[stevied20]

Our house completes next Monday and the money will be ready to transfer into our ASB transfer account in London, unfortunately the rate, as i am sure you all know is c~~p.
1 option is to keep the money in sterling, in either the uk or nz until the rate is favourable....has anybody done this, or thought about it?
The difference in exchanging £100,000 between now ($2.5) and last September ($2.9) is as much as £15,000 which is to much to lose really.
I would be happy with a rise to around 2.7, but when or if that will happen is not clear.
We move to Cch in August, so we have 4 more months.
Steve & Julie

[IanW99]

Our house completes next Monday and the money will be ready to transfer into our ASB transfer account in London, unfortunately the rate, as i am sure you all know is c~~p.
1 option is to keep the money in sterling, in either the uk or nz until the rate is favourable....has anybody done this, or thought about it?
The difference in exchanging £100,000 between now ($2.5) and last September ($2.9) is as much as £15,000 which is to much to lose really.
I would be happy with a rise to around 2.7, but when or if that will happen is not clear.
We move to Cch in August, so we have 4 more months.
Steve & Julie

One option you have as you are with the ASB, is to tell them not to transfer the money immediately to NZ and wait for a specific exchange rate e.g. 2.7. I haven't actually done this, but believe you need to inform them of this before transferring the money to the London account.

As soon as the exchange rate hits the requested rate, the money will be transferred, of course if it doesn't hit this rate in time, you will have to change the condition with the bank.

Ian

[victoria]

Hi, This is what we did with our money but with a different bank. Transferred to their London brach in sterling having nominated a SPOT BID of a certain amount. When that's hit, the money was exchanged into nz$ & transferred to our nominated bank in NZ. I found this ideal as we weren't in a hurry at the time to transfer & as a bonus, earned a bit of interest from the holding account as it was more than 10 days. Hope this is of help.

[incredible hulse]

Hi, We've been in NZ over 2 years and still have money in the UK. Despite the interest rates being higher in NZ the fact that the savings tax is so high means that we get a better deal leaving it in the UK (Nationwide ebonds are still paying over 6% I believe). We then use hifx or similar to transfer to nz when we require and have actually started trading between the 2 to provide a bit of extra income

[JandM]

Prompted by the last post, I'm wondering this. What happens about tax on money an NZ resident receives in/from the UK? I know there's a double taxation relief agreement between the two countries, so nobody gets taxed twice on the same income, but which country gets to do the deed?

Another thought, IH - can't you benefit from the four-year tax amnesty as a new immigrant?

[stevied20]

Thanks Everyone,

Patience is the name of the game! :roll

Steve

[CJ22]

Wouldn't the higher interest rate in NZ compensate for the lower exchange rate? I don't have enough accountancy kung fu to do the math, but it might work out better to transfer now and leave in a NZ account for a year than to leave in a UK account for a year then transfer for (maybe) a couple of more points.

[incredible hulse]

Prompted by the last post, I'm wondering this. What happens about tax on money an NZ resident receives in/from the UK? I know there's a double taxation relief agreement between the two countries, so nobody gets taxed twice on the same income, but which country gets to do the deed?

Another thought, IH - can't you benefit from the four-year tax amnesty as a new immigrant? You pay tax in the country in which you are a tax resident; so technically you should declare interest on UK accounts to the NZ taxman. There are certain Aus based bonds where you can invest and pay the marginal rate of 5% tax (I think) under the fif rules http://www.ird.govt.nz/toii/fif/

Unfortunately I arrived prior to the 4 year exemption rule so have to pay tax on overseas holdings

[incredible hulse]

Wouldn't the higher interest rate in NZ compensate for the lower exchange rate? I don't have enough accountancy kung fu to do the math, but it might work out better to transfer now and leave in a NZ account for a year than to leave in a UK account for a year then transfer for (maybe) a couple of more points.

Not really I don't think. With my quick scribble calculation 1000 pounds at 8.5% interest minus 19.5% tax is only about 10 pounds p.a more interest than 1000 pounds at 6.25% with no tax taken.

[veronica]

we just moved it in to a sterling account at the westpac over here, not with regard to interest rates but just so it was instantly available.

[Steven & Ann]

I made the mistake of holding sterling back in a standard account. What I didnt realise was the daily drawing limit on telephone and internet banking would make it almost impossible to move large sums of money at short notice. This affects your ability to get a good rate.

Of course I can move it to an offshore account with easier access, if I just come into the branch and sign the relevant papers.......

Good old Barclays!!!!

Steve