Martinbjulieb

Do you actually have to stop working at 60 to claim your super is you no longer live in Australia? 

Our son is planning a trip to Australia either the end of 2023 or 2024. His Australian passport expired last year. He was 13 when he got this one so from reading up on this I know he cannot renew it online, he has to go to the Embassy in London. My question is this. He has booked an appointment in February. Does he now have to do anything else or just go to his appointment, presumably with his passport, other identification documents and his Citizenship Certificate? 
Hoping someone can advise. Thanks. 

Can anyone advise? My 19 year old wants to go back to Australia for a couple of years to work/travel. He has Citizenship and up to date passport. Can he just go? Does he have to fulfil a criteria?? Thanks. 

On 11/06/2022 at 12:46, Southeastpom said:

Oh okay!! Thank you for this. I had no idea. Do you know if the fee is high for international money transfer? 

We used a company called HIFX, both in 2007 moving out and 2017 moving back. I don’t remember the fees exactly but they must have been good as we used them twice. I think you can go on their website and get a quote. 

On 11/06/2022 at 12:46, Southeastpom said:

Oh okay!! Thank you for this. I had no idea. Do you know if the fee is high for international money transfer? 

We used a company called HIFX, both in 2007 moving out and 2017 moving back. I don’t remember the fees exactly but they must have been good as we used them twice. I think you can go on their website and get a quote. 

My husband has a possible opportunity to work back in Australia for 3 years before he retires. I would stay in the UK as our children are at uni and college. Would it be possible for him to travel back 2/3 times per year and then re enter Australia? I am specifically thinking of Covid. He has had his vaccinations. We are all Australian citizens and lived in Perth between 2007-2017.  Any advice?? TIA. 

On 20/05/2021 at 08:55, Marisawright said:

@Martinbjulieb, my only concern would be that if you need two advisers, something is wrong somewhere.  If you've got a genuinely cross-border adviser (and not one of those jumped-up "wealth management" firms based in Dubai or the like), that you have confidence in, then I'd stick with what they say, OR find another genuine cross-border advisor if you want a second opinion.  It sounds like a recipe for confusion to have an Australia-only advisor as well, who's only looking at half the equation.

What I meant was that our advisor in Perth fully knows the ins and outs of our super accounts as we have been with them since 2009 and they look after our investments still. BUT as they are Australian they don’t fully understand the UK tax implications so they recommended a firm that specialise in both countries so we could get the full picture. However I was only getting some free advice from them so spoke in very general terms to get some advice on tax etc. 

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

I'll give you a tip, based on my personal experience.  Don 't take your supr now, and think twice about retiring now unless you re absolutely minted.

My husband and I both stopped work at 55, due to contracts finishing/retrenchments etc.   We didn't fret about it and decided to retire early because we reckoned we were comfortably off at the time.   We were looking forward to holidays in Europe and all sorts.  Twelve years on and I can hardly believe how differently we see it now.  The superannuation/savings that seemed so amazingly healthy then, look much more shaky now. It's amazing how quickly money goes out the door when there's no money coming in!    We wish now that we'd kept on working for another 5 years or so, it would've made all the difference.

Here's an exercise to do:  sit down and work out how much it costs you to live for a year. Easy to do:  just look at your net salary (after super and tax) and how much of that you manage to save each year.  Now you know how much your current lifestyle costs every year.  Think about what savings you'd make if you weren't working (suits etc).  Then think about the extras you'll spend (more holidays).  Make the adjustments.  The result is how much money you'll need each year in retirement, if you want to go on enjoying the same things in life as you do now. 

Ask yourself, if you withdrew that amount from your super every year, how long would your super last?  Remember, once it runs out, it runs out, and all you'll have left is the govt pension.

I understand what you are saying. I work 3 days and the idea was that my husband would drop to 4 days for a year or two  and then 3 and we would use our super to top up our salary. I can see that an annuity is not the way though! I have just had my appointment with a company who specialise in Australia/U.K. pensions and now we need to discuss this with our advisor in Perth as they know our situation so will hopefully be able to advise on the Australian side of things whereas they don’t know about the U.K. side! 

18 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

Yes, that's a totally different thing. 

With an annuity, you pay an annuity company a lump sum of money (which you can't get back) and in return, they agree to pay you a fixed pension every year for as long as you live.  Of course, if you die early, they win - they might only have paid you five or ten years' worth of pension even though you gave them enough to pay for twenty years, but your family won't see a penny of that lump sum.

With an income stream, you just tell the super fund how much you'd like to take as a pension each year and they pay it to you.  You can change it up or down as often as you like, but the money is coming out of your super pot.  When your super pot runs out, that's it, your pension stops.  So it's vital to work out how much you can afford to take as a pension each year, if you want your money to last as long as you do.

An allocated pension was the old name for an income stream AFAIK. 

Thank you @Marisawright  I have a financial planning meeting soon so I will be discussing it then. Initial thoughts would be to only convert one of our funds and leave the other one so we could access lump sums if required. 

40 minutes ago, Wanderer Returns said:

Unless you can guarantee you're going to live to 100, buying an annuity is pretty much financial suicide. Get financial advice and just see how the numbers compare.

Is an income stream or allocated pension different? 

6 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

Basically because so many people are stupid and if you let them access the money early, they’ll squander it. 

 

Spoils it for the sensible ones then!!  I don’t consider 56 to be too early to semi retire. 

18 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

I can’t see how they make financial sense 

Why not? We want to access our super earlier than the Australian government allows (our money so not quite sure why you have wait until they say!) so this may be a way of doing it. Obviously I am going to take financial advice I just wondered if it was possible first. 

Does anyone know can you buy an annuity with your Super funds before the age of 60? 
TIA. 

On 20/10/2020 at 20:41, Senfield said:

Allied Pickford stated it would be beneficial to take out their insurance & storage, because it will work out cheaper!!! Belongings are going into storage until I find somewhere to live. The rep said this will ensure everything remains covered until items are delivered to an address!!! Finding the right removals has been my biggest challenge. 

They might haggle about claims though! If I remember correctly our belongings were insured for 60 days after they went into storage as we didn’t know where we were ending up at that time. 

On 05/10/2020 at 08:49, Senfield said:

TOR completed & emailed, let’s hope it’s received, not recessing acknowledgement yet. Exemption applied for, stating not going to return. House contract sale & passport attached. Hopefully, that will be sufficient to being granted exemption. 

Email sent to Chess removals for a quote. Want to obtain 2 more but not sure who to contact!!!

just need the strength to deal with the emotional side of the move back with now ex partner wanting to stay. But it still feels the right decision.

We used Chess. Britannia at this end and they were amazing!! Don’t get your insurance through them though. We used Letton Percival. I think they are mentioned on here somewhere. Good luck! 

On 30/08/2020 at 02:55, Roy67 said:

Hi, my wife and I are returning to the UK after 13 years in Australia. We have renewed our GB passports and have an exemption to leave. Our TOR has been submitted. Sadly I closed my UK bank account down two years ago and I could kick myself for doing that. 
I hate the idea of transferring my money to a third party money transfer agent and then waiting until we get to the UK before we can open a bank account etc. This could take a while as we don’t have anything with a UK address on. We will be living with family for a short while when we get back. Using the bank to bank transfer is an expensive option. I have read various reviews of a few transfer agents and they range from moderate to terrible.
Has anyone got any advice as to how they transferred their money back to the UK please. 

We used HiFx one way to Australia and on the way back.  They were great. 

16 hours ago, Island said:

Thank you so much for all this fantastic advice - have made some notes!

Have given Chess removals a call too - thanks for that!

 

We used Chess too and they were fantastic. Along with things others have mentioned also keep some bank statements handy for reference purposes for mortgage/rentals etc. Keep a no fee bank account open ready for when you need to access your super later down the line. Get Doctor/Dental/Optical records if you can. Good luck!! 
I remembered I did a post about paperwork NOT to pack in the container when we were moving. I have pasted it below for info. 

We used HiFx and they were good

We used Chess who were amazing 

21 hours ago, Toots said:

Academies are state-funded, non-fee-paying schools in Scotland.  I would think they would be the same in England but somebody with better knowledge will be able to confirm.

That’s correct. Council funded but with the ability to make own decisions on some things. 

22 hours ago, Marisawright said:

 

 

I'm anxious about you arriving in the UK with so little money.   You'll need to book a holiday flat for three to four weeks, while you look for a place to stay.  That's expensive in England, though if you plan to go back in the off-season it will be cheaper.  Then when you find a flat, you'll need to pay six months' rent upfront because you're a new arrival, and then you'll have the cost of buying furniture, crockery, pots, pans, towels, bedlinen, kitchen appliances etc.     Years ago, it was fairly easy to get a furnished flat but when we were back three years ago, I noticed that most flats were unfurnished, so you'll have to start from scratch.    

 

We didn’t pay 6 months. Just the standard one month as a bond. I think it is very much dependent on the Landlord, it isn’t set in stone. 

5 hours ago, Timeforachange said:

Can I ask when is their birthdays?  My oldest is at the end of July. He misses out staying back a year by 4 weeks.  Even by staying back a year he still misses part of year 8. The other would start year 6 next year but but would start year 7 in September. That wouldn’t be too bad. 

Its so worrying.  I got an email from the council and they said they don’t hold children back.  It makes no sense.  I am sure it will all come good once we get there and speak in person. 

How long have you been back in England? Are you enjoying it?  Do you find it more expensive than Australia?  We are finding Australia to be so expensive these last few years   

Would love to hear your story   

 

Thanks 

 

 

We moved to Perth in 2007 when our children were 4 and 2. They are both June birthdays, being 5th (youngest) and 28th (eldest) so they were the youngest in their year groups in Australia. 
We moved back in March 2017, no house, no jobs, two kids, one dog and no idea where we would end up living. We rented a holiday cottage for three weeks in the Peak District and ended up staying three months and the owners of that cottage are one of our closest friends, we just clicked right away. Our children went to a school temporarily whilst we were there but that council would not put our eldest back a year. Well they WOULD but it was a very strict guideline and we knew it was a temporary school so didn’t really bother. By time they had started school in the April, after Easter there was only one term left anyway!  Anyway 3 months later my husband had found work and we rented a beautiful old farmhouse in a village in Nottinghamshire. We picked a very central part of the country deliberately, knowing we could get most places easily and also keeping in mind after 10 years away the construction industry had changed massively and we wanted to be centrally located for other work opportunities should it not pan out. 
so after we moved to the village we picked one of the two schools in the next town based on the Ofsted report. As it happens it was an Academy and they have a say in how they enrol students. There were very accommodating and understood our desire to have our son stay back a year. Our daughter was fine though and she slotted straight into year 8 that September. Although it was a necessity we felt to have our son held back a year for curriculum  purposes I cannot pretend that it has all been plain sailing for him socially, and being 6 foot 5 and in year 9 didn’t really help!! It was also frustrating for him from a sporting perspective, as he was in year 9 but technically a year 10 he wasn’t able to play in any of the inter school sports games for his school year!! A minor issue I know but important to him. 
We have now bought our own house in the same village and are settled. To give you an idea of bills on a 4 bed house we pay £60 Per month electricity, we have oil central heating and that pro ratas at about £50 per month, council tax is £200 per month, phone and internet, super fast,  with anytime calls to landline and mobiles is £39 (special offer from SKY) water is about £60 per quarter. Home insurance for buildings and contents is around £25 per month.  Food shopping for 4 including wine etc and fresh stuff is around £100-£120 per week depending on what I am buying. Petrol is probably the most expensive thing at around £1.25 per litre. Clothes shopping is pretty good with lots of choice and good quality items.

lots to think about for you. Good luck in your decision making and if you want any more specific information feel free to PM me!!   Julie  

We moved in the March so our kids had literally just started years 9 and 7. Obviously  by March in the U.K. the school year is three quarters over. We were able to have our son (eldest) go into year 8 for the remainder of that school year and start year 9 from the beginning in the September. Our daughter was less of a worry as year 7 is more of a transition year and she has had more time to catch up if required and obviously they don’t start the GCSE coursework in year 7 anyway. If you do want to hold back a year though it has to be done through the council UNLESS the school is an Academy (which ours was) and then they can make their own decisions. Good luck. Any questions just ask.

On 27/10/2019 at 05:44, Timeforachange said:

My son is finishing year 7 in Australia but would have started year 9 in England.  I too am getting the response that they do not hold them back a year.  It’s crazy that he would miss all of year 8.   

This is almost stopping us moving back.  It’s also not easy getting into a school if choice in the UK.  

 

Do you have any information that can help us? 

 

We moved in the March so our kids had literally just started years 9 and 7. Obviously  by March in the U.K. the school year is three quarters over. We were able to have our son (eldest) go into year 8 for the remainder of that school year and start year 9 from the beginning in the September. Our daughter was less of a worry as year 7 is more of a transition year and she has had more time to catch up if required and obviously they don’t start the GCSE coursework in year 7 anyway. If you do want to hold back a year though it has to be done through the council UNLESS the school is an Academy (which ours was) and then they can make their own decisions. Good luck. Any questions just ask. 

We all got Australian passports to come back on holiday in 2016 (Citizens since 2011 but never got passports) and they wouldn’t scan at the check in desk, luckily we had our British ones with us!! When we left for good in 2017 we came out on our British ones.