How to join the market as a lender rather than a borrower

One of the most dependable alternative income investments is in ‘secured mortgages’, where you get a high rate of return underpinned by property projects. Here’s how it works.

In the latest Money Puzzle podcast we cover the flourishing world of secured mortgage investing where you access the returns of a lender.

As the sharemarket drifts, investors are looking to “alternatives” for better returns. One of the most dependable alternative income investments is “secured mortgages”, where you get a high rate of return underpinned by property projects.

In the latest Money Puzzle podcast we cover the flourishing world of secured mortgage investing where you access the returns of a lender.

Secured mortgage funds – also known as first mortgage funds – are underpinned by holding secured mortgages over specific property projects such as industrial estates or factory buildings all over Australia.

The payments are regular and the risks are reasonable, unlike many opaque “higher interest” products where the investor has little insight into where their money ends up.

Secured mortgages are not without risk, they are not guaranteed and they might not be classified as defensive by your financial adviser – that is, assuming your adviser is across this asset class.

But this “alternative asset class” is underpinned by specific hard assets and the investor has top claim on a saleable asset if things do go wrong.

Who is the guest?

James Gerrard is a financial adviser at www.financialadviser.com.au and a long-time contributor to The Australian.

Why him?

James is an experienced adviser in secured mortgage investing in the Australian market.

What are the topics this week?

1 Exploring secured mortgage investing

2 Artificial Intelligence – Who will be the losers?

3 Investing in shares for children

4 Should you worry about big super’s unlisted assets

Question of the week

Regular listener Mohammed asks: “At the moment there are two rate cuts priced in by end of this year in the US. I firmly believe this won’t happen unless there’s major disruption in financial markets e.g. regional banks and bad commercial loans. Is there a way for me to speculate on this?

Questions for the podcast are welcome at [e-mail]