What to do with Superannuation for expats returning home

We are planning on leaving Australia next year indefinitely. We may be back in a few years but maybe not. So, I know the rules state that if you are an Australian citizen you cannot take your super with you if you are returning to the UK or Ireland. So, the lump sum myself and my partner have will have to stay in a fund here. However, since we will not be paying into the fund it is going to suffer from heavy loss from fees and charges.

So, I am thinking of consolidating both super accounts into one account that charges very low fees, put it into an aggressive growth fund and leave it there for 25 - 35 years as we are not going to be retiring any time soon. Can anyone think of funds like this?

Alternatively there is a SMSF but you will have to manage this yourself and file tax returns on it. Not sure how feasible this would be.

Seems options are few and far between for those wanting to leave Oz.

We are planning on leaving Australia next year indefinitely. We may be back in a few years but maybe not. So, I know the rules state that if you are an Australian citizen you cannot take your super with you if you are returning to the UK or Ireland. So, the lump sum myself and my partner have will have to stay in a fund here. However, since we will not be paying into the fund it is going to suffer from heavy loss from fees and charges.

 

So, I am thinking of consolidating both super accounts into one account that charges very low fees, put it into an aggressive growth fund and leave it there for 25 - 35 years as we are not going to be retiring any time soon. Can anyone think of funds like this?

Alternatively there is a SMSF but you will have to manage this yourself and file tax returns on it. Not sure how feasible this would be.

 

Seems options are few and far between for those wanting to leave Oz.

Mine has done quite well since I've been managing it online. I think my fund is just called Australian superannuation or something like that. It lets you manage it easily through their website. The life insurance component is still valid, although I can't increase it.

The fees and charges are fairly insignificant.

Mine has done quite well since I've been managing it online. I think my fund is just called Australian superannuation or something like that. It lets you manage it easily through their website. The life insurance component is still valid, although I can't increase it.

 

The fees and charges are fairly insignificant.

Is it these guys?

https://www.australiansuper.com/superannuation.aspx

I am surprised you still have the life insurance even though you don't live in Australia? Is it still valid even though you don't reside there? Also would it not eat away at your lump sum?

You have posted this in the Vista section of the forum. If you intended this for our general membership, let me know and I shall move it to the correct forum. If it is specifically for Vista it remains here

We are planning on leaving Australia next year indefinitely. ... I know the rules state that if you are an Australian citizen you cannot take your super with you if you are returning to the UK or Ireland. So, the lump sum myself and my partner have will have to stay in a fund here. However, since we will not be paying into the fund it is going to suffer from heavy loss from fees and charges.

 

So, I am thinking of consolidating both super accounts into one account that charges very low fees, put it into an aggressive growth fund and leave it there for 25 - 35 years as we are not going to be retiring any time soon. Can anyone think of funds like this?

Alternatively there is a SMSF but you will have to manage this yourself and file tax returns on it. Not sure how feasible this would be.

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You can't use an SMSF if you're not resident. Or to be more exact you can, but it will be taxed at 36%, so you'd have to be crazy to contemplate it.

I agree you should put it in a low-fee account. Look at industry super funds. Australian Super is one of them. You could also look at ING Super. Also write to the fund, tell them you are no longer working in Australia and that you want to cancel ALL insurances (since they're no longer valid anyway).

I don't think there's any need to put it into an aggressive growth fund. If you choose a low-fee fund then you're not going to lose a lot in fees. In fact you may lose more in an aggressive fund because they are often farmed out to third party managers who charge fees on top of fees.

A reminder that this part of the forum is for members to speak directly with VISTA. Unless you work for VISTA, please refrain from responding. Thank you.

A reminder that this part of the forum is for members to speak directly with VISTA. Unless you work for VISTA, please refrain from responding. Thank you.

You will note that the OP specifically asks for responses from "anyone". I'd say he has posted in the wrong forum.

I'm "anyone" :-)

My plan is to take my super as a lump sum while I'm resident over here, thus avoiding the worse of the tax.

You will note that the OP specifically asks for responses from "anyone". I'd say he has posted in the wrong forum.

And you will note I've asked the OP to clarify if this was intended for our general membership or Vista. If/when he does so we can move the thread if required. Till then please abide by our forum rules re the partner sections.

We are planning on leaving Australia next year indefinitely. We may be back in a few years but maybe not. So, I know the rules state that if you are an Australian citizen you cannot take your super with you if you are returning to the UK or Ireland. So, the lump sum myself and my partner have will have to stay in a fund here. However, since we will not be paying into the fund it is going to suffer from heavy loss from fees and charges.

 

So, I am thinking of consolidating both super accounts into one account that charges very low fees, put it into an aggressive growth fund and leave it there for 25 - 35 years as we are not going to be retiring any time soon. Can anyone think of funds like this?

Alternatively there is a SMSF but you will have to manage this yourself and file tax returns on it. Not sure how feasible this would be.

 

Seems options are few and far between for those wanting to leave Oz.

Hello jank

Firstly you will not be able to consolidate your funds together into retail or industry super funds they must remain separate (may be possible with a SMSF however see below).

Regards a SMSF, very unlikely this will be a good idea: http://www.thesmsfreview.com.au/g-overseas.html there could be a way around this but this would just lead to more costs which you are trying to avoid.

Your suggestion around investing aggressively as funds will be untouched for 25-35 years may be a valid option as over this period of time you will be able to ride out market volatility.

If you have experience around investing you may be able to do this by choosing a variety of different fund managers across different asset classes and different sectors for example an Australian small companies share fund, a Japanese equity fund and a global property fund and so on. If you wanted to go really aggressive you could incorporate some geared funds in the mix which essentially mean that gains and losses are magnified typically x 2 (less internal fund borrowing costs).

To do this typically you will require a retail fund as they have a much wider investment menu than industry funds, if you are fee conscious you could consider utilising index fund/ETFs as part of the portfolio to keep investment costs down.

If though you do not have the experience/knowledge you may wish to choose a multi-asset fund, typically aggressive multi-asset funds are known as High Growth or even Aggressive funds and this means that the fund manager will diversify across the asset classes and sectors as part of the fund investment strategy. Most industry and retail super funds will have multi-asset high growth/aggressive options.

You should be able to achieve the above for between 0.5% - 1% and so over the longer term the fees are very unlikely to eat into the capital particularly if invested over 25-35 years as the expected return on an aggressive portfolio will be around CPI + 4.5%.

Hope this helps

Regards Andy

A reminder that this part of the forum is for members to speak directly with VISTA. Unless you work for VISTA, please refrain from responding. Thank you.

Sorry, didn't realise. And yes it was those guys. Not a recommendation, as I have no experience of others, but I've had no complaints.