transferring money to superannuation fund

[je1]

A WORD OF WARNING ABOUT TRANSFERRING MONEY INTO AN AUSTRALIAN SUPERANNUATION FUND

There are good reasons to transfer money (from overseas schemes or other funds/sources). We took notice of these reasons and the advice to transfer our UK pension funds to our Australian superannuation accounts after we became permanent residents in Australia in 2006. We firmly believed at the time this was the right thing to do, and that we would be here in Australia for the rest of our lives. However circumstances change, and we are now moving back to England next year. We are NOT ALLOWED TO TRANSFER OUR SUPERANNUATION OUTSIDE OF AUSTRALIA. Our money is actually now stuck here until we are old enough to claim it when we retire. However it won't be worth very much because there will be no contributions but there will be ongoing fees, plus we'll have to stand the expense of the exchange rate when we can finally claim our money, and then also the practical difficulties of getting it paid internationally. So, our advice is please think very very carefully before you make the same mistake and find your retirement plans could very easily be decimated.

[funksta]

Originally Posted by je1

A WORD OF WARNING ABOUT TRANSFERRING MONEY INTO AN AUSTRALIAN SUPERANNUATION FUND

We are NOT ALLOWED TO TRANSFER OUR SUPERANNUATION OUTSIDE OF AUSTRALIA. Our money is actually now stuck here until we are old enough to claim it when we retire.

noted with thanks. I am not familiar with Oz funds but I shall pay more attention.

[kaz101]

Hi je1,

Is that just your superannuation fund or all of them?

We were told that we should only move our funds if we weren't going back and we have no intention to live back in the UK. We may move around the Australia if we ever get tired of where we are now - but even that seems unlikely at present

Have you thought about changing your fund to a self managed fund?

You would need to take expert advice but I believe that you can buy property and even share trade with the money in a self managed superannuation fund. This would allow you to grow the funds until you retire. You still can't take money out of the fund until you retire but you can increase the money in it through investing.

You need to make sure that any superannuation funds in Australia are now approved by the UK (if you are moving from the UK) and you can find a list at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pensionschemes/qrops.pdf

There are companies that will invest in shares and property on your behalf, but of course investments can go down as well as up.

We are looking into moving our pensions in to a self managed superannuation fund (SMSF) because we think we will take more care of our money than an institution and because we are always looking for new ways of making money (legally!).

In the UK we wouldn't have been able to do anything with our pension money at all which annoyed us since we still have about 20 years to go before we retire and we can get better interest on it than an institution.

Maybe looking in SMSF will be a way forward for you.

Regards,
Karen

[je1]

Hi
Thanks for the advice. We truly believed we were here for good when we moved our pension money down here, but our circumstances have changed. I'll look into self managed funds, thanks for that.
Julie

[kaz101]

Originally Posted by je1

Hi
Thanks for the advice. We truly believed we were here for good when we moved our pension money down here, but our circumstances have changed. I'll look into self managed funds, thanks for that.
Julie

If you talk to any good financial advisor they should be able to help - that is tell them what you are trying to achieve.

We've already outgrown one financial advisor and just about to start with a new one.

Good luck with it.

Karen

[je1]

Having had some advice about self managed funds, its not a route I want to take, and doesn't change the fact that my money is still stuck down in Oz while I'm in the UK. So my next option will have to be tackling the ATO: my permanent residence won't be valid once my returning resident visa expires, so I won't have the option to return to live or retire in Oz, and that's my point of argument. The law is based on having the right to permanent residence, which I won't have, so I'll don my armour and go to battle. May take a while, but nothing ever changes if no one ever challenges the status quo. Wish me luck.

[kaz101]

Originally Posted by je1

Having had some advice about self managed funds, its not a route I want to take, and doesn't change the fact that my money is still stuck down in Oz while I'm in the UK.

I knew that your money would still be stuck in Oz but I thought that it might be an option to grow your money since you mentioned that you were concerned that it wouldn't be worth anything by retirement.

Let us know how you get on.

Good luck,
Karen

[kaz101]

Check out this page for info from a UK company about transferring super back to the UK. They seem to say it is possible but may carry 30% tax.

Q6 - Answer

I don't know the company so I don't know if that's accurate or not....

[je1]

Thanks for the info, will look into this.