Wol

And (and here I am banging on around a wellworn theme, but it's worth repeating over and over) a part of any opted-out private UK pension corresponding to the "minimum guarantee".

UNLESS you were a judge, MP or civil servant, in which case the above does not apply.

Discuss, in relation to ethics!

OzTennis

Yep, and the oft quoted case of the British WW2 soldier who can retire to Germany on a fully indexed pension but who cannot retire to most ally nations on a fully indexed pension. Discuss in relation to ethics! (ah but it would cost us too much to index the pensions of those in Oz).

OzTennis

woogle

Thanks for all the feedback folks

Wol

What on earth is the argument about cost defeats me.

Vis:

I go to buy a car. I select one. I sign the contract, and hand over a bank cheque for the car.

"Sorry", says the salesman: "I can't hand over the car to you - it is too expensive for us to buy it from the manufacturer".

hutchy59

Hi there,
I appreciate that yes, by the time you come to retire, state pensions may be means tested in the UK, or perhaps non existent, but if you take the full basic state pension at the moment is £82.05 per week, you need 44 qualifying years to achieve this, so basically £2.00 per week is added to your pension for every year you pay in, I do not know of any investment that you can pay £382.60 (04/05 tax year rate) which will give you £8.00 per month return, so in my opinion you have to live for the way the law is today, and not what it could be, or we would all stay locked up in our homes. I work for the pension forecasting dept, but I give only my own opinion here.
We too are trying to immigrate and I know how difficult it is to make all these life changing decissions.
Hope this helps you.

OzTennis

Excellent advice and try emigrating, you'll never get out of the country the other way. (couldn't resist)

OzTennis

CreditCardKing

Why would someone moving to Australia inform the DWP to have their pension sent over there, when they could just have it paid into a bank account in the UK and receive the increase for inflation each year. There is no way the DWP could ever know if you were in Spain, Australia or any other part of the world unless you informed them. I am sure it is morally wrong to do this but then so is giving index linked pensions to some and not others.

lynnbrooks

Quote... 6." Last but not least, don't forget that once you've been in Oz 10 years (having arrived with a PR visa), you qualify for the Oz state pension on retirement (Oz state pension is means-tested)."



Thanks for the info,really helpful, think i might go for the last point of being in oz for 10 years then... because we want to commit ourselves to at least this amount of time anyway if not permanently...with this in mind, would you happen to know that if someone decides they don't intend to pay anymore into the british N.I. scheme and don't expect anything upon retirement from the u.k., is there a way in which we can apply to receive back what has already been paid in.? Not quite sure if it is literally an 'insurance' or like a 'savings' where by that money paid in is actually yours to claim back... can anyone help?
Lynn

hutchy59

Hi Lynn
Providing you have paid the minimum of 25% of working life, 11years, you will be entitled to receive your pension at pension age no matter where you are in the world, but you cannot take out now what you have paid in. you would have to wait until pension age, and then receive it as a pension, also you would have to claim it, it is not done automatically. The question is, when you get to pension age, do you want to be living on a means tested benefit? You would need to look into what schemes they have there, and whether you would benefit by paying into their scheme as well as into your uk state pension, if you can afford to, I don't think you can ever have too much pension. I really don't know anything about the Australian pension schemes, but I think if their state pension is means tested, you must be able to pay into a private or work pension through your employer, if this is the case, chances are you would not qualify for the state means tested pension, and in this case, I would say 2 pensions are better than 1.
Probably confused you even more, but it is food for thought, and something you should look into properly before making your decision.
Cheers and good luck
Julie

ABCDiamond

Julie
The Australian system is now:
For every worker earning over $450 per month, the employer MUST contribute an EXTRA 9%, on top of the persons wage, into a Super Fund of the Employees choice. This builds up a fund in the Employees own name. It can be accessed from age 55, in various forms.
The individual can also contribute more into this fund if they wish, as it is their own Personal Pension Fund.

The Government also has the means tested pension to cater for anyone left out of the above system.

markeh

I rather like the Australian idea, that everyone has to have a pension if they can "afford it" It's to easy in the UK with saying that someone else will pay.
You also get what you have paid in and not forced to buy an annuity

It is going to come back and bite them on there arses in the UK, with the government not wonting to tell everyone the bad news, that you only get what you pay for.

Bye
Mark

ABCDiamond

I agree. And some of the super funds here have performed very well, I've seen how my wifes fund has grown over the last 5 years.
She voluntarily tops up her employer 9% compulsory payments with 5% of her salary, and if things keep going as they are, will get a pension of about 75% of her final salary. It's just a pity that I'm not likely to share in hers when it gets paid out.

Almost everyone who works will get some personal super. According to some info from one if the Trade Unions; the ACTU stated in 2004: "Today almost 90% of workers are members of super funds".