InnerVoice

You can do that, but I bet you'll regret not giving Australia a chance for the rest of your days. You've got this far and that's a real achievement in itself. Yes, it will be a struggle at first, but that's the challenge every expat faces while they're adjusting to life in a new country. Just get ready to grasp the nettle! No estate agent is going to be interested in some random guy on the other side of the world, but once you're here it'll be a different story. Turn up for viewings looking smart and enthusiastic with your paperwork in order, and you'll have no problem finding somewhere to live. I recall your brother lives in Brisbane so you'll have a roof over your head when you arrive. You've got a much better support network in place than most people have when they land on these shores, which will give you chance to find your feet. And if worst comes to worst and you can always head back to Blighty, but at least you'll know that you gave it your best shot.

It's going to advantageous to do that, but it isn't a requirement. As Nemesis has said, you can take a TTR pension without salary sacrificing. I doubt that an overseas employer would be willing/able to pay your salary directly into super before tax, but it would be interesting to know.

I don't believe there are any rules stating that you can't take a TTR pension overseas. You wouldn't get the tax benefits from the Australian system, but that's by the by. As you said, the simplest solution is to retire, claim your super, and then re-join the workforce afterwards, but that doesn't accurately reflect you intentions does it?

I should add that it doesn't have to be Australia - you could spend a year in any country with a low tax regime, or one that doesn't tax overseas income.

That's an interesting question and I believe the answer is 'no', assuming that 60 is your preservation age (the age at which you can normally access your super). I'm with QSuper and they have something called a Transition to Retirement (TTR) Income account where you can receive payments from your super while you're still working, so I'd assume that other super funds have similar. I'm sure you're aware that if you keep working you're going to get taxed on the lot by the HMRC, which is a bit of a blow considering you've already paid tax on your contributions while you lived in Australia. I appreciate the following suggestion might be impractical, but if we're talking about a considerable sum then it might be worth considering moving back to Australia for a year and cashing in your super once you reach preservation age. That's assuming you were a citizen when you left, so you can return without any issues.

As no one else has mentioned UBank yet I'll give them a plug, as I've been with them for well over a decade without any issues. They're an online bank but are also a subsidiary of NAB, so you don't feel as though they'll disappear into a puff of smoke overnight. As you as long pay at least $200 into your account each month, you will (currently) get 5.1% interest on your savings, which is pretty hard to beat. They also have an app which I think will do most of things you'll want. https://www.ubank.com.au/

The answer to your question is probably going to be 'yes'. Voluntary Class 3 NI contributions are currently £824.20 for a full year, while Class 3 NI contributions are only £163.80/year, so unless paying up your partial years is going to be less than the latter amount, you'll be better of waiting until you arrive here. Bear in mind to qualify for Class 2 NI contributions you need to have paid at least 3 years NI contribution (which most have), and have been working in the UK immediately prior to leaving. It's also worth clarifying that you haven't already paid sufficient years NI to get a full pension, as the number of years required will vary (it isn't 35 years for everyone).

And neither do you, but at least @Tulip1 has tried to address the issues that the OP might face.

I totally agree, although let's not be too judgemental about the OP's wife because we don't know how hard she's pushing for this. While the OP remains in the UK he's protected by the Hague Convention, so that should be his default option until everyone is on board with the move.

I was in touch with @Andrew from Vista Financial a few months ago about the possibility of moving my UK SIPP over. I chose not to proceed in the end due to being unsure whether I was going to retire in Australia, but Andrew was very transparent about the process and the costs involved, which seemed very reasonable for the service he provides.

You haven't mentioned how you feel about the move, but reading between the lines it doesn't seem like you're really on board and it's mainly to make your wife happy. Whilst very considerate, if it isn't what you want too then you should stay in the UK, especially given your children's feelings about the move. Children can be fickle at times but (thankfully) we no long live in the era where they are 'seen and not heard', so how they feel should definitely be a consideration. Your wife chose to settle in the UK and have a family there, so she needs to appreciate that her children are British and that's their home. She can't move to Australia with them without your permission (not that I'm suggesting she would), so I'd bear that in mind should you receive an ultimatum. Given that they will both be adults in 8 years time, why not discuss making the move to Perth then? You may well find that a few years from now your children are on board with the move, but they will be free to choose a life in the UK if they wish.

That's interesting. I was aware that if you moved overseas permanently then any pension you received was pro-rata, based on how many years you'd been resident in Australia out of 35, but I was unaware of the two-year requirement. If you returned to Australia and claimed the Age Pension, could you still leave the country for overseas holidays during that time without it affecting your payments? I recall reading somewhere that as long as you didn't leave the country for more than 6 weeks, your payments would be unaffected.

The OP has stated that they've been here for 12 years, so one assumes that they would meet the residency requirement which is at least 10 years here in total, with one period of 5 years without a break in residency. However, they wouldn't be able to claim the Aged Pension if they weren't physically in Australia.

The coastline around Albany is stunning and well worth the drive down there. If you're going to Margaret River then the caves are fabulous, as is Cape Leeuwin.

All things considered it sounds like it would be a good move for you, but be mindful of investing heavily in your son's property. Heaven forbid something should ever happen to your son, or he and his wife should separate, but if either were to happen then where would that leave you? Maybe it would be a safer option to rent out your UK home then invest the proceeds into your son and daughter-in-law's home, so you will always retain some security of your own.

I have have some investments in equities that I'll be cashing in and doing the same with when my preferential mortgage rate ends in June.

We don't have NI here, but our higher rates of taxation mean that you'll likely pay at least as much in total deductions as you would in the UK. The Medicare Level Surcharge (MLS) is an additional tax you'll pay if, in your case as a family, you have a total household income over $186k (see table below). What you should bear in mind is that if you have to pay MLS, then you will pay it on the whole of your combined income once you reach the threshold. Earn $186k and you won't pay anything, but earn a dollar more and you'll pay $1,860. However, if you take out private health insurance you don't need to pay it. The Medicare Levy is different, which nearly all tax payers have to pay on top of their general rates of taxation. Unless you're a very low earner, it will be a flat rate of 2% on your total income.

I recall you pointed out in a previous post that people in the UK pay more for healthcare than we do due to significant NI contributions. You appear to have changed your tune!

Well you'd be a mug not to, wouldn't you? And apart from a clean and scale I've never had any other treatment on the NHS in over 20 years. My dentist would say maybe this or that might need doing in a few years, but we'll leave it for now - I don't go drilling holes in people's head for no reason! That isn't the same honesty you'll have over here, I can assure you.

I totally agree, one of my friends worked for Enron for several years and lost his job and all his company shares on the same day. Fortunately he took it in his stride and has done very well for himself since. If the OP has a mortgage with either an offset or withdraw facility, another idea worth considering is to sell the shares and pay off part of their mortgage. Current interest rates for mortgages are around 6% so that isn't far short of average long-term gains on conservative super funds, but the OP would have the advantage of still being able to access the funds if required.

No, you don't. It's a choice. I haven't paid a cent for any kind of private health insurance or cover since I arrived here, and I wouldn't bother unless I found myself subject to the Medicare Levy Surcharge. If I moved to a state other than Queensland I would take out ambulance cover, but that's about it. On the few occasions my wife and I have needed to access healthcare through the public system, we've had an excellence experience. As for optical, dental etc, we just pay for them when we need them, and (to date) it has worked out far cheaper.

Well they certainly are. You need to compare like with like. Your UK son lives in a very expensive house (the average house price in Bristol is about half that) and in an expensive region of the UK, whereas your son's home in Australia is much more in line with national averages. Yes, his house is bigger, but then the average property here is much larger than the average home in the UK. Based on data from the ONS (Sep 2023), the median UK house price was £291,000 equivalent to $562,000. The only place in Australia you can buy a house for that price is Darwin. (I think I'd rather live in the UK!) If you ignore Sydney in the chart below to make it a fairer comparison, the median house price across the other regional capitals is about $750,000. This is almost $200,000 more than the average UK home.

I'd agree with most points made in the above posts on living costs. I live in regional Queensland and the last I was in the UK was five years ago, so that's my reference point. I know most things over there have gone up considerably in that time, particularly energy costs, although there have been significant increases in the cost of living in here too. Overall, I'd say groceries are more expensive over. If you shop exclusively at Aldi you can save quite a lot, but then you're likely to get bored with the lack of choice pretty quickly. And not everywhere in Australia has Aldi either, so it depends on where you live. If you shop mainly at Coles/Woollies you're going to notice a big difference in your average weekly shop if you're used to Sainsbury and Tesco prices. If you're more of an Ocado/Waitrose person you're not going to notice quite so much difference in price, but then don't expect anything as fancy. Nearly all our fruit and vegetables are grown in Australia, so they're subject to significant seasonal fluctuations in price. Avocados were a dollar here a few weeks ago, but now they're $2 each. In winter they can be $3-4. You can save a lot of money by just not buying stuff when it's out of season. In terms of utilities most people only have water and electricity, but many here have solar and that can reduce your costs considerably. We haven't had an electricity bill since we put our system on, so if you know you're going to be in your property at least 5 years it's well the worth the investment. There are no mandatory school fees here in state schools, unless your family are on temporary visas. Most schools here in Queensland have a Student Resources Scheme, which costs around $300 per student per year. Parents can opt out of it if they want to buy their children's own resources but none ever do because it would work out much more expensive than the school scheme, which is subsidised by the government. I'm not sure about Sydney, but I'd assume that state schools in NSW do something similar. A cleaner will cost around $40/hour. Most will expect to do a minimum of two hours cleaning per visit, and some will require you to provide your own cleaning products. This information is via my wife, who has a couple of friends who are currently working as freelance cleaners.

As long you can clean the gardening tools thoroughly then bring them because they're expensive to replace here. I'd draw the line at the lawnmower or anything that's difficult to clean.