How do I buy an annuity plan in Australia?

sg_investor

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I am studying the idea of buying an annuity based in Australia since the interest rate there is so much higher and will move there after retirement. However now I don't have an presence there though I flip ASX stocks often.

Since IT and technology is so advanced now I guess it's ok to study and buy and monitor an annuity based on there.

What are the procedures and options I can get?

I am open to US as well.
 
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BBCWatcher

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You can buy Australian Dollar (and other currency) annuities in Switzerland. See here, as one example. Joint/survivor lifetime annuities are available.

I have no idea if they're good values or not. Shop around, and be sure to look at the quality of the insurance company.
 

limster

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I am studying the idea of buying an annuity based in Australia since the interest rate there is so much higher and will move there after retirement. However now I don't have an presence there. I can't even get a visa to visit.

Singaporeans don't need visa to visit Australia

your nickname sg_investor but you are actually not Singaporean? :s13:
 

BBCWatcher

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Singaporeans don't need visa to visit Australia
No, but they need an Australian Electronic Travel Authority (ETA), at least. Singaporeans and other ETA eligible nationals are sometimes denied ETAs.

Yes, it’s odd that sg_investor has aspirations to retire in Australia but cannot presently enter Australia. However, it’s none of our business and not the point of his/her question.
 

sg_investor

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No, but they need an Australian Electronic Travel Authority (ETA), at least. Singaporeans and other ETA eligible nationals are sometimes denied ETAs.

Yes, it’s odd that sg_investor has aspirations to retire in Australia but cannot presently enter Australia. However, it’s none of our business and not the point of his/her question.

do malaysian need visa to visit there?

i thoght many people when they retire they sell out SG based asset and buy a farm in australia and retire, am I right?

basically my idea is not to let my retirement money to be located in any single country, as a measure to spread out risk and for the freedom of travel every now and then.
 
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BBCWatcher

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do malaysian need visa to visit there?
Malaysians also need Australian Electronic Travel Authority ("ETA," subclass 601) to visit Australia for ordinary short stays for tourism and for certain narrowly defined non-tourist activities. Other visa types are hypothetically possible.

i thoght many people when they retire they sell out SG based asset and buy a farm in australia and retire, am I right?
No, not many any more. Australia still offers an Investor Retirement visa (subclass 405), but it's limited (4 years, non-renewable), expensive, and difficult. Australia significantly tightened their investor visa rules on July 1, 2015. If you somehow manage to jump through the subclass 405 hoops, then you've got to figure out how to jump through more hoops if you want to stay past 4 years -- and that's not easy either.

Foreigners should not have any real, firm expectation of being able to retire in any particular country, especially when that aspiration is years away from possible fulfillment. Immigration policies can change overnight, literally.

At present, New Zealand offers a 2 year Temporary Retirement Visitor Visa with similar conditions (fairly rigorous), except that it's renewable. Subject to change, of course. Another difference is the Australian Investor Retirement visa allows part-time employment (potential income not counted toward qualification) while New Zealand's does not.

The United Kingdom and Canada also recently tightened their visa rules.

Malaysia is probably the easiest and most popular country now for Singaporeans retiring outside Singapore, and it has been popular for a long time. There are a few European countries that have pretty easy retiree residence programs for Singaporeans (and some others), and those few programs may be getting more popular.
 
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sg_investor

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You can buy Australian Dollar (and other currency) annuities in Switzerland. See here, as one example. Joint/survivor lifetime annuities are available.

I have no idea if they're good values or not. Shop around, and be sure to look at the quality of the insurance company.

Thank you that plan looks cool and is based in switzerland.
For us netizens it's very interesting to look for vanilla plans which has payout and interest rate printed out black and white like bonds or etf. "Request for proposal" type of plan is a vehicle for the middleman to rip clients up.
 

sg_investor

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No, not many. Australia still offers an Investor Retirement visa (subclass 405), but it's limited (4 years, non-renewable), expensive, and difficult. Australia significantly tightened their investor visa rules on July 1, 2015. If you somehow manage to jump through the subclass 405 hoops, then you've got to figure out how to jump through more hoops if you want to stay past 4 years -- and that's not easy either.

with australian economy so bad i am sure in the 30 years from now on there is a window they will open up the policy for us to jump in.
 

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with australian economy so bad....
I wouldn't bet on that. The Australian economy is doing fine. In fact, there's less volatility in GDP growth, probably attributable to the Australian economy's gradually increasing diversification. Besides, there's no particularly strong correlation between immigration policies and the economy. For example, the United States specifically all but eliminated most "Chinese" immigration (included most people from what is now Singapore) way, way back in 1882 with the Chinese Exclusion Act. Why? Racism, if you're looking for a one word answer, and the multi-word answer isn't much more complicated. The U.S. economy did pretty well in the decades when the Chinese Exclusion Act was in force -- it lasted until 1943.

I would not make any firm plans about retiring in any particular country.
 
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revhappy

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This is an interesting discussion. BBCWatcher, what are the pros and cons of maintaining assets offshore? For example, this IBKR account. I am from India and working in Singapore on EP. It would take a miracle for me to get any kind of permanent residency anywhere, even a work visa will be difficult from now, so no choice but I have to go back to India, once I lose my job in Singapore.
But I would like to keep atleast 30% of my assets offshore, just to avoid the risks of being in an emerging/ third world market. How easy is it to maintain a bank account in Singapore after leaving Singapore? I know that opening a new bank account, they ask for our EP. But will the banks let us keep the bank account after we lose our EP? Also maintaining brokerage account in Singapore/Hong Kong or US(I think with IBKR our assets are really in the US?). How difficult is that going to be? Do you see any pitfalls?
 

BBCWatcher

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BBCWatcher, what are the pros and cons of maintaining assets offshore?
Assuming legal behaviors -- let's please do that -- I think it's prudent to have at least reasonable investment portfolio diversification, and that includes not investing solely or predominantly in securities that are highly dependent on one country. The broker/custodian's(s') home(s) is(are) less interesting but still somewhat interesting.

I am from India and working in Singapore on EP. It would take a miracle for me to get any kind of permanent residency anywhere, even a work visa will be difficult from now, so no choice but I have to go back to India, once I lose my job in Singapore.
A "miracle," or true love and marriage, opposite sex or (now in many countries) same sex. :D

But I would like to keep at least 30% of my assets offshore, just to avoid the risks of being in an emerging/third world market.
I prefer "reasonable global diversification." If you're living in Country X, that doesn't mean you must have all or most of your investments in stocks headquartered in, and doing business predominantly in, Country X.

To pick an example, Royal Dutch Shell is headquartered in Holland (I think). RDS does very little business in Holland. From the perspective of a Dutch investor buying stocks traded in the Netherlands, RDS is already "offshore" in the sense I mean it. As another example, a U.S. investor buying shares of McDonalds traded in New York would be roughly 2/3rds invested outside the United States. About 2/3rds of McDonalds revenue is from operations, licensing, and other business activities outside the U.S.

I think what you're talking about is the reliability and safety of a broker/custodian, or of a particular country's financial system. That you maintain clear title and unfettered access to savings. So should you have one or more "offshore" brokers/banks? Maybe. I guess it depends on whether you come from a country that pulls stunts like demonetization. Even so, I wouldn't get too crazy about it. A couple legal, declared, tax compliant (domestic and foreign) accounts in a couple reliable, developed, well regulated countries is enough.

How easy is it to maintain a bank account in Singapore after leaving Singapore?
Fairly easy, I think.

But will the banks let us keep the bank account after we lose our EP?
Yes, with the caveat that a bank in Singapore is under no obligation to do business with you, even if you still live in Singapore.

Also maintaining brokerage account in Singapore/Hong Kong or US(I think with IBKR our assets are really in the US?). How difficult is that going to be? Do you see any pitfalls?
The tax and financial reporting complications can be, er, complicated, and in some cases the tax consequences can be unfavorable.
 

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what are the SG companies which has most of the business in another country which we can targettedly diversify our portfolio? for example jardin smith, thai beer, golden agri, olam, what else?
 

BBCWatcher

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what are the SG companies which has most of the business in another country which we can targettedly diversify our portfolio? for example jardin smith, thai beer, golden agri, olam, what else?
Answering your question directly, QAF Limited (SGX symbol: Q01) gets about 82% of its revenue from outside Singapore -- that's one example. But QAF's business is still heavily skewed to Asia-Pacific, especially China, Australia, Philippines, and Malaysia. With QAF you'd get virtually no diversification elsewhere. And, like so much else on the SGX, QAF's trading volume is rather low.

I don't think you can internationally diversify well via the SGX. At best it's an expensive way to get the job done.

As a reminder, most people should NOT be trading individual stocks.
 

revhappy

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Thanks BBCWatcher. My main fear is that India being an emerging market, anything is possible. Even more established countries like Russia for example didnt give a **** about their economy and went and attacked Ukraine causing a crash in Ruble and Russian assets and economy. Indonesia also is a fine example, 100000 Rupiah note, I feel sorry for the Indonesian people who kept money in the bank decades ago expecting to receive 100,000 rupiah and now its worth only 10 USD. So hyperinflation and gross mismanagement of economy is my real fear about India. India doesnt allow an easy way of investing offshore from India. You need to move your funds out of India to invest offshore. It is legally allowed, but most Indians are still very gung ho about Indian economy and invest in India, especially in real estate. I am not really a believer of Real estate other than primary home so my entire networth is liquid assets in financial instruments. This makes it even more risky and exposes it to things like bank hair cut like what happened in Greece and Cyprus and also a currency crash.
 
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sg_investor

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Thanks BBCWatcher. My main fear is that India being an emerging market, anything is possible. Even more established countries like Russia for example didnt give a **** about their economy and went and attacked Ukraine causing a crash in Ruble and Russian assets and economy. Indonesia also is a fine example, 100000 Rupiah note, I feel sorry for the Indonesian people who kept money in the bank decades ago expecting to receive 100,000 rupiah and now its worth only 10 USD. So hyperinflation and gross mismanagement of economy is my real fear about India. India doesnt allow an easy way of investing offshore from India. You need to move your funds out of India to invest offshore. It is legally allowed, but most Indians are still very gung ho about Indian economy and invest in India, especially in real estate. I am not really a believer of Real estate other than primary home so my entire networth is liquid assets in financial instruments. This makes it even more risky and exposes it to things like bank hair cut like what happened in Greece and Cyprus and also a currency crash.

india has a good gold market, immune from inflation. :)
 

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You're describing currency risks, holding cash and cash-like assets in one or a very small number of currencies. Those aren't the only assets you can hold, and even if you do hold cash/cash-like assets it's best not to over-concentrate on one.
 
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