State and private pension contributions

[Twirly]

Hi

I just wondered if anyone has any idea what happens to the eligibility for state pensions.

Also has anyone transfered their private pension?

[Angela]

Hi Twirly

I've been thinking about the state pension to so I will be looking forward to some replies on this thread

With regards to private, the company that I work for give you 2 options:
1. Preserve it (freeze it)
2. Transfer it, but this depends whether you the company you work for is part of a certain pension organisation & if they accept pension transfers

For now I plan to preserve it :)

As long as I leave them a forwarding address or leave my Mums address until I am more settled, all the correspondence will be sent there :)

Good luck
Angela

[richjop]

I have an interview with a financial advisor next week. £150 for 2 hours who i met at a recent seminar on emigration. During our 5 minute chat he reckoned I could lose out on tens of thousands of pounds if I left my pension where it is, so I thought £150 was worth a punt.

I have got a load of other things that I need advice on as I have a few investments and shares and I will be doing a bit of work for my old boss in UK while in Oz.

Will report back after Tuesday 8th.

[Twirly]

Hi

I have been doing some reseach too. You can apparently ???? be taxed twice here in the UK and in Aus. I am looking at my preserved pension and our ISAs and endownments! Better safe than sorry.

Any information or recommendations on who to use and ideas on costs would be great.

I have completed a questionnaire with one company and have been sent the following list from HIFX:
Prism Xpat

http://www.prismxpat.com/
Email: darion@prismxpat.com
Tel: 0845 450 4004 (or +44 207 554 8548)



Siddalls
http://www.siddalls.net
Email: victoria.allen@siddalls.net

Tel: 01329 288641



Montfort International Plc

http://www.miplc.co.uk
Email: geraint.davies@miplc.co.uk
Tel: 01483 202072


The following links may be of interest with regards to opening an Australian Bank Account;

Westpac Bank:

http://www.westpac.com.au/migrantbanking
Email: anthony_davison@westpac.com.au
Twirly :) :?:

[muppetbro]

my research as follows

1. there is alot of dishonest scare mongering done to tout your business
2. the cost of advice and pension transfer is CONSIDERABLY cheaper to do in oz than from the uk.
3. leaving it in the uk could indeed have considerable financial impact - you have a 6 month window to sort out all financial affairs
4. many have done the transfer themselves for the cost of time typing out two letters and postage :shock:
5. my blood boils at the apparent rip off charges for advice and the often quoted 3-5% cost of transfer of funds - and the forums over are frequented by many touting for that business.......

im about to hand over a few thousand quid to an estate agents - for their services - they failed to call me back twice at critical times - disgusts me at the open ended fees charged by many areas of commerce

for now i am sourcing australian advisors for our arrival to save half the fees quoted from uk advisors -

this is one area of research people have a lack of awareness in - me included - hence lets cash in attitude!!!

sorry for ramble its raining

:oops:

[Twirly]

Hi

Have a friend who is a tax advisor in the uk. He's given us great adivce about what to do here and has suggest we get the same advice about our position when we get over in Aus. Seems less complicated than we have been led to believe when you read some of the information on the website etc.

Will update you if I get any more interesting news.

Twirly

[rockpool crab]

Hi there,

Myself and hubbie always worked therefore if we stayed in UK and continued to work we would expect a full state pension (if it still exists by the time we reach pension age)..so how does this work if we have say, roughly, 20 years of work left in us which we carry out in Australia. I'd assume we get Australian pension, but will it only be for as long as we worked in that country or do they count the UK contributions too?

This is a really grey area for me and I've still to find out about works pensions and transferring those too :-( Mine is rubbish..but hubbies is quite good and he has taken a lot of convincing to leave UK to go to Oz as he feels he's about to squander 22 years worth of pension contributions. My argument is that by the time he reaches pension age he may well be on the same money as he is on here and therefore the last two years (which are the ones that count) will be fine and it'll all work out (but I'm the eternal optomist).

Hope you guys can help with the state pension queries.

Kind regards and a Haaaaaaaaaappy Neeeeeeew Year

Carol Ann

[Ben]

I rang my pensions department (i'm RN btw) and was told that it has no effect whatsoever where I am living when I am in receipt of my pension.
Have it paid into an "international account" (been told that Nationwide do a good one) and just remove what you require every few months or so.
I will have a look on another site that I am a member of to see if I can dredge up some more info, but most of those ex-service living abroad are in places such as Spain, although there are some members from all over the world so it may give a better picture :)

[Tracijbc]

We have been told that you can continue to make voluntary contributions into your UK state pension and receive it once you get to retirement age. I am keeping my Natwest account open for that purpose, as you can transfer between NAB and Natwest online to pay by DD. The only down side is that you only ever get it paid out at the rate at which it stands the day you make your initial claim(retirement day!!). If it goes up after that, tough, you only ever get the first rate. It seems pretty fair to keep paying it if you are our age, as we have been making contributions for years, so you can claim the full whack once you retire in Aus, any extra income once you retire can only be a good thing eh?

I also have a couple of private pensions to transfer, so if anyone has any really sound advice on those, it would be appreciated.

Thanks

T xx

[rockpool crab]

We have been told that you can continue to make voluntary contributions into your UK state pension and receive it once you get to retirement age.

I didn't know you could do that. That sounds like a plan. Do you know how much the contributions are in order to keep it topped up to ensure full pension from UK?

I'll be interested to find out about private pensions too, although I thought I might try an independant financial advisor and bend their ear a bit on the subject.

Thanks for the UK pension advice :-)

Carol Ann