Money???? - Views please on what investments to keep in the Uk and what to move?

[Guest Twirly]

Hi

 

Does anyone have any views - obviously not financial guidance on what to move or not?

 

We have seen some horror stories on the web re double taxation!!! if you don't move it over within 6 months

 

Twirly

[Guest muppetbro]

twirly without doubt the least well answered topic imho

 

financial advice is considerably cheaper in oz than the uk so our last pension dlimma is on hold til our arrival and more i mportantly we know if we are staying.....

 

but you need to ask more questions related to your finances - 6 months is the window offered by the oz tax system to transer your funds over -

 

pension transfer is probably the most important financial consideration - ive asked many questions on this topic with few replies other than a sales pitch of an email

 

at moment were sitting on our house proceeds and not exchanging as the $ rate is pissypoor at the moment but we have a window oftransfer until feb 08 so were watching for the time to signal thebank to exchange............thats the easy part

 

my friend is a financial advisor but no knowledge of the australian tax system - what he did say is pay for the advise especially as we have 2 nice teaching pensions worth looking after for our long term interests - the yellow adleaideinbrits forum is the best source of information on these matters ive foundto date - i stand to be corrected and am still researching transfer of pensions - one thing i have learnt leave the pension i n the uk and it could be the most expensive mistake of your life !

 

please share if you find any gems of information

 

mart

[Guest Twirly]

Thanks for that.

 

That correlates with the advice we have had from a friend who is a tax consultant in the Uk. We know that we have no unexpected supprises from the UK tax system however it is the issue with pensions that concerns us most.

 

I am also sat on the proceeds from our house. The rate has been dropping everytime I look at it.

 

I will let you know if I find out anything

 

Twirly

[Guest Russfamily]

If u go to the bask sa web site (bank of South Australia) they have a financial section and it shold give u an outlock into the future from a professional Organisation.

When u do decide transfer your money hifx will give u a decent rate, on there web site u can see the rate updating before your eyes and also the trends of the past.

Pensions well that really is a mine field and no one likes to give advice to you as that leaves them open to being sued if the advice goes wrong now this is what i have done dont know if its the right or wrong decision, company pensions i have left in the company as the returns are bigger when i collect them private pensions well i have left them where they are at the moment but may transfer them but really i am undeicided on them. Remember iam not a financial adviser and this is only what i have done, the cop out

[Angela]

What do you think about leaving a Life Assurance policy running. They have said its ok to continue with as long as its a D/debit from a UK bank account

 

At £11 p/month seems silly to cancel, certainly until property is brought in Oz & other policies are in place.

 

Would be grateful for your thoughts?

Angela

[Guest Russfamily]

thats ok for them to collect your money every month but will they pay out if they find out your living in Australia????? ask them that

[Angela]

I did but of course would expect a 2nd opinion if I was to continue the police, will be asking again soon. Will let you know.

[Hayshake]

As an ex insurance salesperson (now retired) I can asure you that providing the policy is with a well known Life Insurance company then they will do their utmost to ensure that the policy pays out.

My son who has been in Aus for nearly 10 years now, has and still pays for his endowment, and when I hopefully get my Visa issued I will be going with mine still running.

The only question I would ask is if the policy is just for Life Assurance and not an Endowment for Savings. If it is a life policy only it may be better to cancel and start a new one in Aus, although bear in mind that if you are somewhat older than when you took the policy out you may have to pay more.

I would suggest leaving the policy running at least until you are in Aus and sorted your options out.

Hope this is helpful

[Guest Twirly]

Just a thought from our UK tax advisor - we may not have any tax liabilites for endowments in the UK ....but he told us to check out what happens when it matures - he suggested we check when we get to Adelaide how the Aussie tax system would treat this. He also suggested exploring our ISA income if we were to cash it in and transfer the funds to the uk.

 

 

Twirly

[Guest Twirly]

Oh yes and he suggested that we fill out forms to half a split year in the Uk. We leave in July and this means we declare income in the UK up until we leave and pay tax on that and then I assume???? we then pay any tax to the Aussie Govt for any income generated following our emigration.

 

We can also opt for having my husbands uk govt pension paid gross rather than net of uk tax! However we are still looking into the implications for this.

 

Twirly

[Guest Bex & Nick]

Just one thing to add into the pot - having had a chat with a financial adviser yesterday at Westpac, apparently if you transfer your UK pension over here then it is locked here until you are 60, if you find Australia isn't right for you and go home you can't transfer the pension back until then.