More On Super - But Life First

It's been awhile - lots of stuff going on. There's nothing like shifting house to upset your life.

Finally got the internet back up and running, no thanks to that marvelous tribute to modern customer service - Telstra. They started out by telling me the house we were moving into did not exist, and things just got better and better from there. It's a 1950s semi. It's been on this planet longer than me.

A warning: if you let Optus rewire your connection, Telstra will wipe you from their books like you never were here. And if you move into such a place, it's going to mean a nice shiny new $200 connection for you! Which is tough in a rental situation. Plus another $150 (and a 10 day wait) to be connected to your ADSL provider.

Life's been a bit on the tricky side lately - lost my job, lost my cat and now an uncle has cancer. These things better happen in threes cos I've had enough dramatic life stuff to last me for at least 12 months.

I had a job interview last week but didn't get it cos they thought I would be bored. I love being bored! It's one of my favourite things. The money was really bad, so I was looking forward to being able to surf the net and IM friends for hours on end.

But on to more important things:

I have more info on getting Australian superannuation money out of Australia and back to NZ. I'm about to dislocate myself from a very big super fund, because it was a work one. I don't have an employer so it's easier to shift to a new fund - a bit less paperwork. So might as well take the opportunity.

There is also the possibility it will be easier to move the funds back to NZ from a smaller fund. This is just a theory BUT the rules are you have to apply to the super fund saying you are in "extreme" financial difficulty, and then they will let you have the money back in NZ. I was given the examples of "extreme" as not being able to afford to pay for a funeral or being about to have your house repossessed. One of those does seem a bit more extreme than the other, so I guess it's all in the way you express yourself.

My theory is very few funds - especially smaller ones - get many of these applications so I would guess the chances of getting your money back are higher from the funds with less experience of handling this sort of thing. So if you were thinking of changing to a small industry super fund, do it.

Another interesting aspect is what if the fund is a DIY? What if you manage your own fund? Do you have to apply to yourself to let yourself have your money back? The problem with this is managing your own fund is a significant undertaking, not for those of us who still count on our fingers.

The "extreme" hardship thing would only work once you were back in NZ too, so that would mean phone calls and chasing up from across the Tasman. Now that funds are portable, it's possible you could just keep shifting the money around until you found a fund that would let it go. I didn't ask but I also assume they don't care if it goes into another fund or not back in NZ. They seem to think once it's gone, it's gone.

Here's another theory, don't ask for all of it. It's possible it might be easier to get some of the cash - leave some of it behind. Say you suddenly needed NZ$20K because your daughter was picked up carrying dope in Singapore, the super fund would let you have NZ$20K if you left another A$10K behind in your fund.

If that was actually possible, then I think the whole issue of the civil rights of citizens in other countries starts to get very blurry. I already think the rules are much tougher for NZers than any other nationality here in Australia, and this is just another magnificent example.

I've just been reading about the Polish/Australian guy who ran away from Aus in the 80s with $1.5 billion that he owed to other people. Now he's happily making mega bucks in Poland and the Australian authorities can't touch him, because he's a Polish citizen. They are unlikely to extradite one of their own. He also has Australian citizenship.

So how come then they can 'touch' me!?? And my super?! Would I be extradited if I ran away to NZ with my super?!! Oh yes indeed. I'd be back here faster than you can say "Alan Bond".

Surely there must be someone in the New Zealand government who realises that ALL the Kiwis working in Aus who will eventually want to return home are NOT going to be able to bring home all those Australian dollars? It would be a great source of foreign investment for NZ.

I really hope there is someone in the NZ government somewhere who is battling away on this one, trying to get the Aussies to loosen up. Australian super fund and investment companies routinely buy up NZ ones. They already own most of the banks. What difference does it make to them if my super sits in the Australian fund or its NZ subsidiary? I would think the companies would actually make MORE money out of all the fees they charge when people shift funds.

So it must be an Australian government 'initiative' born out of the myth that NZers are a drain on the glorious Australian lifestyle. We just sit around drinking beer and smoking and filling up hospital beds and getting old. We don't do any work at all (especially me).

Did you know New Zealanders can't get the dole in Australia unless they are Australian citizens? Other nationalities can, just not Kiwis. But when we work here, we pay exactly the same tax as everybody else, and we have the same amount of super taken off us. And of course we can't have that either. At least, not until we make it to 65.

I'm going back to NZ to wait for that day.