Getting money offshore ASAP

[JackoFam]

Hi All

 

Like most of us still in South Africa we are panicked about the collapse of the rand and would like to start getting some money offshore as soon as we can. We have an existing US dollar account but do not want to buy US dollars as the rand is weakest against the greenback. Our thinking is that putting our money into Australian $ would be a good move as we are 90% certain we will be moving there within 18 months (we are still waiting for a visa grant - holding thumbs) and as it is also weakened against the greenback we would get better value and I have much more confidence in the Australian $ recovering than the Rand. I would like to open a retail bank account in Australia and start sending money over.

 

My questions are:

1. We are unsure of when we will be landing in Australia to activate the bank account - we are planning a Visa activation trip either July/Sept 2016 (dependant on visa grant and job interviews for my husband). Would this matter to the bank?

2. Which bank do you recommend that will be best for this transaction? I think I have read somewhere that the migrant bank account that you can open online with Commonwealth needs to be activated within 30 days which would obviously not work for us.

3. Have any of you opened an account his long in advance? We don't have that much money we can transfer at the moment until we start selling assets but would like to start the process

 

I am anxious about how much of our net worth we will loose in this process. We have always been financially prudent and saved and invested as much as we can but now it feels as though its been a waste of time - we could've just left in in a bank account (or gone on more holidays ) and we would've been better off - yes even in rands! The stock market and property market crashes in this country are biting us hard. But as I am an optimist by nature I am sure we will come right in Australia and slowly get back our savings.

 

TIA

 

 

 

[Sweepea]

Sorry I don't have advice for you but I share your sentiments. We just did medicals yesterday and wait for our PCC and military discharge certificate. So I don't even have the visa grant. I just lost the money my share portfolio had grown by and sold my stocks last week. I opened an offshore account with the Isle of Man with Nedbank Private Wealth and wait for the funds from the sale of shares to come in tomorrow to transfer. I have also tried to be financially prudent and yes...makes me sick to my stomach too how working so hard and trying to look after our money still sets us on the backfoot in $ terms once we eventually get to OzI am also trying to be optimistic that we will get back on our feet in Oz but because I have 18 month old twins and childcare is so expensive, very worried that we will have to get by on one salary...

[JackoFam]

Thanks for the reply Sweetpea. One thing I love about this forum is the support everyone gives each other.

 

We are also in the process of selling our share portfolio which has been sickening. We also just got a valuation on a small flat we bought as an investment (invest in property they said - you cant lose ) 7 years ago and it is valued at between R100 000 and R150 000 less than we bought it for - that's a 25% loss. The profits from that were going to help pay for the physical move and activation trip but now I don't think so.

 

What currency is your Isle of Man account in?

 

On a brighter note we did medicals on Friday and are also waiting for PCCs and then I really hope we will get a grant

 

Where did you do your medicals? Are you using an agent?

[Sweepea]

I also love this forum as the support has been incredible and has enabled me to do the application without an agent. Who are you using as an agent?

 

Medicals were done in Rosebank with Dr Cobb who was very nice and good with the kids. X Rays took long to do at Rosebank CLinic as there were lots of people and they had emergencies so only one machine. Hubby wished we could have gone back another time with the kids but we stuck it out and went to the Rosebank Mall with them in the pram to kill some time. Who did you do your medicals with?

 

The Isle of Man account is actually like 4 different accounts for AUD, USD, GBP and Euros so I have the flexibility to decide. I work at Nedbank so it was easy for me as staff since I wont pay bank charges and currency conversion commissions and they opened it in a day for me:). The minimum to open the account is GBP 50000 but a concession was made for me as staff. I also think if I had my money in a money market account, I would have been better off than investing in shares.

[JackoFam]

We have a similar account but no choice of AUD which is what we want to buy right now. We also did not need to invest GBP 50 000. We organised through our stockbroker and did the transfer with FX capital

 

We are using Migrate2Oz and they have been wonderful but in the end I have done so much research myself we could've maybe done it ourselves. We did have a hiccup with my husbands skills assessment and they helped sort that out so already they have been worth the money

 

We went to Hatmed for medicals - we live about 3 hrs from Pretoria. They were excellent and quick. We had to wait 30 min past our appointment time but after that it only took an hour for doc, bloods and xrays. Did your little ones need to do the mantoux test? We needed one for our son you is only 9. We did have a TB contact listed on the form so now we are just waiting with baited breath to see if further tests will be required.

[Sweepea]

my kids are both 18m so luckily under 2 and didn't need the Mantoux test. you were lucky you didn't need to wait long for your medicals including xrays

[ottg]

1 hour ago, JackoFam said:

process of selling our share portfolio which has been sickening

No advice but just some comments. Is this now the best time to sell your shares in a declining market?

According to RCIS the developing markets (Brazil, RSA etc) are performing better than the developed markets, since Dec 2015 and set to continue well into March 2016.

According to their latest forecast; the RSA share market markets are set for an upturn from May 2016. However any long term forecast is normally of little value, but indicative, if no stupid news further upsets the financial markets.

 

1 hour ago, JackoFam said:

7 years ago and it is valued at between R100 000 and R150 000 less than we bought it for

Sorry to hear about your losses but surely the signs were there much earlier - why waited so long as everything is cyclic including property markets.

[JackoFam]

Thanks Ottg. We are definitely leaving some stocks intact - our problem is we need some of the money for our move.

 

The property was our fault - it was just there and we didn't keep an eye on the value like we should've.

 

The problem is the declining rand. We want to hedge against that as much as possible and since we don't really have time for a long view we are just taking a best guess. Also our portfolio was heavily invested in construction and resources. We don't see resources recovering for awhile but we hope construction will improve slightly. We just backed the wrong horse in some instances. Many of these shares were bought way before the GFC and we just kept hoping they wouldn't carry on falling and maybe even show an upturn but of course they didn't.

 

Another factor was that all these investments were meant for our retirement in 20+ years time so we thought we had time for them to recover but alas best laid plans.....

[Atjan]

Yesterday I saw an option on FNB's banking site for a Global Account into which you can deposit money in a number of foreign monetary denominations, incl AUD. They mention there that it is to hedge money for overseas expenses. 

 

Has anyone used this yet? Any good?

I'm thinking about opening such an account and starting to put money in it for any trips we have to make, etc. As far as I understand you can transfer money from there in AUD to an off-shore account as well. I'm sure you will pay a lot of charges, but the way the Z(N)AR is going, I'm sure it will be worth it still.