[CJ22]

I'll probably speak to a financial advisor about this at some point, but I thought I'd see if anybody here has any bright ideas.

In the UK, I and my OH both have modest personal pensions. Obviously we can't maintain these from NZ. As I understand it, they would have to become dormant.

In NZ, we're looking at using the Kiwisaver, not because it's a great saving scheme (it's not), but because we can game it to provide a payment towards our deposit when we buy a house (although that pretty much forces us to wait three years, but still it's something we're looking at).

So what are the options with regards to our personal pension. i know very little about how these things work. Can the value of those pensions be transferred somehow into something in NZ, like a personal pension or even the Kiwisaver. I assume we can't transfer their value into the Kiwisaver, as that would effectively be unlocking the cash (man, I wish that were possible!).

What did folks do with their UK personal pensions?

[jspokes]

Hey there

It is apparently possible to transfer your UK personal pension scheme to a qualifying QROPS pension scheme in NZ. There are a lot of financial service providers that will offer to do this for you (but beware of overcharging/fees), but you have to be non tax resident in the UK for 3? years before you can make the transfer. Once they're in NZ you can apparently access up to 40% (typically) of them tax free (if when you get to NZ you choose the "3? years of tax free foreign investments" option rather than the working for families tax credits.

Not something anyone can advise you on other than a financial advisor as it will depend on where your investments are held, how much you have, what kind of pension it is etc etc.

Hope that gives you a few pointers for consideration.

Jon

[Asli&Mark]

I have just got this sorted through a friend of a friend, who does it professionally, so I may be able to give some info on what's envolved.

You have to have residence status, they take a percentage as commision, and it normally takes about 4 months to process.

Additionally as you mentioned about using Kiwi for your house, you can take $5000 of each of your uk pension on transfer to go towards a mortgage, and I belive again later you can take some more after a few years, all optional though.

Something else I found good have both a private and Kiwi saver is good, as the release date of the Kiwi is controlled by the government, and they might put it up, the private is set to 60. Also when it is relesed, you don't have to buy an annuity, you can use it how you wish, most just use it as savings off which they live.

Mark

[CJ22]

Great info guys - that gives me somewhere to start looking. These pensions are of only nominal value as pensions, but if there were some way to release the cash value of them (partly at least), they could be a big help in buying our first home, which would be a better investment imho.