ozduffs

Hi all

We have decided to move my wife's NHS pension to Australia from England. We plan to stay here, and don't want to have a load of tax taken off when she comes to draw it.

Does anyone know if it is possible to transfer a pension to Australia without going through a financial adviser?

We spoke to an adviser who could transfer the pension across, but he would charge 5% of the fund value. I know that most people should go through an adviser to get advice, but that isn't what I am looking for.

I know they have a living to make, but I would resent paying $4,000 for someone to fill in a bunch of forms when I don't need their advice.

I spoke to the NHS pension trustees, and they don't require the transfer to be done through an adviser.

If it is compulsory, then so be it.

Cheers,

Mike

ianj

Hi

I have served 12 years in the RAF and so know about the whole pitfalls of what I may and may not lose. My service pension is preserved until I am 60 and is index linked and safe (the government arent going to go out of business after all).

I am having my pension transfer analysis done at the moment by a company called Prism Xpat Consulting. The advisor, Darion Pohl, has been spot on and very approachable. Prism charge £350 to perform the analysis of my pension and if I decide to transfer the fund as well then they will do that for me with no percentage charge. Basically £350 will be all of it, transfer and all so it sounds to me if someone is quoting a percentage they could well be on the make.

Only time will tell whether or not the best thing for me is to transfer over to an Oz 'Super' fund but I am happy in the knowledge that Prism will give me the best advice.

Their contact details are:

PRISM Xpat, 78a Ock Street, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 5BZ

Telephone: 0845 450 4004, Fax: 0845 450 4006

www.xpatconsulting.com

Hope this helps

Ian

ozduffs

Thanks for that Ian. A flat fee sounds much more like it. After all, I can't believe there is much difference in the work involved on the size of the fund.

I will give them a call.

Thanks,

Mike

OzTennis

Mike

If the NHS pension trustees say they don't require the transfer to be done through an adviser that implies you can do it yourself doesn't it? Ask them for the forms and see what is involved. Possibly the NHS pension trustees will be able to tell you which 'super' funds previous holders have transferred into. Good luck. The bottom line is that the £350 quoted by Ian might be all you have to pay for some expert advice - seems reasonable for peace of mind.

OzTennis

ianj

No worries mate.

I contacted several companies (well I say several, there are only about 5 in the UK that are experts in it) but Prism seemed the best from my impressions.

They all said they charge approximately the same but some were £350 + vat (De Montfort International.) For me Darion Pohl has done me right so far so I am happy.

As with everything its only once I get to Oz later this year and transfer (if advised) will I really know. They are regulated by the FSA over here in the UK so at least there is some backing if it all went wrong.

Glad to be of help

natalie

I am a nurse moving to Australia at the end of Feb. I contacted the NHS Pensions Agency and was told that when I find a pension fund in Oz, get them to write to the NHS Pensions Agency & they'll do all the transfer for you!!! Easy enough!

Heres a link to a pension fund for health workers:

http://www.hesta.com.au

Hope this helps!

Natalie

OzTennis

Ian

Thanks for the link. I just checked it out and noticed that the 2 main consultants, Jim Hennington and Darion Pohl are fellow Commerce graduates of my alma mater, the University of Melbourne. I didn't specialise in actuarial work like them though! They will be a useful contact for me in the future - if you can't trust your fellow graduates who can you.

OzTennis

ianj

Natalie

Are you just going to go ahead with the transfer regardless??? I only ask as although no expert, I know there can be huge tax implications in transferring and that doing so may not always be the best thing to do.

It all depends on how good the fund is that you already have that influences the decision to transfer. I may well find out that for me being in a good government fund that I am better leaving it here.

Just a thought.

Ian

natalie

Only have 2 years contributions, so probably not worth that much! Also a factor many people mention is the rollercoaster of the currency fluctuations, personally, I'd like to know exactly what money is coming in! Not praying that the pound doesn't get any weaker!!

Not sure about the tax stuff!!

Natalie

natalie

I did a search, there are loads of posts on this topic. Here is the links to a few threads:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...t=NHS+pensions

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...t=NHS+pensions

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...t=NHS+pensions

Hope this helps!!!

Natalie

David Ford

Give us a go www.pentran.com.au

JAJ

All I would suggest is make sure you're *absolutely* clear about the relative tax (and other) issues before doing anything irreversible.

For example, as far as I understand the Foreign Investment Fund tax issues will likely not apply to a frozen public sector pension in the UK, so this should not be part of your consideration.

You may remove a currency risk if you transfer, but will probably add an investment risk.

Jeremy

Kiwipaul

Something else to bear in mind is that some Ozzie fund charge a 5% or more entrance fee for transfering fund into them.

I discovered this when I found I had 2 pension funds from my contract jobs in Oz and to simplify thing I wanted to combine them. BT funds who I considered the best wanted this 5% whereas Tower had no charge (but don't rate them so highly) so I went for Tower.

Tower however charge an exit fee whereas BT don't. They've got you all ways out here.