[colindp]

I have 25 years service in UK Local Government with a pension of 23 years, I have a job with the City of Dunedin Council which I will be starting sometime in June. Is anyone out there able to advise me if it would be good to transfer this pension to NZ or to leave it here in the UK where it will be frozen until I reach retirement age???



:nice1 :exit

[paulwardle]

Hi,
We're moving to wellington in June & are faced with a similar dilemma, though my pension is not worth much yet (I'm only 31). Anyway, i've been in touch with a few banks over there to find out about moving my pension to a private one there, & its all relatively straight forward, & they even let you have access to the money in most cases......something they obv dont do in the UK, so we're definitely moving ours as some of it might come in handy for house deposits etc......National Bank have been most helpful, we were with BNZ when we lived in NZ in 2003, but i dont like them much......
the rules are slightly different i think, but its worth looking into, the only thing is, dont pay a company to do it for you, they charge a fortune, one we looked at was £500+vat, then a charge of about 2% of the transfer, doing it yourself might take a bit longer, but its free from National Bank at least.....hope this helps

[colindp]

Great....thanks,
I think my biggest fear was that what I had manage to earn so far might be devalued if placed in a NZ company scheme, if that had been the case I would prefer to leave it in the UK until I retired......


:clap :nice1

[NW2NZ]

Can you please clarify.....can you transfer OUT of a UK Company scheme INTO a NZ Private scheme....and withdraw from it, if required?

Anyone know?

[paulwardle]

Yes you can definitely transfer a UK pension to NZ & withdraw certain percentages of it after you've become a tax resident ( 6 months). This is classed as income & will be taxed, not sure whether its at source, or when you file your mandatory tax return at the end of the NZ tax year.

[Jon]

Colin & Paul

I work in Local Government over in the UK - how easy is it to get a post in NZ. Most of the Government posts state you have to have a visa before applying. Has this been the case with you? Did you gain entry without the offer of employment?

Cheers
Jon

[paulwardle]

Hi Jon,
We got in with a job offer, but its maybe easier if you've not got one, providing obviously you have enough points on your EOI. We've been given work to residence, which means we've got to start work in our jobs within 3 months, & stay in it for 3 months, which shouldn't be a problem, but without a job offer & enough points, providing everythings ok with the application you get permanent residency straight off, cant work that out myself, but there you go.
Anyway, when we lived in wellington in 2003, i know there were a lot of jobs with the inland revenue there (IRD) & was told by someone who worked there that they're always looking for people, so that might be a route you can go down, other than that, i'm not to sure about getting jobs before you go, ew went in 2003 on a working holiday visa & got our jobs for this permanent move from contacts & jobs we had then.
Good luck, & i'm happy to help in the future if i can, the one thing i will say is go for it if you can, its a wonderful place to live. Also, in regards to the pension, obviously things can go down aswell as up, but i've been on a few pensions sites whereby you can enter you're amount of savings now & how much you want to save per month in future, & it does calculations on current rates etc & the figures are quite impressive.

Good luck

[colindp]

Jon,
To look for a job I used a site called oultwood, the address is www.oultwood.co.uk on this site are details of Local Government websites the world over.
In my case I had sent my CV to the district of Otago, unfortunately they wrote to inform me that they did not employ Highway Engineers but that I should try the City Of Dunedin Council. I did and I was appointed in early March.
I think that it may be possible to enter NZ without a job providing you can attain the necessary number of points but don't quote me on that, the NZ immigration website should help you there. In my case I will be going in on a work visa, my new employer is an acredited employer and is able to obtain work visas within three weeks, after 2 yrs in NZ we will apply for residency.
I hope this helps if you need any further help do get in touch..... :cheers

[colindp]

Hi Paul,
I am still waiting for a reply from Dunedin re my pension, but I am very interested in what you said about dipping into it for say a deposit for a house, we rent here in the UK so have little equity to put for a deposit when we arrive in NZ and with the exchange rate being as it is I would only need to use a small amount......
could you give me details of the sites that you have looked at please....

[paulwardle]

Hi Colin,
I've been on National Bank website www.nationalbank.co.nz & got a very quick reply from a guy called Michael Bacon. He was really helpful, we are having to wait though to sort it out, as they need certified copies of our passports & briths certs & they're at NZ house, & he needs a P45 from my last job here, & i dont finish until June 10th, so we're going to wait until we get there.
The option we looked at & will prob go for, is a thoroughbred super scheme & the flexible option. You can also select the type of funds they put your money in, 3 choices, safe, medium & a bit risky (i'm not using the technical terms there). I think the medium one is the one we're going for, but there's a calculator on there, try it out
this is the link, i've just gone through it to try it
http://www.nationalbank.co.nz/personal/product/index/superscheme.htm

It does seem good & from my experience of living there & working for a bank, they do offer customers a bit more than in the UK, things are done differently & customers can benefit a little more. Mortgages are run differently & are cheaper & you can pay it off properly instead of interest only, pensions & savings accounts are done differently & you can earn a bit more, they seem really flexible & whilst they are still very corporate & make tonnes of dosh, people like me & you can use the benefits.
Kep posting for more help if required, not that i know too much, but have a bit of experience in some of it.

Paul

[Jon]

Thanks

I do need an offer of employment (related to a business degree!) to get in, so I'm going over start of August and giving it my all. I'll check a few websites and try and gain contacts within departments and see tham when I arrive.

Once again, thanks for the information.

Cheers
Jon

[NoelMC]

Colin


Just remember that your local govmt pension is adjusted for the retail price index increases.

All the advise I have ever had with regards to my pension for the few years I spent in local govmt is to LEAVE IT ALONE.

Your pension is a final salary scheme and is guaranteed , if you purchase another with it it will be a money purchase scheme and you will only get what it has accrued on the market.

The only people who will benefit will be the guys selling you a new policy, have you seen their commision rates.

Hope this helps


Noel

[lidax]

Hello all,

Find it very helpful about this pension dipping...definitely worth looking into. We too have a pathetic amount of equity in our unsold house in UK, so this could be a big help for a deposit.

As for the ITA without job offer to PR, found out that you need to prove 24 months of ability of subsistence, told by embassy c. £50,000 GBR. Needless to say don't have that. They don't mention that anywhere in web pages/docs.

Can anyone tell me about their experiences about kiwi employers willing to wait in these circumstances, ie, house unsold, appear not able to go further with submitting ITA :no until get job.

Regards

[markkellaway]

Hi Lidax,

We went the PR route without a job offer and didn't have to prove anything with regards to finances. They ask how you will keep yourself in NZ and we put that we would have money from the sale of the house, but we didn't have to prove how much.

Hope this helps,

Mark. :P

[lidax]

Hi Markkellaway

:clap Thanks for your reply.

It has given us renewed hope to keep on with the ITA. Began to think that we would end up being forced to withdraw, and the thought of telling the kids that was toooooo much.

Still got to collect some documents, etc. We'll keep plodding on..


Thanks again

Never say never...