20/08/2026
There is a very common mistake that could be costing you $10,000's every year — and it compounds.
Almost weekly, we have clients coming to us to see if we can sharpen their interest rate — which is great, but that's usually not where the biggest savings are.
We recently worked with a client who had invested $100k into the equity market over the past 12 months. He'd been diligently pulling funds out of his owner-occupied offset account to invest each month.
That simple mistake is costing him roughly $2,820 a year — because the extra interest he's now paying on his home loan isn't tax deductible, when it should be. Left as is, that's about $28,200 in extra cost over the next 10 years. But factor in the compounding effect at the cost of funds — 6%, the same rate he's paying on the loan — and that number grows to over $37,000.
If you have an owner-occupied loan and you're looking to invest, it's critical that you set up a new "split" — a separate loan sitting alongside your existing one — rather than drawing down your offset. Here's why it matters:
If you're investing while sitting on an owner-occupied mortgage, it's worth checking your structure before it costs you another year. Reach out any time.
Figures are illustrative, based on a $100k example, a 6% loan rate and the top marginal tax rate (47%). Individual circumstances vary — always confirm your own numbers before acting.
