Kenny202

Yeah I wont be taking it out until after 60 but like you said I could take out up to 200k now tax free if I wanted. I did quickly discuss a pension fund and couldn't really see the difference between setting up a pension fund and just leaving it in their growing and withdrawing it as required. He kind of agreed with me and said it just saves going through the withdrawal process when u want money everytime. In fact he said if I did go the pension fund route I really need to talk to an IFA as there can be negative tax / state pension issues if not done correctly

I thought it was even worse than that to be honest. I thought up near 40? Maybe they told me up to 42% (higher bracket). I was told provided you leave your original super in your fund, and draw down on it interest or growth on the balance you leave in there will be non taxable, same as when you draw it out. If you draw it out and invest in something else it is taxable for sure. Why I thought I may be better off rolling it over now before I am 60.

What would you suggest old mate? After your advice on the tea and sourcing various items you are my go to guru ????

Appreciate all the help brother, very kind of you to go to so much trouble. And I hear you re selecting your risk, but still doesn't let them off the hook. They have consistently performed extremely poorly in all funds, they're not even in the top 20 I believe. And stupid me should have done something years ago. In the short term thinking of moving my super into Australia Super if it can be done reasonably easy with me not in country.

I don't know much about investments, but do know something of business, and lived here long enough to know a bar in Thailand is a mugs game lol

See I don't even know what that means lol. When you say a fund do I get someone to do that on my behalf? When you say a fund you mean someone invests on my behalf in these type of stocks? Or am I missing something? I guess that's what the Super fund companies have are different groups of funds depending on what level of safety you want. I my funds now are invested in very safe areas like property and currency

Or worse commandeering peoples superannuation! Last 10 years or so they seem to talk about peoples super like it's the governments money, to do with as they please.....not the person who put it in the bank every week. As far as chasing money, I am not sure they would chase you overseas unless a serious amount of tax owing but they do have fairly broad powers...for eg I believe they can confiscate your passport until amount owing paid. Or maybe if your money was invested in Australia and tax hadn't been paid they simply freeze or seize your assets. The Australian taxation department a pretty scary entity

Of course, understand. Do all shares pay dividends? I believe some don't? Dividends sound the way to go so you are getting a return and a (hopefully) growing investment too. Do you find you make most money on dividends or profit from selling? (You are the first step of my due diligence lol) What about sharebrokers? Are they there simply to transact for you or do you give them your funds to invest how they see fit or either or? Why I always balk a bit at shares. I have had my money in a Super account for years, and returns have never been great last 20 years. At best saw a 12% return for a year. Obviously I am in a pretty safe fund but I always think to myself if these guys can't make more than a few percent, what chance do I have?

I dont believe its been 7000-8000 per day for last 2 months. Even though they tout themselves as the 4.0 hub of covid control (as well as space travel etc) they've in reality done very little. Consider the housing / population density here. The crowds in 1000s of Thailands wet markets everyday. And then look at Australia...1/4 of Thais population, larger % vaccinated and 100k cases a day within a month of Omicron being reported. Unless Thais have some form of natural immunity it is just ludicrous

I read this morning they are going to stop reporting daily covid case, something along the lines of they dont want people to worry lol. What the <deleted>? ????

Yeah I guess that's the big question for me. I would be happy to make enough just to live on here for sure, but I don't really have the reserve of money to gamble with, not recklessly gamble anyway with no knowledge of what I'm doing, and can't afford to learn by my mistakes. One thing I have never understood re stock market is you can buy anytime of course, but say a stock starts going downhill. So I decide I want to sell. Is there always a guaranteed buyer? Or do you sell your shares back to the company or? Always hear people talking about get in get out, sell at a particular time. Obviously you may have to take a hit on what you paid if things are going south but is there ever a time when you can't sell?

Not sure on the super pension thing, but the guy there did tell me be careful what you do, because it can not only effect tax it can effect your future pension (if you were going to get one) as well

Thanks for all that mate, definitely some good points there. Firstly I am a non resident for tax purposes. No choice in that....been here 7 years never been home and I don't own and real estate in Australia. By the way you can be a resident for tax purposes no matter how long you are out of the country if you own property in Oz. Not even sure you can declare yourself a non res if you have property? Would be interested to know ball park how much you have invested getting those sort of returns, and how in the world do you know what is a good good company to buy stock in and what's not? Particularly minerals. Do you just watch what's happening and jump on a wave? (Ascending) and get off when you see the peak? I mean I could make basic judgements on blue chips like Coca Cola etc but past that I am clueless. So you invest in Australian stocks? Fully franked and there is no tax payable on dividends or gains in stock holding? Feel free to PM me if you wish and thanks again.

How I wish I could buy RE in Thailand. That's what I would be doing, buying small inner city shop houses / town houses that are going cheap and do them up for rent / resale. I can buy RE in my sons name but then my ex (his mum who has never been interested in him / left when he was 3 months old) will want to be his new best friend

Banks and financial institutions in Australia are not allowed to give advice, particularly on their own products in Australia. Can be annoying sometimes as asking even basic questions about their own fund usually results in you need to seek an independent financial advisor

FInancial question but specifically about Australian Superannuation so hope its ok to post here.... I am almost at my super fund maturity age and have no clue on what to do with the money. I can simply just leave it in the super fund, and draw down as I require it, although they (Colonial Mutual) have performed dreadfully over the last 10 years or so. I have no clue re Stock markets, Bit coin etc and probably a bit late in life to start now...I just can not afford to gamble. Not a huge amount....about $250-300k. I am considering just leaving the money in the superfund with some chance of growth, and drawing small amounts as I need it, however the superfund / company I am with now (Colonial First State) have performed dreadfully over the last 10 years and are horrible to deal with, particularly anything to do about withdrawing you're own money. If I were to change super companies would I be better off doing it before maturity age or I can do it after? Just worried there may be some tax implications as I am no longer a resident for taxation purposes as I have been out of the country too long and no longer have property there. Any advice appreciated

Be receiving my superannuation payment from Australia soon. Not huge money about $250k and I really have no idea what to do with it. I have no clue re stock market...Bit coin sounds too risky to me and banks paying next to nothing interest now even for fixed terms. I looked into setting up like a pension fund through the superannuation company but there can be some possible disadvantages to that, and in any case it doesn't sound like it would be much different to me just leaving the money in the superannuation fund and drawing down as required, not that they have performed well last 5 years. I really don't know what options I have other than drawing it out and leaving it in the bank or leaving it in the super fund, or maybe transferring it to a better performing fund. If transferring not sure if I should do it before my maturity age or can do it after? I would love to learn about stock markets etc but just can't afford to gamble in anyway. I know there are blue chip type companies but even these seem vulnerable. For eg travel / airline / tourist related stocks....who would have seen Covid coming? Any pointers guys?

Thanks for all the replies and advice guys. Have plenty of choices there.

Yes if the person you're calling has LINE. Line out is free to make calls but only for a length of 5 minutes which is no good to me.

Call back or number is not important to me. If it is taking a long time or the other party needs time to investigate I simply give them my Thai landline number to call back

Most companies / banks I find will call you back at their expense wherever you are these days.

I don't mind paying something. Would be great to get free but hey. I just don't want to pay $XXX a month and lose it all and have to renew again as I make very few calls

You are the thriftiest man I know, with all the great Expat money saving tips so will definitely follow your advice 5555

Looks like Skype will be the way to go. Your credit is ongoing? Like you deposit a certain amount and it deducts as you use it, doesn't reset / finish at the end of the month and you need to pay again? Some of the other ones sound ok, and cheap...like $35 a year but really would make 4 or 5 calls a year if that, and usually only when I have a problem and need it fast, like when I had my Paypal account hacked or issues with the bank. I checked Line out as I use LINE but looks like you can only make calls up to 5 minutes. I would usually be on hold waiting for someone longer than that, Thanks all for the advice

I think that's the problem with Viber now...... your credit did used to last forever. I think 2c per minute to Australia. Simply top up when you need to. But now its a monthly thing. Still not that expensive I guess but when you buy credit only good for a month. After the month lose all your credit and payment renews automatically