gemstone

I find all this pension/super stuff very confusing and I know I need to speak with a financial advisor. However I am currently looking at the discharge papers for my uk pension transfer and I'm wondering whether it is worth it. Me uk pension is very small as I was only in teacher pensions for 6 years. If I send it over to hesta I know I will pay tax on whatever has accumulated since I left the uk. If I leave it in the uk I have been informed that I will lose 20% in tax because I am a non resident for tax purposes. I know exchange rates and potential growth factors in the hesta account are all a gamble as no one can predict what will happen over 30 years. I am just so torn as to what to do and more than aware of the ban that is creeping up on me. Does anyone have any advice or previous experience in this. thanks gemma

Thank you Andy. I had only sent the request for transfer of funds application form to teacher pensions. I had a letter yesterday saying they needed a formal request from my super fund. Which is now in the process. So I am in the very early stages. Is the initial application form the CETV or should I have another form? Teacher pensions told me about a PODCETV last night, which I found on the website, but it had not been mentioned before. As mentioned I have very little to transfer so I'm not even sure it will be worth it at the moment, and this is also the reason I decided to do it independently, although kind of regretting that decision now.

I started the uk pension transfer 2 months ago independently. But it seems I missed a vital piece of paperwork. Which means that teacher pensions may not get all the required documentation until late January. (Due to having to send documents to Hesta and then Hesta to UK.) Is it likely that this delay will now mean I have no chance of processing in time to meet the April ban? I only have a very small pension in the UK but would have liked to see my options. Does anyone have any ideas/advice with this? Thanks

Hi everyone, I have not logged onto this for ages..... but im after a bit of advice. I'm working in a very similar career to what I did in the UK. But I am absolutely miserable. I've heard of people completely changing careers when they emigrate but has anyone ever done it? And with what success? I need to still get paid a relatively decent salary, although I am certainly not highly paid now. i work as a teacher. I've been looking for jobs for a month on and off but just don't know what to look for. any ideas or previous experience changing career would be greatly appreciated thanks gemma

In reply to it not seeming that bad. Yes I'm over it... But I wanted to let other people know. I'm not going to rant away on every detail that went wrong. It just felt like very hard work having to deal with that company. It was very upsetting having very damaged sentimental items. Which was not tactical in insurance but I simply had no idea how much they would cost to repair as they had no real monetary value.

Hi everyone, i am now writing on here after getting no where with my shipping company and finally throwing in the towel and writing it off as the worst part of my moving experience. I want to share my experience with everyone because when I was doing the research back in the UK I relied on forums like this to make my choices. I understand that some people have good/bad experiences and it is just luck sometimes more than anything else. So please read what happened and make your own choices. Everything prior to my stuff being picked up was fine. It was when it got packed and from that point on that everything went wrong. * I was quoted 3/4 container and in the end it was under a half a container. Major discrepancy in my opinion but according to them it was a reasonable difference. Some money was taken off the original quote, but not what I would of paid had my quote been more accurate as 3 packers were sent instead of 2. * Some items were not packed properly which would prove to be one of the biggest problems in Australia. Luckily I saw my crystal glasses had not been padded out and asked for them to be before the box was sealed. * most of my invoices were wrong and I would have to revert back to previous emails and send emails back to have them altered and corrected. So always on my toes every time I got an email. Eventually the general manager had to intervene and offered some compensation at this stage. * when my stuff was delivered this end there was a number of broken items: Most of my plastic storage boxes were split or very damaged, glass photo frame, 2 glasses, a salad server, a race medal, a ceramic bowl and a wooden table was very badly damaged. Among other things. Dont get me wrong i understand things will get damaged in transit but a solid wooden table. Hmmm... That had to have some pressure on it to be in the state it is now in. And the unpackers this end thought it had been poorly packed. I was able to get my insurance payment but contacted BAR, unfortunately not really getting anywhere. The company were not interested. i appreciate that I got my insurance payment, however not enough to cover 2 of the most damaged items. And that they gave me a little compensation for the nightmare invoices. However the whole thing was an experience I would like to forget. It's stressful enough moving to the other side of the world without having to deal with things like this. It makes me wonder whether this has happened in the past with invoices etc but people haven't checked their emails and let it slide. i know I can not share the name of this company and I do not want to waffle on. If you are interested in finding out the company in question please pm me. In my opinion I would avoid them like the plague, and will NEVER recommend them to any friends/family.

Hi, I have been here since October. My husband is 34 and I'm 31. Where are you going to be living? Happy to meet up in the city when you get here. I know my way round the city fairly well as I was here for 5 months in 2005.

I'm still good for Saturday. Last few days/weeks have been crazy could do with a day out.

Me and OH will try and make it this time as super busy last time. Or is just families?

What time will it be then? We could all meet/congregate outside? How many of us are going now..?

Shall we go for the Carlton then as that is pretty close to flinders station.

I don't know a huge ñumber of places off the top of my head, bu I have been to pj o briens on south bank, lucylou do you have any suggestions as you have lived here a lot longer than me.

Hi, I'm free most weekends at the mo, apart from the odd house hunting. How about we all meet in the CBD on the 15th as that is the date fragglefeet can do. We could go to a cafe in the day or a bar at night.

Hi i currently live in Frankston, but planning to move to Carrum in next 6 months. My husband and I just got her 6 weeks ago, but have been before on WHV. I am 31. If you arrange anything let me know.

Hi we didn't get the car on finance, but they did try and offer it. They said they needed proof of address: lease contract or utility bill; contracts for work to prove we could pay it back. Other things that have been popular forms of ID when getting post box, renting somewhere, buying a car and getting a phone have been passports, driving license, bank statements/bank details, proof of visa. Hope that helps. :biggrin: