Alan Collett

With thanks to a BE member who notified me, here is some useful information for migrants to Australia with pension funds they want to transfer - a list of QROPS superannuation funds, published by the UK's HM Revenue & Customs:
http://www.gomatilda.com/news/article.cfm?articleid=400

Best regards.

ajw

Hi Alan

I keep getting time out errors trying to load that page. Do you happen to have a link directly to the HM Rev & Customs page?

Thanks.

Wendy

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pensionschemes/qrops-list.htm

Swerv-o

Hi Alan,

Given the number of funds here, there arn't many to choose from that are QROPS approved!

Do you have any advice or factsheets for people when choosing a super fund? I have been asked to sort mine out this week, and I'm still no further forward. They all seem to have different advantages and disadvantages. I went to see a financial advisor, but he was only peddling a small range of (high fee) products, so that didn't advance me either!

I quite like the sound of the Virgin Super, as it has a simple 1% fee structure, with no on-going management costs, but I am struggling to see how this compares to other funds.

Cheers,

S

Alan Collett

I can't advise on specific funds I'm afraid as I'm not a licensed financial planner - you might want to look for another advisor.

I can though send you a name and contact details if you are interested ... if so, send me a PM or an email.

Best regards.

Alan Collett

Also, from a google search:
http://www.asic.gov.au/fido/fido.nsf...t?openDocument
http://moneymanager.smh.com.au/inves...d=SEM:GoogleMM

Best regards.

geordie downunder

The industry /union funds tend to win hands down on super due to low fees and no %age charges.Nobody will recommend them as they pay no commissions.Morningstar rates many funds and can be found in the wealth section of the Australian on wednesdays.SuperRatings also rates them as does rainmaker.Asfa gives good info and an indication of how the rest of the world handlas retirement incomes.The OZ super is based onthe Peruvian scheme.A financial planner usually only gives the thumbs up for the products the company he is tied to offers,a bad one will give the thumbs up to the fund that pays him the most.Statements are sent out around now,Westscheme(my fund ) has returned 18.76% for this year,should I have elected a purely OZ share selection then the return would have been 24.97%.The default is the mixed fund (shares ,fixed interest, bonds etc)95% of the fund members are in the default selection (18.76%return).Fees are $61 per year and $104 for death and disability insurance.This is NOT a recommendation for Westscheme,it is the default fund my employer offers and the balanced option is the default option within the fund.W/scheme have a platinum rating with superratings and and 5 apples with Chant West,I would guess most industry funds have the same.There are more super funds to choose from than there are stocks in the all ords,every fund hoping they can get more members and thus more fees and charges.W/scheme only has 161,000 members as it is mainly limited to WA before super choice came in,a small fund,but those charges still run to close to $10 million a year,a gravy train for fund trustees.Good Luck.

Alan Collett

The key (in my view) is engaging an advisor who is paid a fee for the time s/he spends on the financial plan, annual reviews, etc, rather than the advisor being paid a commission by a fund manager.

You would tend to find that financial planners working in a firm of accountants charge a fee for service rather than being commission driven.

And in that situation you would expect the whole range of investments to be considered.

Best regards.

geordie downunder

The 1% fee may look small but compounding gives it a magical return for the fund.Say you stay in for 30 yrs,then they get 30% of your first year contributions and 30% of the growth.They get 29% of your second year c/butions and growth and so on.Over the 30 yr period an industry fund would take $1800 in fees ($60x 30 yrs).Suppose there is zero growth and you contribute $5000 a yr to Virgin or any other retail fund.first yr they take $50,next yr they take $100 ($10000x 1%).Those fees are a killer over the long run and greatly reduce your payout.

geordie downunder

I agree with you,no doubt there will be some excellent people out there with the best interests of their clients at heart,but sadly the sharks will outnumber them IMO.As an aside prior to Costello"s last changes an old boilermaker at work decided he wanted out,over a 30 yr period he had been buying houses and built up a portfolio of around $2million.the thought of paying land taxes,rates, repairs etc from his income did not appeal to him so the plan was to keep the house he lived in and one for future capital gain ,and cash in the $2 million.He worked out that the $130,000 tax free lump sum he could draw out along with the wifes' super would keep him going under the old rules.Off he went to a financial planner to see how to reduce the CGT on the properties bought after 1986.He paid the guy $3000 for fee for service and was very happy with the plan drawn up.A few days later Costello waves his magic wand in the budget and the plan is useless.Standing there with a sledgehammer in his hand he opined he could give Costello some top notch advice using said hammer and Costello's head.I think there are now some transition rules to be brought in over 5 yrs ,but I have not kept up with it.

woogle

As I know nothing about any of this at this stage,can I ask a simple question?
If I transfer my UK fund to one of these acceptable ones on the list, is there anything to stop me switching funds at a later date & taking the full fund, including what came from the Uk & moving it all into a non-approved fund ? Or would I only be able to move my Oz contributions out of it & leave my UK money in ?
A nice straight forward idiot proof answer would be appreciated

Swerv-o

Alan, Geordie, thanks for those posts. I have made a good start now!

geordie downunder

Reading business newsletters from the US and UK today it seems to be a worldwide problem, bad advice from financial planners, they put their own interests ahead of yours. Two other sites are www.fido.gov.au and www.understandingmoney.gov.au.

Alan Collett

From today's Sunday Age:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/busine...222380402.html

Best regards.

tabby

I to havebeen thinking about the right super , and it all gives me a headache