Weekends reads — Must see articles from the last week

There are more interesting articles, commentaries and analyst reports on the Web every week than anyone could read in a month.

Each Saturday morning I like to share some of the ones I’ve read during the week.

Monday will be here before you know it, so enjoy some weekend reading…and please forward to your friends by clicking the social link buttons.

It Costs Millions of Dollars to Protect Mark Zuckerberg

If you had a security service how much would you be willing to pay for it?

What if your net-worth was 35.7 billion dollars?

That is what Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is worth to date, and to protect him Facebook is paying approximately $4.3 million as reported in an article on fortune.com.

It’s also expensive to safeguard COO Sheryl Sandberg.

Protecting one of the richest people in the world is not a cheap task.

Facebook in 2015 paid nearly $4.3 million for direct security services aimed at protecting its co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the company said in an amended annual report on Wednesday.

Zuckerberg, a billionaire who makes just $1 a year in salary, also spent more than $775,000 on personal usage of private aircraft, bringing his total “other” compensation for the year to more than $5 million.

Still, spending $4.3 million on security services is an extremely high figure in the social networking market, as well as the technology industry.

Earlier this month, for instance, Twitter revealed that it spent just $68,500 on security services for its CEO Jack Dorsey in 2015.

Last year, Equilar, which tracks executive compensation, released an analysis of Fortune 100 data on how much companies pay to protect their CEOs.

Equilar found that in 2013, Amazon paid $1.6 million for security on its chief executive Jeff Bezos.

Amazon said in an earnings report that it believed the cost was “reasonable and necessary” for the e-commerce company’s “benefit.”

Find the full article here

Melbourne set for a downturn + Investment tip you should ignore

Another great Real Estate Talk show produced by Kevin Turner.

Michael Yardney shares his top 7 property investment tips you should ignore.

Charlie Albone landscape designer on Selling Houses Australia has just returned from Hong Kong and shares some great design ideas he picked up there and as well he has some advice that will save property sellers losing up to 25% on offers when they sell.

Simon Pressley from Propertyology believes that Melbourne is on the cusp of a market downturn and he tells us why.

Ben Kingsley balances the debate about the Melbourne market and says while things might get tough he doubts it will get as bad as Simon Pressley is saying.

Richard Rossman Richard Rossman from Secret Agent discusses a really interesting article that they’ve put together on why you can’t trust averages or even, in this case, medians.

Pam Marsden from BVM Clean Scene explains the concept of forensic cleaning.

If you don’t already subscribe to this excellent weekly Internet based radio show do so now by clicking here

The long slow march to zero?

This week’s Reserve bank decision created a sense of relief for homeowners, as discussed in this blog by Pete Wargent.

Well, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) went ahead and did it anyway, with no telegraphing needed!

With global interest rates and inflation remaining stubbornly low, the Official Cash Rate was cut by 25 basis points at 2.30pm to its lowest level in history, on the back of much softer than expected inflation figures.

The cash rate is now at a historic low of 1.75 per cent.

Obviously this is unbelievably happy news for homeowners who can probably barely believe the affordability dividend that has been slung their way since the financial crisis.

Read the full article here

Property Taxes Delivering More And More Revenue

Have you ever wondered where the majority of state and local governments taxation revenue comes from?

It would seem that property taxes are outshining all other revenues according to an article in Your Investment Property Magazine.

More than half of all taxation revenue gathered by state and local governments in the 2014–15 financial year came from taxes on property. [adrotate group=”33"]

Analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics figure by CoreLogic RP Data has revealed that over the year taxes on property generated $45.2b in revenue for state and local governments.

That figure is 50.6% of the total $89.2b worth of tax revenue collected by the two levels of government over the 12-month period.

Over the year, the total amount of tax revenue collected by state and local governments increased by 7%, while the proportion of that which came from property taxes increased by 10.5%.

According to CoreLogic’s analysis, since the 1999–00 financial year, total state and local government taxation revenue has increased by 103% compared to a 150% increase in property taxation.

Of the individual property taxes, stamp duty and municipal rates account for the majority of revenue created at 40.8% and 35.4% respectively.

Land tax accounts for 14.8% of revenue generated from property.

According to CoreLogic’s report, the fact that stamp duty accounts for such a significant proportion of the revenue collected should be a “concern.”

Click here for the full article

New website shows what Australia’s coastline will look like in 2100

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a crystal ball that allowed us to see the future?

While there’s yet to be a proven method to see what the future will bring, online mapping systems have come a long way.

sbs.com.au have released an article introducing readers to a new website which uses google maps to see what Australian coastlines will look like in 2100.

A new website shows the possible impact of climate change on Australia’s coastal cities, plotting sea level rise projections on Google Maps.

A new website has been launched that allows Australians to see how rising sea levels might impact their homes.

Coastal Risk Australia layers sea level rise projections over Google Maps, accounting for tide and elevation.

An impression of Melbourne in 2100 based on projections in a ‘high’ greenhouse gas emissions scenario. (Coastal Risk Australia)

Users can see where water levels will reach by the year 2100 under low, medium and high greenhouse gas emissions, using projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The IPCC says in a high emissions scenario, sea levels will likely rise by a median of 0.74 metres by 2010.

“We don’t want to create hysteria, but we don’t want people burying their heads in the sand either,” one of the website’s creators, Nathan Eaton from NGIS Australia, told Guardian Australia.

Click here for the full article

Weekend Video: Are You a Positive or Negative Thinker?