What financial advice is required
#1
What financial advice is required
We are emigrating to Australia later this year and I have a few grey areas with regards to financial matters.
IE Pensions, UK Shares, settling UK tax before departure, transferring funds to Australia, endowment policies.
How expensive is professional advice? Presumably it would work out cheaper than getting it wrong by the DIY approach. I found getting my skilled visa straight forward by DIY (with a little help from another forum), buy feel this could be more of a minefield and possibly work out very costly if I get it wrong.
Those people that have taken advice, who did you take it from and did you feel it was worth the expense? Were there any areas of financial matters that you hadn't even considered?
IE Pensions, UK Shares, settling UK tax before departure, transferring funds to Australia, endowment policies.
How expensive is professional advice? Presumably it would work out cheaper than getting it wrong by the DIY approach. I found getting my skilled visa straight forward by DIY (with a little help from another forum), buy feel this could be more of a minefield and possibly work out very costly if I get it wrong.
Those people that have taken advice, who did you take it from and did you feel it was worth the expense? Were there any areas of financial matters that you hadn't even considered?
#2
Re: What financial advice is required
Originally posted by migrantoz
We are emigrating to Australia later this year and I have a few grey areas with regards to financial matters.
IE Pensions, UK Shares, settling UK tax before departure, transferring funds to Australia, endowment policies.
How expensive is professional advice? Presumably it would work out cheaper than getting it wrong by the DIY approach. I found getting my skilled visa straight forward by DIY (with a little help from another forum), buy feel this could be more of a minefield and possibly work out very costly if I get it wrong.
Those people that have taken advice, who did you take it from and did you feel it was worth the expense? Were there any areas of financial matters that you hadn't even considered?
We are emigrating to Australia later this year and I have a few grey areas with regards to financial matters.
IE Pensions, UK Shares, settling UK tax before departure, transferring funds to Australia, endowment policies.
How expensive is professional advice? Presumably it would work out cheaper than getting it wrong by the DIY approach. I found getting my skilled visa straight forward by DIY (with a little help from another forum), buy feel this could be more of a minefield and possibly work out very costly if I get it wrong.
Those people that have taken advice, who did you take it from and did you feel it was worth the expense? Were there any areas of financial matters that you hadn't even considered?
Try Alan Collett at Go Matilda. The sister company deals with all matters financial, pertaining to your move to Oz.
Alan is a regular poster on here so take a look at his previous posts and maybe at the company website.
http://www.collettandco.com/aussie_individuals.html
Hope this is helpful.
Kris
#3
The GoMatilda site is a good starting point - see Alan Collett's fact sheets. Ther's a huge amount of information on the Australian Tax Office (ATO) site and our own Inland Revenue has a lot of stuff on-line. We've also found that phoning the IR helpline has been very helpful.
If you have time try to gather as much information as possible off the web before you decide about paying for advice. We've bought books on UK and Oz tax (Collins Bookshop in Oz - order on the net) for about £30 each. A lot - but much cheaper than paying an adviser to get some basics sorted. We've also fired off emails to advisers with specific questions just to test the sort of reponse they give. One or two are helpful, but others just return a list of fees (usually £400-500) and suggest a meeting. It also seems worthwhile contacting advisers in Oz as they seem to be cheaper and not quite so possessive about information. We've just had a good email response from Grant Thornton in Brisbane.
Lastly, watch out for pension advice. First they charge you to tell you what is possible then they charge you to do something - up to 5% of the fund value. It is complicated but not impossible to understand.
Just expect to pay more tax in Oz!
Almost forgot the obligatory...
This is not advice. This is not an advert. This is just my own personal opinion. I am not a financial adviser. I'm not qualified.
If you have time try to gather as much information as possible off the web before you decide about paying for advice. We've bought books on UK and Oz tax (Collins Bookshop in Oz - order on the net) for about £30 each. A lot - but much cheaper than paying an adviser to get some basics sorted. We've also fired off emails to advisers with specific questions just to test the sort of reponse they give. One or two are helpful, but others just return a list of fees (usually £400-500) and suggest a meeting. It also seems worthwhile contacting advisers in Oz as they seem to be cheaper and not quite so possessive about information. We've just had a good email response from Grant Thornton in Brisbane.
Lastly, watch out for pension advice. First they charge you to tell you what is possible then they charge you to do something - up to 5% of the fund value. It is complicated but not impossible to understand.
Just expect to pay more tax in Oz!
Almost forgot the obligatory...
This is not advice. This is not an advert. This is just my own personal opinion. I am not a financial adviser. I'm not qualified.
#4
I actually have 3 preserved pensions, well I will have when I leave the my present job to emigrate later this year. I intend to leave them preserved in their original pension funds until I retire. Two of them are index linked and with safe institutions, the other I feel I may transfer at some point. I guess I need to wait until I am in employment again after arriving in Oz anyway. As I am 39, I have a few years of work ahead of me and may actually return to the UK in the future, so I feel it would be easier to just leave them where they are for the time being.
I also have 3 endowments, one of which is performing so well its paying more in bonuses(its a with profits) than I am paying in every year, so intend to keep that. The other 2 which are on my mortgage aren't doing at all well, so I reckon on selling(if anyone would buy it - unlikely) or surrendering them.
Any thoughts/experiences shared much appreciated
I also have 3 endowments, one of which is performing so well its paying more in bonuses(its a with profits) than I am paying in every year, so intend to keep that. The other 2 which are on my mortgage aren't doing at all well, so I reckon on selling(if anyone would buy it - unlikely) or surrendering them.
Any thoughts/experiences shared much appreciated
#5
Account Closed
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 174
Originally posted by migrantoz
I actually have 3 preserved pensions, well I will have when I leave the my present job to emigrate later this year. I intend to leave them preserved in their original pension funds until I retire. Two of them are index linked and with safe institutions, the other I feel I may transfer at some point. I guess I need to wait until I am in employment again after arriving in Oz anyway. As I am 39, I have a few years of work ahead of me and may actually return to the UK in the future, so I feel it would be easier to just leave them where they are for the time being.
I also have 3 endowments, one of which is performing so well its paying more in bonuses(its a with profits) than I am paying in every year, so intend to keep that. The other 2 which are on my mortgage aren't doing at all well, so I reckon on selling(if anyone would buy it - unlikely) or surrendering them.
Any thoughts/experiences shared much appreciated
I actually have 3 preserved pensions, well I will have when I leave the my present job to emigrate later this year. I intend to leave them preserved in their original pension funds until I retire. Two of them are index linked and with safe institutions, the other I feel I may transfer at some point. I guess I need to wait until I am in employment again after arriving in Oz anyway. As I am 39, I have a few years of work ahead of me and may actually return to the UK in the future, so I feel it would be easier to just leave them where they are for the time being.
I also have 3 endowments, one of which is performing so well its paying more in bonuses(its a with profits) than I am paying in every year, so intend to keep that. The other 2 which are on my mortgage aren't doing at all well, so I reckon on selling(if anyone would buy it - unlikely) or surrendering them.
Any thoughts/experiences shared much appreciated
I haven't looked to heavily ,if at all, into this stuff ,I tend to wing it most of the time.
Anywho, one thing I did a last year was surrender an endowment policy and I can tell for a fact you'll get more surrendering it than selling - selling we yeild 30% less.
You'll be surprised , get a surrender value.
Endowments , pain in the arse, still you seemed to have lucked out - don't forget the great financial advice INVESTMENTS CAN GO DOWN AS WELL AS UP.
#6
Migration Agent
Joined: May 2002
Location: Offices in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Geelong (Australia), and Southampton (UK)
Posts: 6,459
Tax and Financial Planning in Australia
Maybe I can also mention here the firm of Australian accountants with whom I work, Gateway Australia? If you think you may have a need for ongoing advice on tax and financial planning once you are in Australia you might want to register for more information here:
http://www.gmga.com.au/
Best regards.
http://www.gmga.com.au/
Best regards.
#7
Forum Regular
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: northside, Brisbane
Posts: 59
Re: What financial advice is required
What is the story with endowments? my, very basic understanding is that if you keep them going you have to pay tax in oz on the income each year,
again baisc info, i thought that endowments increased by small amounts annually and the major chunk of the "expected/gaurenteed" final value was in the form of a terminal bonus.
if this is the case then there wont be much tax to pay annually until the final payment is made to you then you'll only pay tax on the terminal bonus element (and you will have to final value in your hand to pay it with)
??????
again baisc info, i thought that endowments increased by small amounts annually and the major chunk of the "expected/gaurenteed" final value was in the form of a terminal bonus.
if this is the case then there wont be much tax to pay annually until the final payment is made to you then you'll only pay tax on the terminal bonus element (and you will have to final value in your hand to pay it with)
??????
#8
If your endowments are with Standard Life, definitely hold on to them as they look like they may be de-mutualising in the next couple of years and you could miss out on a decent windfall.
If you want to keep the endowment going, there shouldn’t be any problem with this, other than the exchange rate risk you run. You could always surrender them back to the company, get a 3rd part quote for them or convert them to fully paid up.
If you think you may return to the UK, you are probably doing the right thing by not transferring your pensions out here. If you do decide to transfer them to Oz sometime in the future, they will probably be taxed as a foreign investment as you will have missed the 6 month window.
As far as individual UK shares are concerned, I would try to keep them in the UK. You will need a UK address though. Register all your shares in CREST and use an on-line broker to do any transactions. This is easier and much cheaper than setting up an international custody account in Oz. You will have to declare income and gains on your Oz tax return.
You should send a form to the IR stating that you are no longer a resident in the UK for tax purposes. Any accounts you still have in the UK can then also be changes to pay interest gross.
Transferring money is a doddle. We used www.ozforex.com.au but there are a number out there. Bear in mind that the exchange rate is much more important than the commission being charged when trying to decide on the best option, and make sure you are quoted the client rate and not the interbank rate when getting rate quotes. The money arrives in the account in Oz in less than 2 days. Would also consider moving your current account to an Internet only account like smile. Much less hassle in you are in Oz.
In my opinion, if your financial affairs are relatively straightforward, you don’t need to use a financial adviser or other 3rd party. You can do everything yourself and retain a lot more control over what is your money after all.
If you want to keep the endowment going, there shouldn’t be any problem with this, other than the exchange rate risk you run. You could always surrender them back to the company, get a 3rd part quote for them or convert them to fully paid up.
If you think you may return to the UK, you are probably doing the right thing by not transferring your pensions out here. If you do decide to transfer them to Oz sometime in the future, they will probably be taxed as a foreign investment as you will have missed the 6 month window.
As far as individual UK shares are concerned, I would try to keep them in the UK. You will need a UK address though. Register all your shares in CREST and use an on-line broker to do any transactions. This is easier and much cheaper than setting up an international custody account in Oz. You will have to declare income and gains on your Oz tax return.
You should send a form to the IR stating that you are no longer a resident in the UK for tax purposes. Any accounts you still have in the UK can then also be changes to pay interest gross.
Transferring money is a doddle. We used www.ozforex.com.au but there are a number out there. Bear in mind that the exchange rate is much more important than the commission being charged when trying to decide on the best option, and make sure you are quoted the client rate and not the interbank rate when getting rate quotes. The money arrives in the account in Oz in less than 2 days. Would also consider moving your current account to an Internet only account like smile. Much less hassle in you are in Oz.
In my opinion, if your financial affairs are relatively straightforward, you don’t need to use a financial adviser or other 3rd party. You can do everything yourself and retain a lot more control over what is your money after all.
#9
A question for the lesleys:
Please could you give me the ISBN numbers of the books you found most helpful. I messaged you too in case you miss this posting.
Please could you give me the ISBN numbers of the books you found most helpful. I messaged you too in case you miss this posting.