YourShare Blog

Welcome to the YourShare Blog

YourShare is dedicated to helping the independent investor make more from their investments, superannuation, margin loans and insurances, by giving you back your share of all the fees and commissions generated by your investments and financial products.

To register with the YourShare Yearly Cash Back service, please visit www.YourShare.com.au

This site, will discuss issues relating to the financial services markets, financial planning and products, in addition to posting our own news and announcements.

Simple tips to own your home sooner

Get the mortgage monster off your back, budgeting can be a helpful loan buster – these simple tips will be sure to help.

Refund Commissions

Refund commissions on a yearly basis. All those nasty commissions you have been paying can be easily refunded using a commission refund service. YourShare, Australia’s award winning cash-back service mentions “When you take out a loan, your mortgage typically generates 0.2% trailing commission for each year you hold the loan. This adds up to thousands of dollars over the life of your loan. On a $500,000 mortgage this is $1,000 in trailing commissions each year.”

Take these commissions and put them towards your home loan, in 10 years you could have reduced your home loan by thousands.

Budgeting

You probably have heard it all before but this is a well known tip that can help reduce your loan significantly. Budgeting will help to ensure that you meet the minimum required to pay off your home loan and can also leave a little left over in case of emergencies. You can even use this to make extra repayments.

Monitor carefully

Treat your home loan like an investment, would you invest $100,000 and just leave it? Monitor the market regularly and be prepared to refinance if necessary. Remember, a 1% decrease on your mortgage is the same as a 1% increase on your investment.

Make it work for you

Shop around. Take advantage of competition between home loan lenders. Look for no application fees or no on-going fees, and remember, commission fees can always be refunded.

Some other simple tips include:

• Paying fortnightly
• Stick to a budget
• Make extra repayments
• Save for a bigger deposit

Written by Nancy Edbergsten – Financial Blogger

Interest Rate Rise, Time for a Commission Refund

With the recent interest rate rise in Australia, which showed big banks such as Commonwealth jump up 0.45 percentage points, Australian’s are heading towards receiving commission refunds.

When most people find out that the commissions they have been paying to financial advisors for years can be refunded they think it is too good to be true. Most think that the companies who will help recover these fees will hit them with more fees making the process all a big headache. Wrong, these companies will charge you a small upfront fee and only take a fair amount that is required for processing.

When you open a financial product such as a home loan, insurance policy or even superannuation, commissions will be paid towards a financial broker. These commissions are generally upfront, and then paid as an ongoing basis. Typically, these fees range from 0.2-1.2% of the total value.

For example, YourShare, rated Australia’s best commission refund service, will only ever take 50% up to $295, and then the rest is yours. As Paul Brady CEO says, “It really is money for jam. We can save the average family up to $1500”.

Commission rebates work on the following structure:

• No obligation service, if you request a commission rebate you will not be charged any fees for joining and can opt out at any time. No lock-ins.
• You are only charged if you receive commissions, when using these services you will never be charged an ongoing fee, instead you are generally charged up 50% up to $295.
• Your fees will never go up, when using commission refund services you will never be charged more by your funds. Also, as commissions are calculated as a percentage of the account balance the more your fund grows the more commissions you will receive.

So wait no longer, go and join a commission refund service today and start saving!

How to Avoid Trailing Commissions

We all have those nasty trailing commissions on our financial statements. These commissions generally average around 0.5% a year and are paid regularly to your fund adviser. If you pay these commissions it would seem fair that you should receive a level of advice in return. But be prepared, because although advisers collect their trailing commissions, many will not bother in offering advice or looking after their clients on an ongoing basis.

It is also important to realise that most fund advisers act in the best interest of the commission rate they will receive from the chosen fund. For instance, Fund A and Fund B both have the same risk profile  and administration fees, yet Fund A has a 0.7% commission rate and Fund B has a 0.3% commission rate, most likely your adviser will tell you that Fund A is a better choice as it is most beneficial for themselves.

Thankfully, in the recent decade there has been an explosion in commission rebate services. By acting as your fund adviser, these no-obligation services allow a fast and convenient way to receive a return/rebate on your trailing commissions. These services support almost all financial products ranging from superannuation, investment funds, insurance policies loans, and even mortgages.

YourShare.com.au, currently Australia’s leading commission rebate service, promises to refund 50% of all commissions collected up to $295 and then 100% of the remaining. Paul Brady, Director of YourShare states “we can save Australian families on average around $1500 a year”. 

Most commission rebate services also offer to refund 100% of the initial commissions and entry fees for managed investment funds and superannuation/pension funds. 

By Nancy Edbergsten - Financial Blogger

Today Tonight

As recently featured on Channel 7's Today Tonight programme, YourShare is the number 1 Cash-Back service for Australian consumers.

To watch the entire sgment, please go to www.YourShare.com.au

 

Good News - New Assistant Treasurer

The announcement of the new Gillard ministry on the weekend revealed that Bill Shorten has been given the Assistant Treasurer, Financial Services and Superannuation portfolio.

 

It’s great news that superannuation is acknowledged as a key issue which justifies a ministry position but it remains to be seen to what extent the Federal Government will act on the Cooper Review recommendations.

 

The election campaign was disappointing for the lack of discussion around the issue of superannuation and trailing commissions from either major party.  At least now with the election result finally resolved we might see some action.

 

In the meantime YourShare is thrilled to be chasing significant savings and refunds for customers taking advantage of our Mortgage Health Check offer as published in the September issue of Money Magazine.  Make sure you don’t miss out!!

Mortgages - Get your money back !!!

IF YOU HAVE A MORTGAGE YOU may be paying thousands in hidden fees. YourShare and Money magazine have teamed up to offer you a free assessment of how much you could save over the life of your loan and the value of your annual cash-back from fees and commissions. Plus every reader who chooses to open or refinance a mortgage account with YourShare will get a $500 bonus (see www.yourshare.com.au/Money).

Increase your savings and Cash-flow- the more you register, the more you save

Superannuation has received increased attention over the past few months with the unveiling of the Cooper review. For those unaware, the Cooper Review is set to be implemented as of July 2012, and will see the abolishment of the trailing fees and commissions that you, the fund owners, are paying as fees for financial assistance, despite nil assistance being administered. This is fantastic as it means that there will be increased funds entering into super accounts, however, this will only apply for those funds created after implementation date, not existing funds.

YourShare.com.au as many are aware have already seen this fault and offer the same saving option, however savings can be made from TODAY. YourShare.com.au customers are already seeing the benefits of this service with $thousands going out Yourshare.com.au doors this month alone. However this service is not limited to the trailing fees and commissions you pay on Superannuation, but extends to loans and mortgages, insurance, investment funds, trusts and many other financial products. The more products that are registered, the higher the amount of savings acquired, and all for a single fee for the life of the service.

Contact YourShare.com.au on 1300 554 774 to find out just how much you can save or go to http://www.yourshare.com.au/Calc_Ycr.aspx to see for yourself.

Superannuation Statement Fee Summary

As the end of financial year approaches you will soon get a statement in the mail from your superannuation / pension fund.  Please take a moment to check it out because there is a chance you can stop paying and start collecting some cash on your super account.

The amount we are able to collect for you each year is generally locked away in the Fee Summary section, under 'Other Management Costs' (though this does vary between statements). This represents part of what you could actually claim back as cash and put into you own back pocket.

If your super statement says ‘Nil Adviser Fees’ were levied on the account….don’t automatically think we can't get you money back.....Usually we can.

YourShare has collected and refunded to clients hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars, in fees on super accounts which state ‘Nil Adviser Fees’.  For YourShare clients the reality is in the cash-back cheque they get in the mail each year. 

Some real life examples of cash-back cheques received by YourShare clients
   Client A:  $ 2,011 cash back from YourShare.com.au
   Client B:  $ 1,688 cash back from YourShare.com.au
   Client C:  $    894 cash back from YourShare.com.au

So take a few minutes to review your annual superannuation statement Fee Summary and Other Management Costs. And consider the possibility of getting your fees back each year.

Please contact our friendly customer service team on 1300 554 774 or customerservice@yourshare.com.au for more details. Or simply click here for the Broker Nomination form and either mail or fax back to YourShare today and we will do everything else. 

ps Remember to tell your friends so they can get this money back each year too, and you can get Referral Rewards.

Wealth Wise - Tricks With Bricks

Smart Investor Magazine May 2010 - "There are several key areas where you can have a greater input and save on your outlay when negotiating a mortgage"

.......if taking on a new mortgage or renegotiating an existing loan  - if you want a share of the commissions yourself - is to go through a fee rebating service like YourShare.com.au.....

For the complete article see May's Smart Investor magazine.

Beating Bank Fees

Today Tonight's called on the best in the business - money wiz Peter Switzer, financial author Nicole Pederson McKinnon and broker specialist Paul Brady from [www.yourshare.com.au] - to show you how to beat the banks.

"It's fair to say the Australian population has got really jack of fees, we're fully aware of how much we're paying and we're not happy about it," Nicole Pederson McKinnon said.

"If you're not getting those fees and commissions back - you're throwing your money away," Paul Brady said.

For the complete story - http://au.todaytonight.yahoo.com/article/7219117/money/beating-bank-fees