woodag Posted June 24, 2015 Report Share Posted June 24, 2015 Greetings all, We have been in Australia since 1979 (!), but it has been a long time since I was here on the forum. Since 2007 I have had an Old Mutual "Max Income living annuity", that I have been drawing down at maximum rate allowed. Until the rule/laws changed (in 2008??) that was about the only way to deal with a retirement annuity trapped in SA. Of course at the time that I got this living annuity set up I had no crystal ball to know that it would be better to wait a few years. As intended the value of the living annuity has gone down significantly over the years. I am thinking that eventually the value will reach the point where it is more trouble than it is worth. I have seen other posts here where it was said that when the value of a living annuity was less than R50,000 or R75,000 that it could be commuted (value of mine is now well below either of those figures). Looking at the Old Mutual policy document, it seems I do not have any automatic right to seek commutation. It basically says that while I have no right to commute the income stream, the company can choose to do that whenever they like. How's that for a one-sided "agreement"? What I am wondering is whether there is any point in asking OM to consider commuting it? I can't see any real benefit to them to continue with it regardless of the remaining value. I know a few members on the forum here were in a similar situation, and I wonder if anybody ever managed to get an annuity like that cashed out? I have always found OM difficult to deal with, so before tackling them with this I hope to get some idea if I would just be wasting my time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlothian Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 Hi thereYes it is possible for a certain policies to be commuted. Each policy has its own rules and would need to be looked into by someone that could assist you with the process. I am curenlty assistin someone with bringing an Old Mutual Living Annuity over once it reaches <R50,000.In some instances it would require a formal financial emigration, but each persons situation needs to be considered on its own merits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodag Posted July 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 Thanks for your comments that I only saw today. We migrated formally so presumably that would not be an issue (famous last words - we have already had to go through some time-consuming ritual involving FNB, the Reserve Bank, and who knows who else, three times). I'm in no hurry to sort it out, but it would be good to finally be rid of it. It should not really be an issue, Old Mutual sends some money to FNB, and then once a year FNB is supposed to forward it to me. It should all be automatic, and for a few years after it was first set up, it did all go smoothly, but for the last few years something has gone wrong each time and I have to spend time trying to get them to sort it out. This year for some reason it took FNB three or four attempts to get the transfer to me to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlothian Posted July 27, 2015 Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 Andy I would suggest that you look to other alternatives besides making use of the banks to transfer your funds from SA to Australia. The banks does not always offer you the best exchange rate and their fees in some instances are very high.Hopefully you still have your internet bank in place as this would allow you to make use of some other alternatives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodag Posted July 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 There is not that much value left in the Living Annuity now that I am really worried about the exchange rate. It would just be good to finally escape from the likes of Old Mutual and FNB. I see in another thread here where somebody was really relieved, when 18 months after they left SA, they became fully "financially migrated". I would have been pleased to achieve it in 36 months, but it is a bit late for that now - it is even too late for us to do it in 36 years. Internet banking "still" in place? Hmm... I left SA in about 16BC. Before Computers, that is. Well, not quite, but it was certainly well before any internet banking existed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlothian Posted July 28, 2015 Report Share Posted July 28, 2015 AndyI suggest you get in touch with Rand Rescue and let them have a look at your situation and assist you to get your money across.www.randrescue.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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