Retiring in Oz

[NotDonna]

How easy is it to retire in Oz from the U.K. My husband was born in Oz but lived in U.K. for 30+years, has both passports as do our ‘children’ - only one is under 18. Although we are married, I’ve never lived in Oz so no residency permit/passport etc. He has a U.K. SIPP and I a teachers pension - neither have been accessed as yet. Our youngest would be looking to either start yr11 or if we delayed a couple of years maybe start uni in Oz. 
We are considering Melbourne. How easy will it be? Will we be worse off financially with trying to move pension pots? Do we keep them in the U.K.? We’d need to sell our U.K. house and buy in Melbourne (likely mortgage free but still pay stamp duty). Is it a mad idea????

[Marisawright]

This is a big topic.  You'll need to build a big spreadsheet and plug in a lot of 'what ifs'!

You'll be able to get a partner visa without any trouble, and you say the kids all have Aussie citizenship, so that part of the move will be easy.

Pensions: 

You can keep your pensions where they are and draw on them once you're in Australia, the only drawback would be that you'll be at the mercy of the exchange rate. 

It is possible to move them to Australia but one thing to check is, what kind of pension do you have?   Private pensions in Australia are simple:  when you retire, there's a pot of money in your pension fund, which is used to pay you a pension.  If the pot of money runs out before you die, too bad -- the pension stops.  By contrast, I  know some UK pensions guarantee to pay you a pension till you die.  If your pension is like that, it might be better to hold on to it!  

The other thing to consider is that there's only one (fairly new) superannuation fund that will accept your pensions, so you'd need to research that company and whether you trust them to look after your pension pots.  There is no bank guarantee on superannuation/pension funds in Australia so you need to feel confident they're secure. 

What about the state pension?   You'll still be able to claim your UK pension in Australia, but it will be frozen at the initial amount forever. You'll never get any increases or extra allowances. The good news is that you'll be eligible for the Australian state pension once you've been in the country for 10 years. The slightly bad news is that it's means-tested, so you won't get it unless your income and assets fall below a certain level.  However, the main thing is that it's there as a safety net if, (as previously mentioned) your private pension runs out before you die.

Melbourne

If you look at median house prices, Melbourne seems reasonably priced compared to other capital cities -- but that's misleading.  It's misleading because Melbourne sprawls over an area as big as Metropolitan London.   Like London, housing in the desirable city suburbs are far more expensive than the same house in, say, Slough.  For instance, a nice 3-bedroom house in Brighton will easily cost you $4 million but the same house in Doreen will cost you about $600,000.  So you need to think more specifically about where in Melbourne you'd want to be, before you can decide whether you'd be mortgage-free.  

 

[ramot]

Our circumstances

We retired to Australia 21 years ago, we had never lived here and weren’t Australian.
We only got PR about 5 years ago, as we were on a long term temporary visa till then, so we probably had to make different decisions about pensions etc.          

We kept our Uk bank accounts and have private and frozen state pensions paid into them, and transfer to Australian bank using Wise . Pensions are index linked, and payable till we die, plus provision for wife from husband’s pension if he dies first.

No one can predict how the exchange rate will change. We received $3 to the pound in 2003!!!!, but we manage fine. Our frozen state pension is increased during a visit to UK, but then reverts back to the frozen amount on return to Australia!!!!!
My husband was concerned that we would pay more tax here when we became PR, but I’m glad to say that we don’t, but circumstances are individual.

We have never regretted our decision to retire here.

Marisa gives good advice, and would definitely agree to gat a partner visa, asap,

Good luck with your decision .

 

[Ken]

On 02/07/2024 at 15:16, Marisawright said:

Melbourne sprawls over an area as big as Metropolitan London. 

 

You're understating it. Metropolitan Melbourne is 6 times the size of Greater London, but with half the population.

[Marisawright]

40 minutes ago, Ken said:

You're understating it. Metropolitan Melbourne is 6 times the size of Greater London, but with half the population.

I said Metropolitan London not Greater London.

[Ken]

14 hours ago, Marisawright said:

I said Metropolitan London not Greater London.

The only difference between the two is that Metropolitan London doesn't include the City of London while Greater London does.

[Ausvisitor]

On 09/07/2024 at 09:42, Ken said:

The only difference between the two is that Metropolitan London doesn't include the City of London while Greater London does.

Yep and pretty much no one lives in the City itself, it's all pret a manger and wetherspoons.

(It's also tiny as a proportion of the size of greater London - not much bigger than the free tram zone in Melbourne)

[Ausvisitor]

On 08/07/2024 at 18:39, Ken said:

You're understating it. Metropolitan Melbourne is 6 times the size of Greater London, but with half the population.

I can't see why anyone would want to live in McMansion land outside of Melbourne - anything more than 5 miles from the CBD (unless it has a beach) is just personality free suburbia - if you want that you could live anywhere on the planet.

[Blue Manna]

7 hours ago, Ausvisitor said:

Yep and pretty much no one lives in the City itself, it's all pret a manger and wetherspoons.

(It's also tiny as a proportion of the size of greater London - not much bigger than the free tram zone in Melbourne)

I went for a stroll from London bridge to elephant and castle the other day, and there were lots of flats there, and I assume they had people living in them. I would have thought that close to the square mile they would have been quite posh, but they didn't look it. Not the best walk I might add.

[Nemesis]

1 hour ago, Blue Manna said:

I went for a stroll from London bridge to elephant and castle the other day, and there were lots of flats there, and I assume they had people living in them. I would have thought that close to the square mile they would have been quite posh, but they didn't look it. Not the best walk I might add.

I hate to presume but I'm guessing you don't know south London well?

[Blue Manna]

1 hour ago, Nemesis said:

I hate to presume but I'm guessing you don't know south London well?

Been to Croydon IKEA a couple of times.

[Ausvisitor]

8 hours ago, Blue Manna said:

I went for a stroll from London bridge to elephant and castle the other day, and there were lots of flats there, and I assume they had people living in them. I would have thought that close to the square mile they would have been quite posh, but they didn't look it. Not the best walk I might add.

Neither London bridge or elephant and castle are actually in the City of London. The city of London is the square mile around Holborn and the bank of England 

Everything else is greater (or metropolitan - but this isn't a UK term) London

[Ausvisitor]

Like everywhere else in the central area of London the flats are run down but hyped up. 

Cheapest studio will run you $800k to buy.

And all in locations that 20 years ago you would have needed armed protection to feel safe in, the city is evolving but it takes time for the housing as stock to catch up

[Blue Manna]

41 minutes ago, Ausvisitor said:

Neither London bridge or elephant and castle are actually in the City of London. The city of London is the square mile around Holborn and the bank of England 

Everything else is greater (or metropolitan - but this isn't a UK term) London

London bridge is debatable. But certainly the northern tip of London bridge is in it.

[Ken]

1 hour ago, Ausvisitor said:

Neither London bridge or elephant and castle are actually in the City of London. The city of London is the square mile around Holborn and the bank of England 

Everything else is greater (or metropolitan - but this isn't a UK term) London

Are you saying the London Police aren't from the UK?

[Blue Manna]

2 hours ago, Ken said:

Are you saying the London Police aren't from the UK?

I used to live in the north metropolitan area in Sydney. I could never work out what it had to do with ice cream.

[MARYROSE02]

I get my two UK pensions (state and employer - Post Office) paid monthly into my Australian bank account,  along with my Australian  employer pension which is paid fortnightly.  I'm just about to start drawing a fortnightly pension from my Australian Super fund, 6 percent I think.  I've not touched it yet. 

I've got some money in England which, like others,  I use Wise to transfer it as is much cheaper than the banks.

I applied for a Centrelink pension but got rejected as my assets are too high.  I would not have minded but it took 4 months and endless questions.  I think Marissa may have told me I'd get rejected. It was a while ago.  Next step is to apply for the pensioner health card,  which I may get. 

What are the dimensions of Greater London? I always had the idea that if you plonked Sydney down (and Melbourne is the same size) it would just about cover it. I must Google it now! My flat in Surry Hills is 60 km from my brother's home in Spring Farm near Camden. Then there's another 7 km east to the beaches from Surry Hills. Then how far is it from, say, Hornsby in the north to,  say. Engadine or Heathcote, in the south, or perhaps I should measure it from Palm Beach.

What's similar in London? Richmond to Enfield? I don't know London. Do Londoners come to Sydney and marvel at how easy and stress free it is to commute in Oz?

[yvonne denby]

On 02/07/2024 at 07:26, ramot said:

Our circumstances

We retired to Australia 21 years ago, we had never lived here and weren’t Australian.
We only got PR about 5 years ago, as we were on a long term temporary visa till then, so we probably had to make different decisions about pensions etc.          

We kept our Uk bank accounts and have private and frozen state pensions paid into them, and transfer to Australian bank using Wise . Pensions are index linked, and payable till we die, plus provision for wife from husband’s pension if he dies first.

No one can predict how the exchange rate will change. We received $3 to the pound in 2003!!!!, but we manage fine. Our frozen state pension is increased during a visit to UK, but then reverts back to the frozen amount on return to Australia!!!!!
My husband was concerned that we would pay more tax here when we became PR, but I’m glad to say that we don’t, but circumstances are individual.

We have never regretted our decision to retire here.

Marisa gives good advice, and would definitely agree to gat a partner visa, asap,

Good luck with your decision .

 

hi could you tell me if you pay income tax on your pensions state or otherwise in australia please or is all the money you transfer from these ttaxed in australia x

 

[ramot]

9 hours ago, yvonne denby said:

hi could you tell me if you pay income tax on your pensions state or otherwise in australia please or is all the money you transfer from these ttaxed in australia x

 

Our circumstances are possibly very different to yours. Yes we pay tax in both countries, and use tax experts.

Best advice as given on your other thread is to  contact Alan Collett 

[Ken]

13 hours ago, yvonne denby said:

hi could you tell me if you pay income tax on your pensions state or otherwise in australia please or is all the money you transfer from these ttaxed in australia x

 

Under the terms of the UK-Australia Double Taxation Agreement (DTA), pensions are only taxed in the jurisdiction in which the taxpayer is resident. If you are living in Australia you should only be taxed on your pensions (whether they are British or Australian) by the ATO and not by HMRC. Note that this rule is only for pensions and doesn't apply to other income (including lump sums from pension accounts).

[Ken]

On 01/08/2024 at 11:27, Blue Manna said:

London bridge is debatable. But certainly the northern tip of London bridge is in it.

The northern half of London bridge is the city. The boundary is the middle of the river.

[AliG]

7 hours ago, Ken said:

The northern half of London bridge is the city. The boundary is the middle of the river.

Strangely, the whole of Blackfriars Bridge (including the southern bit) sits within the City of London Boundary - but then it does have a train station on it...