Hi
Just wondered if anyone could offer any advice about cashing in UK private pensions prior to migrating to Oz

thanks

I wouldn't.

I hope you get some serious answers with facts as I am also interested in this question as well.

Interested in why 'some' wouldn't though....

Australia has had some serious financial rip offs. Check them out

You need to be more specific than that.

Yup get good financial advice. Think twice about cashing in a final salary scheme and be very sure that you will actually want to stay here because if you are PR once it is here it stays here and cannot be cashed in if you decide to go home until you reach retirement age.

Interesting, I was under the assumption (wrongly) that 'if' you had PR but decided to leave and go elsewhere you could cash it in as it were .....seems not....

What would you suggest in that case...keep the pension where it is? It IS final salary scheme but being 30 and only doing 8 years of pensionable service makes it not that high...waiting for valuation as we speak.....

Any other advice would be good....

Each persons individual circumstances, may end up giving a different best option.

Having a UK pension, and leaving it there, "may" work out quite well, if the FX rate changes substantially in your favour between now and retirement.

At some stage in the future, an Australian super 'may' be able to be transferred to UK, but at the moment it can't, as far as I am aware.

In all honesty, I don't know what's best. I still have one in the UK, i'll probably cash it in at some stage, and spend it

Have you checked whether you are allowed to 'cash it in'? Pensions funds have different rules, then there are also things called 'protected rights'. Talk to the pension fund itself for starters.

Check if there will be any ongoing admistration charges as with nearly 30 years to go before you can claim it or 25 if your retirement age is 60 there could be very little left.You may be able to cash a percentage of the overall fund but not all of it, as when you retire you can encash a percentage only.

Final salary schemes vary - you have the potential for some (especially Government FS pensions) to be frozen at the value they were at when you left the UK. There is also the possibility, especially (IMHO anyway) to gain at the moment where the stock market is so low against the potential failure of a FS scheme in the UK (depending on who its with obviously). Presently (again IMO) there is the risk of companies going into liquidation. Yes there is the FS protection scheme, but I personally wouldn't want to try and access that from over here.

Any pension scheme being moved from the UK to Aus has to be moved into a QROPS scheme to meet HMRC requirements, and has to retain its QROPS status for 5 years to avoid taxation issues. Any value also has to be moved within 6 months of arrival, or the gain between the date of arrival and the date of transfer will be taxable so it will very much depend on how long you've been here, your age, length of time to planned retirement, how much you want to move etc. Its an area you really should get professional advice on.

Leaving the funds in the UK mean the restriction to having to buy an annuity etc against not having to here, exposure to FX risk. Its a very, very individual area.

That depends on the scheme.

Mine is a final salary scheme and I did not have to buy an annuity....same for my wife

G

Thats why I said that you should get professional guidance on and that its a very individual area. No two people tend to be in the same situation with pensions.

The annuity comment was more about risk factors as not that many people in the UK have FS schemes any more, I was refering more to the second para on a more general basis.

Probably should have specified that.

No - speak with a professional advisor who has dealt with this sort of issue in the past.

I'd not be relying on pension scheme administrators for advice.

Best regards.

Do both. Don't rely on a single source. Professional advisors have been known to wrong on occasions (not you Alan, that I know about) and I personally have suffered to the tune of several thousand. You need to take your time and try to understand properly before you act - check and cross-check.