Building on the amazing success of her earlier books, How to Make Your Money Last as Long as You Do and How to Create an Income for Life, best-selling author Margaret Lomas is back to answer all her readers' frequently asked questions.

In How to Maximise Your Property Portfolio Margaret explains to new and experiences investors how to manage and profit from a positive cash flow property portfolio.

Her approach to invest can provide investors with an income from day one without the usual risks associated with negative gearing.

Written in her trademark easy-to-read engaging style, Margaret shares her commonsense financial wisdom, covering topics such as:
- how the type of property you invest in can affect returns
- the issues to consider when shopping for property
- Whether cash flow will continue and for how long
- How to maximise each investment through optimal purchasing structures and tax benefits
- Capital gain and cash flow
- choosing the best way to manage your property

Margaret Lomas - one of Australia's foremost property investment authors - claims that with a combination of commonsense, hard work and patience you can ensure you have an income for life. Her low-risk techniques have allowed her and her husband to build their own extensive, profitable property portfolio. How to maximise Your Property Portfolio will show you how.

Margaret says:

"Some people want to know more than their accountants and if this is you, this book is a must. It does not, however, replace the two previous books and depends upon you having already read at least one of them.

How to Maximise Your Property Portfolio covers the debate about cash flow and capital growth and puts the two into context. It provides advanced information about assessing cash flows and details body corporate information. It also takes a look at niche market property and its place in a portfolio. The book then goes on to examine portfolio management and outlines exit strategies.

The tax information contained in How to Maximise Your Property Portfolio is more advanced and covers the methods of depreciation and low value pooling. It looks at structures such as companies and trusts, and explores which names property should be held in and why. Lastly, it looks at property management with a detailed section on recruiting a property manager.

You should read this book after you read one of the other two and when you have started to put together your property portfolio."

Review:

Reviewed by Richard Gruiters on behalf of Good Returns

In How to Maximise Your Property Portfolio Lomas explains to new and experienced investors how to manage and more importantly, profit, from a positive cash flow property portfolio.

It is evident that the author is passionate about positive cash flow property and puts forward a convincing argument as to why cash flow property is the best option if you are serious about achieving financial freedom.

Lomas' approach to investing has the potential to provide investors with an income from day one without the usual risks associated with negative gearing.

Being a supporter and practitioner of the philosophy of cash flow properties, I was keen to read this book to glean a few inspirational ideas on how I could improve the performance of my humble property portfolio.

Topics covered include:
- The pro's and con's of cash flow and capital growth properties
- Shopping for property
- Managing your individual properties and your portfolio as a whole
- Maximising your cash flow through tax claims
- Property structures
- Questions from readers

The most salient points which I obtained were;

- The importance of projecting future cash flows on investment property purchases prior to buying, to ensure that the property will not only be cash flow positive from day one, but that it will in fact stay a positive cash flow property after year one, year five and even year ten.

- The need to be pro-active in the monitoring of your portfolio ¡V not to just purchase and then ¡§set and forget¡¨. To continually monitor the performance of each property within your portfolio and the portfolio as a whole, to ensure it is still producing a positive cash flow.

- To adjust the portfolio accordingly to ensure it performs to its maximum potential and also performs to the level you require in order to achieve your financial goals.

- To not be afraid to cut your losses on a property if it is a -lemon- and to immediately get straight back into the 'game' instead of being put off by one unsuccessful investment.

- When considering your property structure, to do your calculations and choose the structure which will have the greatest benefits over the longest possible time, rather than one that just looks right today.

Readers should note that because the author is Australian, the chapters and worked examples on property structures, depreciation and tax, are written with references to the Australian laws only. However a majority of the content is still relevant to any market.

The book finishes with some valuable and informative topics, including:

- A chapter on reader questions and answers
- Capitalising investment loans
- Deposit bonds
- A summary of what I consider the most valuable bullet points from throughout the book

How to Maximise your Property Portfolio is ideal for the new property investor, as Lomas gives a clear explanation of what needs to be considered and what is required to acquire positive cash flow property. It also gives an insight into the issues that need to be addressed to ensure that positive cash flow is maintained for each property and the portfolio as a whole.

Lomas is one of Australia's foremost property investment authors who has written several books on property investing and finance. It may be beneficial to read some of her other books in conjunction with this one to complete the overall picture and she does refer to her other publications at various stages throughout. However, her commonsense and practical approach makes sure this book is easy to read and full of useful information.