llurgy

Hubby is 57 and I am 54. It is coming to the time when we really need to get our ducks in a row regarding our retirement financials.

We emigrated to the US in 1999 and became citizens in 2012.

I have a reduced state pension coming to me and my husband has a reduced state pension, and 3 small private pensions. Some of the private pensions he could start to claim now if he wanted to.

My question is, what is the best use of this money when it starts to pay out?

I had thought we were going to just sock it away month by month into a UK bank account and save it, but have since found out that non UK residents are no longer able to carry a UK bank account.

The UK money will be nice as a luxury but not essential to our day to day living here in the US. For the last 20 years we have put into place a retirement plan to supplement SS and so should be okay to life off only the US income when retirement time arrives.

Whilst the UK money is not essential to our living expenses, neither do we want to have it frittered away with transfer and currency exchange fees.

Do not really want to go the Transfer-Wise route as it isn't insured I dont think and we actually want a place to save the money, not just a place for the money to pas through.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Please bear in mind that I am a total moron as far as finances are concerned.

Thanks in advance
Mandy

lansbury

Not sure why you think non UK residents cannot have a bank account. They cannot open one but if you already have that is OK. My UK pensions (5) are paid into my NatWest bank account and I either transfer amounts to the US when the exchange rate is good, or use that money on my visits to the UK. Also my NatWest debit card comes in handy for buying presents for family at Christmas and birthdays from Amazon UK, or other online UK retailers without worrying about exchange rates.

llurgy

If you are a non resident of the UK you can no longer open a UK Bank account......I have read that in lots of places. You are lucky if you still are able to hold on to an old account as some banks are even closing existing accounts if they find the account holder does not have a permanent address in the UK

Edited to add that we did have an account but the bank closed it a few years after we moved over here because we didnt use it enough.

cranston

If you don't think you will need the money for 5 years or more, invest in the stock market. If you bring the money over to the US capital growth will more than any offset any FX charges,

Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) in the US is superb. If you want to keep the money in pounds try Terry Smith's Fundsmith fund Fundsmith.co.uk

If you don't invest in the stock market inflation will erode the value of your money.

Steve_I

+1 This is exactly how it works for us too. We had two accounts with the Yorkshire Bank (I know) when we left the UK almost 8 years ago. I wrote to them and advised we would have pensions going in there soon and would need to keep the joint checking account. They are happy to coillect the money every month and not pay any interest. We just transfer it as and when with XE.com, all done online. Still have a UK debit card which works great when we go back on holiday. I think the only thing you can't have there is an interest bearing account and I know it's almost impossible to open a new checking account if you aren't resident. Hang on to your UK current account if you're moving for good!

durham_lad

We had interest bearing accounts in the UK while living in the USA. When we left for the USA in 1987 we completed forms R35(?) for the bank accounts so the interest was paid gross (it’s all paid gross these days). We reported the interest on Schedule B on our US tax returns each year. We still report the UK bank interest on schedule B and pay US tax on it now that we are back living in England.

Steve_I

Interest(ing) I thought it was a no go as far as UK banks were concerned, but obviously not! We're happy that we still have the UK checking account and transfer every so often to savings here.

As a by the by, whereabouts in Durham are you from? I'm originally from Peterlee... (Somebody has to be from there)

durham_lad

One of my sisters plus her daughter and son-in-law all still work in Peterlee, but we were all born and grew up in Seaham

My brother emigrated to Australia in the early 90’s after the pits shut down in Seaham and my sister emigrated to Murton. We already had emigrated to the USA in 1987. My other sister stayed in Seaham until 2013 then moved to Guisborough, on the edge of the N York’s National Park, and my parents and other relatives have since died or moved away so I rarely ever go there these days.

Giantaxe

I still have the UK checking and savings accounts I opened when I was in... high school. That was rather a long time ago.

Steve_I

Great to hear all those place names after living in SC for eight years! Peterlee grew out of Horden, Blackhall, Shotton etc because of the pits, then they all closed down! I used to go fishing as a lad at Seaham docks... Good memories! We're flying back in July to see the kids and the grandkids... We'll probably re-fuel at Shotton airport

durham_lad

Don’t forget to visit Shotton beach, the Shotton tourist board are really promoting it at present

Steve_I

LOL... I am old enought to remember people collecting coal in sacks on push bikes from Horden and Blackhall beaches! My parents were from Wheatley Hill and Cassop. Another couple of names from the past that don't even sound like real places now!

durham_lad

I used to actually collect coal from Seaham's equivalent beach at times, plus we would make a fire out of sea coal and driftwood while fishing overnight. Since the last of Seaham's pits closed in 1993 it has been absolutely fascinating watching the "Blast Beach" recover and there are still folks go onto the beach with their beach casting rods to fish. The Blast Beach was used in the scenes from the prison world in Alien 3 but now it is much improved and the cliffs are covered in wild orchids and other wild flowers plus bird watchers from all over the north of England go there to see the wild birds.