blossom

Hi all, my grandma has left some money for my daughters and my mum wants to match it, so they'd have £2000 each. I'm really struggling to find the best way of investing it. There doesn't seem to be the same kind of ISAs and childrens bonds here, but my mum doesn't want it just put in bank accounts. She's talking about putting it into children's bonds in the uk, but I can't see it being anything but hassle by the time they can cash them in. I'd love to hear how other people have invested money for their children in Australia. Thanks :-)

Hi all, my parents are finally going to come over and visit. Yay! They will be here for 60 days (that's how long their insurance allows). We are in Adelaide and they are thinking of coming in November so they are here for Christmas. They are thinking of flying into Sydney and then making their way to Melbourne and then great ocean road to Adelaide. They are really stuck on just what to do though. They had been wanting to hire a camper van but have read that even if you pay extra for a low excess that the excess is still £500 odd and some horror stories of them trying to claim you've done damage you haven't. Can anyone recommend any camper companies you've had good experiences with? Any tips on travelling around then which will just about be school holidays? ? We are all clueless really lol. So thanks for any advice.

You definitely need to tell them.

Hi everyone. We are in Australia. I have two children born here. My grandma left my children £1000 each and my parents want to match that and put them in children's bonds in the uk (I can't find similar here). Has anyone done this? It sounds like it could get complicated being in a different country.

Thanks @Alan Collett those are the parts I'd read previously about it. So if I'm understanding it right the child bonds count as shares rather than the interest part right? And I'll need to get them a TFN each and lodge for them. What I'm not sure on, the interest earnt is tied into it for five years. Do you declare how much it's gone up each year or after the five years when it would be released? The amount they would earn should mean they don't have to pay tax anyway. Do you also do tax advice for sole traders? I don't need my actual tax return done but would love to get some advice on what to claim, how the stock take affects your tax etc. If you do, if you could send me a PM with your rates that would be great. :-)

Thanks very much. I'll check out those links. It looks like the interest over 5 years would only be a couple of hundred quid, so not a huge amount. I also suggested the premium bonds in my parents name to my mum who pointed out that if they were to need to go into residential care then it would get very complicated as that would count as assets in their name.

My partner has recently come off newstart. The 'help' was an absolute joke. You have to turn up once every two weeks and they haven't got a clue how to help. They never gave him any help with cvs or cover letters. He ended up finding work on his own but they made him fill in forms so they get a bonus for finding him work. They are lucky it wasn't me as I'd be refusing.

I've never noticed anyone say they could get newstart on the 100 visa. You can claim some benefits. Parenting payment, rent assistance, family tax benefit, paid parental leave can all be claimed straight away if eligible.

Thanks very much They do say it's possible. However, they'd still be subject to tax over here I think as it goes by where you live and here they seem to tax kids from what I've read. I just don't seem to be able to find much info on similar things over here. :-/

How much longer do you think you'd have to stay for them to get fed up of you and decide to actually make you redundant?

Yeah. No matter why you leave, they have agreed to pay for you to leave the country.

I'd give fairwork Australia a call. They are very friendly. And yes they are required to pay your flights home. Just that though and they can choose which airline etc.

Hi everyone, I will be inheriting some money from my grandma in the uk shortly (just waiting for her house to sell). Can anyone tell me how this works with transferring it over? I think I read that we are not taxed on inheritance here, so what do I need to get to show that is where it's come from? What fx companies are people using now adays? Anything else I should know?

Lots will offer a bit of a chat for free. Actually looking into specifics might be a bit more. But in the end, a couple of hundred dollars is nothing compared to what it could cost you to come here, pay course fees, the whole move, visa fees, limited work capacity for a couple of years etc, possibly for no gain at the end. I had education agents telling me I could use courses to get PR which there was no way I could. Thankful I checked their advice myself (2 out of 3 actually told me I could get PR from a course that I couldn't).

My husband overstayed his aus tourist visa by 10 months. He got a three year ban. We travelled all over the world, including the USA more than once. We never once with any country had an issue with getting a visa.

Are they keeping the same abn?

I wouldn't personally trust a recruiter. I've never seen one who's actually been Mara registered. Get an independent agents advice. As for the IELTS. As an English speaker it's not that hard to get all 8s. I didn't revise at all and managed it.

Very true Alan. I'll have to tap into their wisdom on how it all works. It's been a long time since I transferred money over, and I vaguely remember something about it having to go from an account in my name to an account in my name. I might be wrong though lol.

Hi everyone. Has anyone had one of these ancestry DNA tests done? I'm thinking it would make a good birthday gift for my MIL but just wondering if they are a load of rubbish or actually legit, and which company would be best. Thanks. :-)

They are unlikely to contact you. Sometimes they visit the work place to make sure it is the kind of business they've been told it is.

I had my rcb application refused first time and was successful a second time. The problem we had was that they hadn't actually read our application and thought the business was something different to what it was. Also, they had been to an employment agency who said they could get qualified Australians easily. My employer pointed out that we had advertised the job for a full month and no employment agents had put forward anyone on their books. They also said that if they did indeed have trained Australians on their books they would love to hear from them as they had a number of positions available and no qualified Australians had applied. So then they approved it. You need a registered migration agent to help you through this, or to tell you if you have no chance. Alan at Go Matilda is great, or try George Lombard.

Yes, I was referring to Dom saying he found it hard to find a company to sponsor him. For the job ready program, take into consideration that rules change often. I was 20 hours off being able to pass the TRA skills assessment and being able to apply for PR when they announced they were bringing in the job ready program. It was a week before Christmas. The official date was from January 1st, but TRA said even if my application got there before that, they wouldn't open it until after that so it wouldn't count. So I was stuck with an extra year and an extra $2k odd for the sake of three days! Then after Christmas every time I phoned TRA nobody knew how it worked. I left applying until someone could tell me what I had to do. Just after I applied they took my job off the SOL so I couldn't apply for PR anyway, only a 485. Luckily my work place was willing to sponsor me, but that was nowhere near easy either and ended up taking about a year too. It's a rollacoaster, and immigration are not out to be fair to people already part way through the process. I know lots who had no choice but to leave Australia. So just be aware that it's by no means a 'safe' option. Apply for PR the second you are eligible.

They are a great plant. I work at a wholesale plant nursery (when I'm not on maternity leave) and that's a top plant. Many big themselves up but don't really live up to the hype, but that one really is a lovely looking, easy care, fast growing plant.

Also, take into account that many trades companies aren't eligible to sponsor as they keep most of their staff as casuals or on abns, and they do no staff training.

Check with your local nursery if they do Syzygium Backyard Bliss. Not a banmbo, but a real hardy, fast growing screening plant.