Investing or rolling over a super fund in Australia

[Kenny202]

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 

 

 

[gearbox]

As far as I know super income as a pension is not taxed even for non residents...hard to beat that anywhere. Seems your problem is mainly with your fund current performance.  You can check providers like ING Living Super ( can't remember the exact name), it is a super fund but allows you to buy shares and ETFS you like.

I'm close to preservation age but I'm a tax resident and have a SMSF. Maybe some of the non resident retirees here can provide better advice.

[Kenny202]

40 minutes ago, gearbox said:

As far as I know super income as a pension is not taxed even for non residents...hard to beat that anywhere. Seems your problem is mainly with your fund current performance.  You can check providers like ING Living Super ( can't remember the exact name), it is a super fund but allows you to buy shares and ETFS you like.

I'm close to preservation age but I'm a tax resident and have a SMSF. Maybe some of the non resident retirees here can provide better advice.

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

 

[KhunHeineken]

Have you thought about an annuity?  

 

Some basic info here.

 

https://moneysmart.gov.au/retirement-income/annuities

 

You can see in a recent thread a discussion on non resident for taxation purposes.  Over the time there have been many on this website.  There are opposing views, but it is healthy debate.

 

In a nut shell, I believe the Australian government will have no problem chasing money off retired Aussie non residents who have a few dollars or a few income generating assets in Australia.  Others believe they will not do this for political reasons, yet, hardly any expats abroad vote, so no loss of votes taxing these people anyway.

 

You really need to look into it, maybe do a video consultation with a tax specialist.  

 

If the tax office is going to take a bite out of the money if it's paid to you as a non resident, you might be better moving the lot offshore and give the one finger salute to the Australian Tax Office.  It's not uncommon.  HSBC Singapore is a solid bank, in a stable country.  

 

Australia is broke, and I can only see new taxes being created, existing taxes increased, and more enforcement by tightening the net on existing taxation laws, including taxation for non residents, which is high.  

 

[Kenny202]

12 minutes ago, KhunHeineken said:

Have you thought about an annuity?  

 

Some basic info here.

 

https://moneysmart.gov.au/retirement-income/annuities

 

You can see in a recent thread a discussion on non resident for taxation purposes.  Over the time there have been many on this website.  There are opposing views, but it is healthy debate.

 

In a nut shell, I believe the Australian government will have no problem chasing money off retired Aussie non residents who have a few dollars or a few income generating assets in Australia.  Others believe they will not do this for political reasons, yet, hardly any expats abroad vote, so no loss of votes taxing these people anyway.

 

You really need to look into it, maybe do a video consultation with a tax specialist.  

 

If the tax office is going to take a bite out of the money if it's paid to you as a non resident, you might be better moving the lot offshore and give the one finger salute to the Australian Tax Office.  It's not uncommon.  HSBC Singapore is a solid bank, in a stable country.  

 

Australia is broke, and I can only see new taxes being created, existing taxes increased, and more enforcement by tightening the net on existing taxation laws, including taxation for non residents, which is high.  

 

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

[KhunHeineken]

On 2/9/2022 at 10:56 PM, Kenny202 said:

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.

 

 

I don't think they will confiscate funds like they did in Cyprus, or give a "haircut" like they did in Greece, but anything is possible.  

 

How are 12 million people going to pay back a trillion dollars of debt?  

 

On 2/9/2022 at 10:56 PM, Kenny202 said:

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

 

As you say, they don't need to chase you, just chase your money, and when they freeze it, you will have to go to them, so no need to chase you.

 

They can put an airport warning on you for such debt.  A example of this is HECS debt.

 

https://www.smh.com.au/money/tax/what-you-need-to-know-about-your-student-debt-before-heading-overseas-20180430-p4zcf7.html

 

 

[xenophon]

"I am almost at my super fund maturity age and have no clue on what to do with the money."

Get it into an Industrial Super fund while you make up your mind! (I promised that I would stop advising people about super after the last person ignored it and watched his funds shrink in a fund like yours.) However ....

Regarding which fund, you can research this at Industrial Super's site or go to sites like superratings. Google: which is the best performing super fund?

I am with Unisuper who have been pretty good for me, but obviously there are many to choose from and I am not pushing that fund. If you are investing very long (years), go for high growth even though at the moment they are down and will go down a bit further. They will come back faster than you can change. If you want to be more cautious go for Conservative Balanced or Conservative.

Most Industry funds will help you transfer funds to them for no charge. Whatever you do get your money out or the private sector funds. They will rob you blind.