual property performance against the original plan

The goal isn’t to produce another optimistic property calculator.

It’s to help investors see how each decision affects the rest of their financial position before they commit.

What happens if rates stay higher?

When does borrowing capacity become the constraint?

Should you buy, hold, sell, refinance or reduce debt?

How does the plan change over 10, 20 or 30 years?

And most importantly, does the strategy still move you toward the life and income you’re actually trying to build?

The planner is designed to turn a collection of properties, loans and assumptions into one clear long-term strategy.

I’m currently opening access to a limited group of property investors.

Comment PLANNER below and I’ll send you a DM on how to get access.