Undecided about moving back to Oz after 5 years in the UK

[Paul1Perth]

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

Sounds pretty short-sighted to me.  I hope he's got a fully-paid off house that's worth a fortune, which he can sell when he's struggling to survive on the pension in his old age.

$703.50 per fortnight each and his house is paid for. How much do you need? I reckon we could scrape by and pay the bills, have the odd meal out. 

We are pretty happy just going down the beach. Loads of retirees down there every morning. Meet their mates, go for a swim, cup of coffee, sit round and chat for a while. Costs nothing. Don't think we'd have to sell the house, costs to move and we like where we are.

Edited November 18, 2019 by Paul1Perth

[Paul1Perth]

5 minutes ago, Skani said:

Just how is he going to get access to his super at age 50?

Oops sorry 60. 50 is way too early to retire and you're right. Unless he was made redundant he wouldn't have access to his super.

[Tulip1]

32 minutes ago, Paul1Perth said:

$703.50 per fortnight each and his house is paid for. How much do you need? I reckon we could scrape by and pay the bills, have the odd meal out. 

We are pretty happy just going down the beach. Loads of retirees down there every morning. Meet their mates, go for a swim, cup of coffee, sit round and chat for a while. Costs nothing. Don't think we'd have to sell the house, costs to move and we like where we are.

Not everyone’s happy to scrape by. Sure the guy in question could go to the beach everyday and have a coffee but he couldn’t do what many would like to be doing in their 60’s/70’s.  No lovely holidays/cruises and going out for a nice meal wouldn’t be on the cards too often. I think many looking towards retirement dream of more than doing the same ‘free’ walk everyday.  Nice to sit and have a coffee and a chat but the lunch/evening meals/evenings and day trips out will be very sparse. Nothing wrong with someone deciding to spend and enjoy it whilst they’re younger though. I guess many of us would prefer to have money to do things whilst we’re younger but that could be a long drawn out retirement with limited money every month.  

[Paul1Perth]

3 minutes ago, Tulip1 said:

Not everyone’s happy to scrape by. Sure the guy in question could go to the beach everyday and have a coffee but he couldn’t do what many would like to be doing in their 60’s/70’s.  No lovely holidays/cruises and going out for a nice meal wouldn’t be on the cards too often. I think many looking towards retirement dream of more than doing the same ‘free’ walk everyday.  Nice to sit and have a coffee and a chat but the lunch/evening meals/evenings and day trips out will be very sparse. Nothing wrong with someone deciding to spend and enjoy it whilst they’re younger though. I guess many of us would prefer to have money to do things whilst we’re younger but that could be a long drawn out retirement with limited money every month.  

We went to a retirement talk from my wifes work. Guy from super was telling everyone how many millions they needed to retire, then showed a case study. Retired lady, couple of cruises a year, holidays abroad, renewed her car every 2 years. Me and the wife were both working full time and weren't doing that. 

The super guys are just after your money like any other business.

[Tulip1]

2 hours ago, Paul1Perth said:

We went to a retirement talk from my wifes work. Guy from super was telling everyone how many millions they needed to retire, then showed a case study. Retired lady, couple of cruises a year, holidays abroad, renewed her car every 2 years. Me and the wife were both working full time and weren't doing that. 

The super guys are just after your money like any other business.

I’ve no doubt. That said, it’s reasonable to assume on the minimum income you wouldn’t be doing all of that. Also good to remember that 703 a fortnight each becomes just 703 when one person is no longer around.  You could certainly live on it, live very well is a different matter.  We all know the pensioners that live life to the full whether it’s travelling, always out, eating what they want and never worrying about the bills and other everyday money battles. Then there’s the other pensioners on the minimum, managing but very aware of what they can’t do and being frugal with the electricity. It’s a case of which one do you want to be and if it’s the first one (as it would be) then you have to do something about it.  If you don’t then your retirement will be very different from the ones that did do something about it. All about choice. 

[Slean Wolfhead]

9 hours ago, Paul1Perth said:

We went to a retirement talk from my wifes work. Guy from super was telling everyone how many millions they needed to retire, then showed a case study. Retired lady, couple of cruises a year, holidays abroad, renewed her car every 2 years. Me and the wife were both working full time and weren't doing that. 

The super guys are just after your money like any other business.

I guess if you're working, you can't go on cruises and too many holidays anyway...we certainly can't.  It's about hitting that sweet spot where you can retire early enough and still have the physical mobility to do interesting things. 

What swung me was looking over the shoulder of a 22yr old trainee at work one lunchtime, and he was looking at his super account online.  Still living at his parents, he had over $200,000. At 22?  His grandparents had gifted him 100k when he started work, and he'd saved about 80k himself in 4 years.  That puts him on course for about $4 million when he retires, but he'll probably be out of the workforce long before then. 

The free symposiums that Super companies run for members are obviously designed to get you to save more into their funds, but they are still very very useful.  We went to a similar one about 3 months after we emigrated when we had joint Aussie super pots with a balance of about zero.  No idea about the Aussie super system, not a clue how it worked.   I remember them saying that for just a comfortable lifestyle (then $40,000 tax free for a couple), you would need a superannuation pot of $1 million on retirement, as well as a paid-off house..  Bit of jump, from zero to $1 million, when you think you've got F all.  

They helped us with our UK-funded, defined benefit pension schemes, who were actually unable to tell us what our pension balances were for about 4 months while they worked it out.  It was archaic and like walking through treacle, but we got our money out of the UK before they changed the pension rules to prevent overseas transfers. 

We were surprised at how much we'd got for 20 years of UK payments but it gave us a better starting point than we'd hoped for....re-invested it over here, learned about it, took charge of it, and have ploughed surplus money into it taking every tax concession going.  We hit that financial target after 7 years and the house is paid off in another 3, now we have another 15 years to reduce the age we can retire at and try and hit that sweet spot where we have more than enough, but can do it 7/8 years earlier, all self-funded and hopefully never relying on the Aussie state pension as a benefit.   The sacrifice is that you work overly hard when they're throwing money at you, but you know you're going to have to cut back one day before you burn out. 

We also purchased the gap in UK National Insurance payments as Class 2 contributions, a brilliant deal to max out the UK state pension.  If we live to 93, then the Aussie state pension is projected to kick in...but realistically, we'll be past caring anyway if we're still alive.

 

[Parley]

2 hours ago, Slean Wolfhead said:

I guess if you're working, you can't go on cruises and too many holidays anyway...we certainly can't.  It's about hitting that sweet spot where you can retire early enough and still have the physical mobility to do interesting things. 

What swung me was looking over the shoulder of a 22yr old trainee at work one lunchtime, and he was looking at his super account online.  Still living at his parents, he had over $200,000. At 22?  His grandparents had gifted him 100k when he started work, and he'd saved about 80k himself in 4 years.  That puts him on course for about $4 million when he retires, but he'll probably be out of the workforce long before then. 

The free symposiums that Super companies run for members are obviously designed to get you to save more into their funds, but they are still very very useful.  We went to a similar one about 3 months after we emigrated when we had joint Aussie super pots with a balance of about zero.  No idea about the Aussie super system, not a clue how it worked.   I remember them saying that for just a comfortable lifestyle (then $40,000 tax free for a couple), you would need a superannuation pot of $1 million on retirement, as well as a paid-off house..  Bit of jump, from zero to $1 million, when you think you've got F all.  

They helped us with our UK-funded, defined benefit pension schemes, who were actually unable to tell us what our pension balances were for about 4 months while they worked it out.  It was archaic and like walking through treacle, but we got our money out of the UK before they changed the pension rules to prevent overseas transfers. 

We were surprised at how much we'd got for 20 years of UK payments but it gave us a better starting point than we'd hoped for....re-invested it over here, learned about it, took charge of it, and have ploughed surplus money into it taking every tax concession going.  We hit that financial target after 7 years and the house is paid off in another 3, now we have another 15 years to reduce the age we can retire at and try and hit that sweet spot where we have more than enough, but can do it 7/8 years earlier, all self-funded and hopefully never relying on the Aussie state pension as a benefit.   The sacrifice is that you work overly hard when they're throwing money at you, but you know you're going to have to cut back one day before you burn out. 

We also purchased the gap in UK National Insurance payments as Class 2 contributions, a brilliant deal to max out the UK state pension.  If we live to 93, then the Aussie state pension is projected to kick in...but realistically, we'll be past caring anyway if we're still alive.

 

It can be better to have $750K in Super than $1M when you retire.

You can then qualify for a part pension and also get the Pensioner Concession Card which gets you discounts on Gas, Electricity etc.
This makes it better than having $1M in Super and being ineligible for the pension.

[Paul1Perth]

5 hours ago, Slean Wolfhead said:

I guess if you're working, you can't go on cruises and too many holidays anyway...we certainly can't.  It's about hitting that sweet spot where you can retire early enough and still have the physical mobility to do interesting things. 

What swung me was looking over the shoulder of a 22yr old trainee at work one lunchtime, and he was looking at his super account online.  Still living at his parents, he had over $200,000. At 22?  His grandparents had gifted him 100k when he started work, and he'd saved about 80k himself in 4 years.  That puts him on course for about $4 million when he retires, but he'll probably be out of the workforce long before then. 

The free symposiums that Super companies run for members are obviously designed to get you to save more into their funds, but they are still very very useful.  We went to a similar one about 3 months after we emigrated when we had joint Aussie super pots with a balance of about zero.  No idea about the Aussie super system, not a clue how it worked.   I remember them saying that for just a comfortable lifestyle (then $40,000 tax free for a couple), you would need a superannuation pot of $1 million on retirement, as well as a paid-off house..  Bit of jump, from zero to $1 million, when you think you've got F all.  

They helped us with our UK-funded, defined benefit pension schemes, who were actually unable to tell us what our pension balances were for about 4 months while they worked it out.  It was archaic and like walking through treacle, but we got our money out of the UK before they changed the pension rules to prevent overseas transfers. 

We were surprised at how much we'd got for 20 years of UK payments but it gave us a better starting point than we'd hoped for....re-invested it over here, learned about it, took charge of it, and have ploughed surplus money into it taking every tax concession going.  We hit that financial target after 7 years and the house is paid off in another 3, now we have another 15 years to reduce the age we can retire at and try and hit that sweet spot where we have more than enough, but can do it 7/8 years earlier, all self-funded and hopefully never relying on the Aussie state pension as a benefit.   The sacrifice is that you work overly hard when they're throwing money at you, but you know you're going to have to cut back one day before you burn out. 

We also purchased the gap in UK National Insurance payments as Class 2 contributions, a brilliant deal to max out the UK state pension.  If we live to 93, then the Aussie state pension is projected to kick in...but realistically, we'll be past caring anyway if we're still alive.

 

Well planned. We didn't bother with paying the gap in NI. We preferred getting the mortgage down when we had spare cash and we had worked a good few years anyway. We were both pleasantly surprised how much we got from the UK pension and we both had other pensions from different companies in the UK. Mistake we made though was to take lump sums as you get taxed here when they go into your bank account. Even though the letter from the UK says tax free lump sum. We both got a big tax bill.

Should have kept a British bank account.

There are some good options to minimise tax as you get older. Salary sacrifice into super but the government make it less attractive every year to the point it's hardly worth it.

The other sweet spot you can aim for is to have your house paid off and just enough assets or income to get a full Aussie pension.

[Paul1Perth]

3 hours ago, Parley said:

It can be better to have $750K in Super than $1M when you retire.

You can then qualify for a part pension and also get the Pensioner Concession Card which gets you discounts on Gas, Electricity etc.
This makes it better than having $1M in Super and being ineligible for the pension.

$750k would be nice. Nowhere near that.

[Zack]

Some weird and wonderful stories. You Don't get a full pension in Aus if you have other income.. We have lived and worked in Australia for 35 years and don't Get a full pension.  .. Australia is heading for some  long tough years ahead. I can see this LNP Government having another go at Introducing Work Choices.Then the shit will really hit the fan.Things were tough in Australia when we  had  17.95 % rates and now it's)0 .75% and people are whingeing and  struggling.The problem is they have let the cost of  living and House Prices get well  out of control .It's all unsustainable now. No wonder they are talking about a financial Collapse./ To give a better idea the Regional town we  live in ,In Queensland most of the descent  shops have  closed  ,Taken over by op shops.We have a Council from hell .There are more Renters now than owner occupiers. We are running out of water and they are Building a $3 million new Park. And talking of building Dual Carriageways going to nowhere.And our Rates and Chargers have gone through the roof, up 27% from last year. On a 2.5 Acre block my rates have gone from $238 pa to $1150 Half Yearly.,And we still have no Town Sewerage after 20 years

 

[Wanderer Returns]

Many thanks for the responses to my post last week. It’s been really helpful to get a fresh perspective from those actually living in Australia.

Things are moving fast, so a quick update…  I have now accepted the job in Brisbane and just waiting for confirmation from the Department of Education before booking flights out in January. We decided we would see how it worked with my job first before shipping our whole lives over there. I’m going to buy a ticket with a return flight in April so I can return to the UK if it turns out to be a complete disaster! (I’m sure it won’t be but it’s reassuring to have a safety net)

In the meantime my wife is staying in UK, waiting to get her British citizenship, and taking care of things to do with the sale of the house and shipping etc. We don’t think there’ll be much interest until after the general election and Christmas, so we’re going to put the house on the market in the New Year. That has been the hardest of the decision as we both love this place. If we could ship the whole house out to Brissie brick-by-brick, it would be a perfect solution! Still a bit worried about what kind of property we’ll be able to afford once we’re over there, but the exchange rate is now £1=$1.90 - the highest it’s been in ages - so fingers crossed it doesn’t go down!

I was very interested to read the opinions about pensions/super. This is quite a big deal for me as I don’t have much of one, but then we paid the mortgage off early so you can’t have it both ways. If I have done my homework correctly, I can pay up to $25k/year into my Australian super and only pay 15% tax on it. I worked out if I did that I’d still have about $60k/year to live on after tax, which seems pretty good to be honest. Is it true that you can access the whole lot completely tax-free when you get to 60? It just seems too good to be true! In the UK you can only get 25% tax-free.

I understand that the Australian Age Pension is a means-tested benefit and not an entitlement, but it seems like a pretty good safety net to have in place. And if push came to shove, I think I’d rather be old and poor in Australia than the UK – at least you wouldn’t need to work about the heating bills! I’ve paid 25 years of the 37 years I need for a full UK state pension, so if I never worked again in the UK I’d still get two thirds of the UK pension at 67, which would be a pretty decent top up even without any annual increases. That said, my wife is 15 years my junior so I’m guessing that with the Australian Pension being means-tested, her income would also be taken into consideration? I’m not sure if I’d even get the Australian Age Pension at all until she was also 67 – by which time I’d be 82!

More ramblings from me…

Martin.

[Wanderer Returns]

14 hours ago, Zack said:

Some weird and wonderful stories. You Don't get a full pension in Aus if you have other income.. We have lived and worked in Australia for 35 years and don't Get a full pension.  .. Australia is heading for some  long tough years ahead. I can see this LNP Government having another go at Introducing Work Choices.Then the shit will really hit the fan.Things were tough in Australia when we  had  17.95 % rates and now it's)0 .75% and people are whingeing and  struggling.The problem is they have let the cost of  living and House Prices get well  out of control .It's all unsustainable now. No wonder they are talking about a financial Collapse./ To give a better idea the Regional town we  live in ,In Queensland most of the descent  shops have  closed  ,Taken over by op shops.We have a Council from hell .There are more Renters now than owner occupiers. We are running out of water and they are Building a $3 million new Park. And talking of building Dual Carriageways going to nowhere.And our Rates and Chargers have gone through the roof, up 27% from last year. On a 2.5 Acre block my rates have gone from $238 pa to $1150 Half Yearly.,And we still have no Town Sewerage after 20 years

 

Wherever you live @Zack you don’t make it sound very appealing! Poor infrastructure and high charges for services are one of the things that concern me about coming back to Aus. I remember how slow the Internet used to be when we lived in Cairns. Maybe it has improved though in the 5 years we've been away? The UK has also had some tough years in the last decade ('austerity', they like to call it), but there is a general feeling that things might improve with a new government and some serious public spending. If you believed the election promises you'd think they all had a forest of magic money trees somewhere! Our annual rates are expensive too - the equivalent of about $2000, and we are on one of the lowest council tax bands. Apart from your bins being emptied you often wonder what you’re paying for?! But with respect to the 'Death of the High Street', I think it’s the same the world over – we have Amazon and eBay to thank for that.

[AliQ]

1 hour ago, Wanderer Returns said:

I think I’d rather be old and poor in Australia than the UK – at least you wouldn’t need to work about the heating bills!

Agree 100 % - I stress big time about our energy bills here - and the council tax !!!

For what it's worth, I think you are doing the right thing. Nothing ventured nothing gained, no harm done if you don't like it, just move again but accept the costs ++ involved and put it down to "experience".

Good luck and enjoy.

 

 

[Tulip1]

1 hour ago, Wanderer Returns said:

Wherever you live @Zack you don’t make it sound very appealing! Poor infrastructure and high charges for services are one of the things that concern me about coming back to Aus. I remember how slow the Internet used to be when we lived in Cairns. Maybe it has improved though in the 5 years we've been away? The UK has also had some tough years in the last decade ('austerity', they like to call it), but there is a general feeling that things might improve with a new government and some serious public spending. If you believed the election promises you'd think they all had a forest of magic money trees somewhere! Our annual rates are expensive too - the equivalent of about $2000, and we are on one of the lowest council tax bands. Apart from your bins being emptied you often wonder what you’re paying for?! But with respect to the 'Death of the High Street', I think it’s the same the world over – we have Amazon and eBay to thank for that.

Zack certainly doesn’t appear to be living the dream does he

[Slean Wolfhead]

1 hour ago, Wanderer Returns said:

I was very interested to read the opinions about pensions/super. This is quite a big deal for me as I don’t have much of one, but then we paid the mortgage off early so you can’t have it both ways. If I have done my homework correctly, I can pay up to $25k/year into my Australian super and only pay 15% tax on it. I worked out if I did that I’d still have about $60k/year to live on after tax, which seems pretty good to be honest. Is it true that you can access the whole lot completely tax-free when you get to 60? It just seems too good to be true! In the UK you can only get 25% tax-free.

Yes, the employer pays a minimum of 9.5% of your salary and then you can top up yourself to a maximum of 25,000 per annum at 15% tax.   As a teacher, you may get a little extra off the employer (10,11,12%) , especially if you contribute some yourself via your pay packet. 

The employer must set you up with their default superannuation fund on commencement of your job and start paying their own share into it, so it takes a weight off your mind.  You don't have to start paying any personal contributions into it immediately...you can take your time and fill a form in when you're ready.

The thing you can do with your British pension is ask them to provide you with a "cash transfer value" for information (if you haven't already).  As a teacher, I guess you may have been funding this yourself through a LGA scheme at around 6% maybe, with additional contributions from the employers?  The value is what you may be able to transfer out as a lump sum, and it may be a decent lump although not enough to sustain you as a life pension.

Currently you cannot transfer this to Australia during your working life, but you could transfer it on retirement and purchase a pension annuity in Australia.  Transfers were allowed up until a few years ago but the UK blocked it and removed Australian superfunds as "QROPS" registered.   This was partly because Australian super funds allow you early access to your fund on the triggering of certain conditions, including illness and financial hardship.   This goes against British superannuation rules which do not allow any early access whatsoever. The risk being that British people might move their pension fund to Australia, get early access, spend it, then return to the UK penniless and live off the state....so they have stopped allowing transfers to Australia until you've stopped paying into your superannuation and reached retirement age.

 

 

 

[Slean Wolfhead]

2 hours ago, Wanderer Returns said:

I’ve paid 25 years of the 37 years I need for a full UK state pension, so if I never worked again in the UK I’d still get two thirds of the UK pension at 67, which would be a pretty decent top up even without any annual increases.

When you reach Australia and as you're starting work immediately, you can then apply to the UK to make Class 2 NI contributions to make up the shortfall of your UK state pension, up to the 35 years for a full pension.  Class 2 is much cheaper than Class 3, and is allowed when you're leaving a UK job immediately before you emigrate, and provide the details of your first job in Australia.   I think the contributions are around £2.50 per week, so a few hundred pounds per year, for each extra years entitlement.   If you live past about 81,  it's a very good investment and a high return on what you paid in as payments in the UK obviously continue until death.   That can form part of a safety net as well.

You don't have to apply for this immediately on the UK GOV website, but keep the details of your last UK job safe somewhere, and your resignation letter, confirmation from employer, P45, and last P60, just in case you need it one day..  

[Slean Wolfhead]

2 hours ago, Wanderer Returns said:

Is it true that you can access the whole lot completely tax-free when you get to 60? It just seems too good to be true!

yes, tax free at 60.  You can take a lump sum, and then buy your actual regular pension with the remainder. Or you might want to leave it in there a bit longer to grow more, if you're happy at work !

You'll probably want financial advice before then as to how best structure your income.

[Marisawright]

On 19/11/2019 at 12:39, Paul1Perth said:

 Mistake we made though was to take lump sums as you get taxed here when they go into your bank account. Even though the letter from the UK says tax free lump sum. We both got a big tax bill.

Yes, it's tax free in the UK but not tax free in Australia.    The same thing applies in reverse - if you've moved to the UK and take a lump sum from your super fund, it's tax-free in Australia but the Inland Revenue will take a huge bite. 

[Marisawright]

1 hour ago, Slean Wolfhead said:

yes, tax free at 60.  You can take a lump sum, and then buy your actual regular pension with the remainder. Or you might want to leave it in there a bit longer to grow more, if you're happy at work !

You'll probably want financial advice before then as to how best structure your income.

It may sound like a great idea to take the lump sum at 60 but the temptation then is to spend too much of it! 

I see a lot of people talking about having a splurge with their super lump sum and then relying on their government pensions in their old age.  However, nowadays you could live 20 or 30 years after you reach 60, and with the way governments are these days, I think it's naive to assume the government pensions will continue to be as good as they are today.

[AliQ]

On 23/11/2019 at 03:44, Zack said:

On a 2.5 Acre block my rates have gone from $238 pa to $1150 Half Yearly.

Compared to what we are currently paying for our Council Tax over here in the UK, that is really really CHEAP !

[Wanderer Returns]

2 hours ago, AliQ said:

Compared to what we are currently paying for our Council Tax over here in the UK, that is really really CHEAP !

Indeed. I just calculated my council tax for the year and in AUS$ it is $2250/year. We are on the lowest band (Band A). If you're on the top band (H) then it's the equivalent of $6,700/year!

Edited November 24, 2019 by Wanderer Returns

[Wanderer Returns]

15 hours ago, Slean Wolfhead said:

When you reach Australia and as you're starting work immediately, you can then apply to the UK to make Class 2 NI contributions to make up the shortfall of your UK state pension, up to the 35 years for a full pension.  Class 2 is much cheaper than Class 3, and is allowed when you're leaving a UK job immediately before you emigrate, and provide the details of your first job in Australia.   I think the contributions are around £2.50 per week, so a few hundred pounds per year, for each extra years entitlement.   If you live past about 81,  it's a very good investment and a high return on what you paid in as payments in the UK obviously continue until death.   That can form part of a safety net as well.

You don't have to apply for this immediately on the UK GOV website, but keep the details of your last UK job safe somewhere, and your resignation letter, confirmation from employer, P45, and last P60, just in case you need it one day..  

@Slean Wolfhead, I will definitely look into this - thanks!

[Paul1Perth]

On 23/11/2019 at 11:44, Zack said:

Some weird and wonderful stories. You Don't get a full pension in Aus if you have other income.. We have lived and worked in Australia for 35 years and don't Get a full pension.  .. Australia is heading for some  long tough years ahead. I can see this LNP Government having another go at Introducing Work Choices.Then the shit will really hit the fan.Things were tough in Australia when we  had  17.95 % rates and now it's)0 .75% and people are whingeing and  struggling.The problem is they have let the cost of  living and House Prices get well  out of control .It's all unsustainable now. No wonder they are talking about a financial Collapse./ To give a better idea the Regional town we  live in ,In Queensland most of the descent  shops have  closed  ,Taken over by op shops.We have a Council from hell .There are more Renters now than owner occupiers. We are running out of water and they are Building a $3 million new Park. And talking of building Dual Carriageways going to nowhere.And our Rates and Chargers have gone through the roof, up 27% from last year. On a 2.5 Acre block my rates have gone from $238 pa to $1150 Half Yearly.,And we still have no Town Sewerage after 20 years

 

Get rid of the 2.5 acre block and downsize to a smaller house where you have sewage connected. Preferably in an area with things to do close by, local shops, cafes, that kind of thing. 

Sometimes a change is as good as a rest and if you're unhappy with your lifestyle at the moment you're in a position to change it.

[Paul1Perth]

On 24/11/2019 at 01:43, Wanderer Returns said:

Many thanks for the responses to my post last week. It’s been really helpful to get a fresh perspective from those actually living in Australia.

Things are moving fast, so a quick update…  I have now accepted the job in Brisbane and just waiting for confirmation from the Department of Education before booking flights out in January. We decided we would see how it worked with my job first before shipping our whole lives over there. I’m going to buy a ticket with a return flight in April so I can return to the UK if it turns out to be a complete disaster! (I’m sure it won’t be but it’s reassuring to have a safety net)

In the meantime my wife is staying in UK, waiting to get her British citizenship, and taking care of things to do with the sale of the house and shipping etc. We don’t think there’ll be much interest until after the general election and Christmas, so we’re going to put the house on the market in the New Year. That has been the hardest of the decision as we both love this place. If we could ship the whole house out to Brissie brick-by-brick, it would be a perfect solution! Still a bit worried about what kind of property we’ll be able to afford once we’re over there, but the exchange rate is now £1=$1.90 - the highest it’s been in ages - so fingers crossed it doesn’t go down!

I was very interested to read the opinions about pensions/super. This is quite a big deal for me as I don’t have much of one, but then we paid the mortgage off early so you can’t have it both ways. If I have done my homework correctly, I can pay up to $25k/year into my Australian super and only pay 15% tax on it. I worked out if I did that I’d still have about $60k/year to live on after tax, which seems pretty good to be honest. Is it true that you can access the whole lot completely tax-free when you get to 60? It just seems too good to be true! In the UK you can only get 25% tax-free.

I understand that the Australian Age Pension is a means-tested benefit and not an entitlement, but it seems like a pretty good safety net to have in place. And if push came to shove, I think I’d rather be old and poor in Australia than the UK – at least you wouldn’t need to work about the heating bills! I’ve paid 25 years of the 37 years I need for a full UK state pension, so if I never worked again in the UK I’d still get two thirds of the UK pension at 67, which would be a pretty decent top up even without any annual increases. That said, my wife is 15 years my junior so I’m guessing that with the Australian Pension being means-tested, her income would also be taken into consideration? I’m not sure if I’d even get the Australian Age Pension at all until she was also 67 – by which time I’d be 82!

More ramblings from me…

Martin.

You can pay 25k per annum into your super and get the low tax rate at 60. You can do it earlier but get taxed more, so it's not really worth it.

You have to split into 2 super accounts. A retirement one you draw out of and pay youself an income from age 60 and a normal super account you pay into.

I worked mine out myself when I got to 60 as a financial advisor wants $1000+ for advice. It's not rocket science and there's heaps of information on line.

Used to be $30,000 a when I did mine BTW so even more worth the tax saving then.

[Toots]

12 minutes ago, Paul1Perth said:

Get rid of the 2.5 acre block and downsize to a smaller house where you have sewage connected. Preferably in an area with things to do close by, local shops, cafes, that kind of thing. 

Sometimes a change is as good as a rest and if you're unhappy with your lifestyle at the moment you're in a position to change it.

A couple living nearby to us did exactly that.  The were on 4 acres a few miles out of town.  They put the property on the market and it sold in 4 weeks.  They are both in their mid 70s and wish they had done it sooner but I think he misses it more than she does.