# Moving from Canada - financial questions



## rainbowchaser (Apr 26, 2010)

Hi

So I am wondering if anyone has advice about Canadian investments in regards to relocating in Australia. I have RRSP's and other investments and I'm wondering if there are any pros or cons to leaving them in Canada or attempt transfering them? I also have RESP's for my children that I am unsure how to handle. 

One other question - is the proceeds of selling my house will go directly into my bank account - is there an easy way to transfer this to an Australian bank account? 

Thanks


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## Wanderer (Jun 16, 2007)

rainbowchaser said:


> Hi
> 
> So I am wondering if anyone has advice about Canadian investments in regards to relocating in Australia. I have RRSP's and other investments and I'm wondering if there are any pros or cons to leaving them in Canada or attempt transfering them? I also have RESP's for my children that I am unsure how to handle.
> 
> ...


I'm not too sure what your RRSPs and RESPs are but essentially the Canadian authorities, Taxation or IRS if you call it there the same as the US will have laws regarding investments held and what non residency may mean.
Likewise, the Australian Taxation Office Homepage regulations will determine what you will be liable for re taxation here on any income from overseas though there is nothing to stop people here having overseas investments.
I am no investment expert and you may want to have a chat with a investment/taxation accountant in Canada to se if there is any benefit in something like a trust fund to wrap up the various investments together as here in Australia there are various forms of trusts that people do set up for taxation minimalisation.
It may be best to do something similar here as well and if your childrens fund is anyting like an longer term Education Fund , it may well have been structured for minimising tax, a fund here in Australia, the Australian Scholarship Trust or something like that I used with my own children meant that they were paid an allowance as they progressed through tertiary education years.
It could also be that the funds themselves may have some regulations re payment to non residents and so checking with them in the first place would be prudent.
Aside from that aspect you'll probably not be too disadvantaged with making decisions if you want to wait until you're in Australia to check out a local accountant re trusts/taxation.

As for transfer of funds that is easy enough done for banks do international transfers all the time, often called electronic transfers and there is what has often been called internationally a Swift Code or many banks now refer to it as just an IBN for International Bank Number, a bit how like banks identify their individual branches, Canadia possibly similar to Australia in that you have provinces and we have states and here the banks have a hyphenated six figure BSB number, eg. 123-456 and that is a unique number that identifies the bank, state and branch and then an individual account number.

So have a chat to your own bank manager about what will be required to effect the transfer if that is to take place after you have travelled.

Alternately, some if not all of our major four national banks [ ANZ, Commonwealth, National and Westpac ] have provision for opening an account before you travel
ANZ - Travel and foreign exchange - Foreign Currency Rates & Currency Converter for instance.
The ANZ do have branches in a number of overseas countries as may do the others and your Canadian bank could even have an affiliation with one of ours.

So again, ask your BM and/or open an Australian bank account and ask about depositing/transfering money before you leave Canada if you have the proceeds beforehand.
You'll need the Swift/IBN and BSB/Account numbers for both banks.
You can acctually do transfers yourself online with that information if your Canadian bank offers the facility.

You may want to also get advice from your taxation authority re moving a larger sum of money offshore as there could be some regulations and in the first instance the BM should be able to advise.
The Australian government has an international money transfers monitoring system installed in conjunction with all financial organisations and that's to keep up with tracking money laundering illegal activities etc., so likely the Canadians do likewise and there could be some documentation needed but again the BM should know.

There are various length term deposits that they should be able to put the funds into so as you get a higher rate of interest, say something like 4% for a six months term. 
If it's a quite sizable ammount, you may want to put into a normal full access account and when here you can check out more easily the various rates on offer and even use something like ING Direct - high interest savings, bank accounts, home loans, business banking, everyday accounts where you can link one of their accounts direct to a general bank savings account.


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## Shaztadaisy (Sep 11, 2010)

Hey,
l use Oz Forex Foreign Exchange to transfer all my money home from Canada to Australia to pay for my homeloan etc. Its a really good way to transfer plus its free when you transfer more than $2000 at a time.


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## teamabby (Oct 6, 2010)

I use xe trade They give you better rates than banks and there are no fees for transferring funds.


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## forumer55 (Feb 7, 2012)

teamabby said:


> I use xe trade They give you better rates than banks and there are no fees for transferring funds.


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## Sindy (Jul 30, 2013)

*Moving to Canada*

Hi everyone,

I gave A question...I'm moving to toronto in 2 months and i have 2 kids. How much money do i need to settle for the first 6 months. Im on a budget here.

Thanks in advance
Sindy


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## Sindy (Jul 30, 2013)

Sorry i meant i have a question not gave... again i would really appreciate any help


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