I sent A$7100 from my CBA acct using Maybank telegraphic transfer on Wed - got the money in my Maybank acct in 15 mins (RM20,869) - works out at about 2.94

I think if i send next week, i would probably get about 7c more. Doesn't matter - i can't fly back so no choice but to use TT. I have been sending quite a lot back over the past 8 weeks and the best rate i got was 2.975 about 3 weeks ago (using TT). Fees is A$22 with CBA telegraphic transfer.

I hope Aussie continues to shoot up as the bulk of my retirement funds is in Aussie.

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Aug 29 2020, 10:47 AM

Is that right? I will probably try and open an acct with them. What are the fees like?

I want to keep the amount i send less than rm30k because i don't want Maybank to question the source of my funds - i have no problems with giving them the information as i can show my income and tax paid (from my job in Aust) but just don't want the hassles associated with it.

My wife sent about A$200k last April (2019) using NAB (telegraphic transfer) to Public Bank Taman Desa and the bank won't release the funds in KL unless we could show that the source of the funds are legitimate. My wife had to show she took a lump sum withdrawal from her super acct (apparently it is for Bank Negara).

I used to change with my uncle in KL (as he wants Aussie and i want ringgit) but he says he cannot take the amount that i send back because he is running out of ringgit.

This is great information!!

We will take this further with PM.

Sometimes the money may be stuck in limbo land and you don't know what is happening. You may need to follow up several times before you finally know why your money is stuck - usually due to lack of documentation relating to money laundering offences. It is times like this you wished you had not wanted to save a little bit of money. I have done at least 5-6 telegraphic transfers in the last 4-5 months using Maybank and CBA and each time money arrived in under 30mins. Nearly all of the transactions were around A$7k. After so many transactions without a hitch, we tend to have some confidence with doing it this way.

I used to fly back to kl regularly and used the money changers at mid-valley - they were always the best rates. Now I cannot fly any more so no choice.

Sending into Malaysia may sometimes be quite problematic as Bank Negara intervenes (when the amount becomes too substantial). This is why i try to limit my transactions to under rm30k - last thing i want from Maybank is them asking for documentation (i have nothing to fear as i have been a very law-abiding citizen and can provide all documentation). Some of my relatives told me that Bank Negara is not that strict on incoming funds (into Msia) as it benefits Msia - it is a lot sterner with outgoing funds. I have been sending around A$7000 each time but i will slowly bump the figure up next time i send (i am also sending for my other relatives in Sydney who wants to help out the poorer siblings in KL). I find sometimes peace of mind knowing the funds will arrive is paramount when you remit money overseas so i don't mind losing out a bit on the exchange rate (esp if the Aussie dollar now is around 3.0 vs the ringgit). If i am in Msia, i can easily provide documentation to Maybank to show my funds are legitimate but i am stuck here in Sydney for a long while

Just want to add a little on the weather in Sydney - beautiful spring weather is here!!

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Aug 30 2020, 05:34 AM

The only worry is when sending bigger amounts - Transferwise can hold your money back waiting for documentation (to prove funds are legitimate). If you are dealing with the bank, you can show the bank officers (in charge of TT) the documentation first (before funds are transferred) and they can give you a special rate if the amount is over rm100k. My wife transferred about A$200k last year April (2019) and the TT rate for buying ringgit was 2.88 but we were given a rate of 2.903 (while money changer at Mid Valley was buying Aussie at 2.93).

The good thing about using bank TT is the funds are in your acct in under 30 mins (from my experience). From Sydney, i use an online telegraphic transfer (A$22 per transaction fee) on CBA Netbank and half hour later, i can see the funds on my Maybank online app. It gives us a lot of confidence when transferring the money (though the rate may not be very good but we have peace of mind. WIth the Aussie being so strong at the moment (Aussie is now parity with Singapore Dollar), i probably don't mind losing a bit on the exchange rate by using TT.

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Sep 2 2020, 04:30 AM

Great information to know.

Apparently for people wanting to leave Aust, you need to get something from the Malaysian Embassy in Melb saying that you agree to pay the rm2,100 quarantine fees before you are allowed to fly. You also need to request exit permission (from the Aust Border Force) to return to Msia (for Aust citizens and PRs) and this is easier to obtain now after a lot of people with dual citizenships complained.

I may be retiring soon (possibly end of the year) and may want to fly back to KL some time early next year. It will probably be a one-way flight for me to try out my retirement in KL.

My wife and I might not survive a storm in that little boat - all my wife and i have worked for in our lives now has to go to my next-of-kin!! My next-of-kin of course would be very happy if i went back in that

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Sep 5 2020, 10:41 AM

My wife doesn't swim so that would be the last thing she will be on!! She wouldn't even want to go on a cruise with me!! I love to swim but she will never go anywhere near the water . When i was in Uni, i would spend quite a lot of time in Coogee beach because my unit was very near Coogee beach. I would drive down to Coogee beach(2 mins drive) and have a swim every few days. That was when i was 20 years old (early 1980s).

Sydney weather has been beautiful - so much sunshine but it looks like there will be rain tomorrow. We have been so lucky to be baked in sunshine in the last 4-5 weeks!!

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Sep 8 2020, 08:03 AM

I spent nearly all my life in Sydney living in Coogee/Randwick - it is a nice area. I still go Coogee/Clovelly Beach for a walk every now and then. We used to eat a lot at La Spagagia (??) Italian Rest (along Coogee Bay Rd opposite the TAB) until the pandemic broke out and we have not been there the last 6 months. Coogee Beach is a beautiful place to be during summer with people walking along Coogee Bay Rd (where the shops are) even at night.

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Sep 8 2020, 10:57 AM

Do you work in the Eastern suburbs?

Coogee parking is a little difficult nowadays and there are so many places that you have to pay nowadays (bloody greedy councils!!). I normally park a little further away (near the tennis courts along Bream Street). I used to go Bream Street a lot before when my GP friend Dr. See at 8 Bream Street was operating his surgery - he sold his surgery now to an ex-Malaysian couple (both doctors Dr. Su and Dr. Choong). They are the GPs that i normally go to (bulk-billed) - i know them quite well and they are a nice couple.

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Sep 9 2020, 06:14 PM

This is usually what happens under the guise of Covid. You get rid of less productive workers (usually workers who have been too long in a job and are more laid back) - the new employees (usually very eager as they probably realise how difficult it is to get a job nowadays) will strive a lot harder.

In my organisation, management is trying hard to remove less productive workers but unions are intervening/opposing new proposed ways of doing things more efficiently.

I will have a chance to put in an application for redundancy next month and i hope the unions will not block my application as i am feeling a little burnt out now after working for the same organisation for more than 30 years now!!

You will always get dumbwits like this - you just have to ignore them. Part of living in Aust - if you take everything to heart, you will get upset over nothing.

You get a lot of Pauline Hanson's brothers and sisters who are always creating trouble for migrants. We just have to ignore them - we are already on Aussie soil and it is too late to get rid of us now

Unions are there to protect jobs and ensure workloads are reasonable so if positions are made redundant, the same amount of work is distributed to lesser staff as what used to be done by say 10 staff is now done by 7 staff (example with 3 staff being made redundant). I have told the unions (i am also a member) that i wanted to go so i hope they will not block my position being made redundant.

I haven't forgotten what i promised you before.

Actually there are 2 ways you can choose to react when you are harassed by racists.

One - the Aussie way - stand up to the bully and confront them. Insist on your right of being a human being and there is no room for racism in Aust (after all we are all here legally and has a right to live in a democratically-elected country).

Two - the Asian way, that is, to back away and try to resolve the problem with minimal harm/injury to ourselves. Some may think that this is a cowardly approach to problems/racism.

I have been living in Aust since early 1981 and i have been in a lot of incidences/altercations whereby physical injury threats were made to me/wife and i have chosen to adopt the second way of resolving problems. I am now nearly 59 and i will not change my stance on my approach to racism which i think is the best approach - this approach varies greatly from people to people and you can start a huge debate on this issue so i rest my case.

Usually the most racists people are the country/regional areas esp the older white generation. They may be racists but they are still usually quite polite because this is their culture. You won't really know until you get to know them well. We live in a 'hypocritical' society whereby you are supposed to be politically correct, polite, etc... Even if someone is ugly or the food is shitty, you are supposed to say 'That is so nice....' or ' You are so pretty....'. Most times you don't know if they are being truthful but well, life carries on.

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Sep 18 2020, 06:50 AM

I had a lot of friends who stayed with foster families during the 80s/90s - this was very popular then. I remembered my girlfriend's sister stayed for about 3-4 weeks in Lismore (family) - apparently it was an experience of a lifetime. Foster families are usually very nice people who welcome foreigners with open arms. Good to hear about your experience with a foster family

Sorry for misunderstanding your situation.

Aussies in regional towns are usually very laid back - who wouldn't be with a welfare system like Australia? It was always called the 'lucky country'. Property prices in regional towns are still quite affordable (compared to the bigger cities). Once you have a roof over your head, you can literally rely on the welfare system (of course migrants like us will always strive to be more self-dependent but that is because we are brought up that way).

Actually when i post nowadays, i use this as a little mini-diary so i can read how my mindset is currently and when i read my posts (say in the future), i can use it to determine how much my mindset has changed over the years.

When i get up at 5.30am every morning, it is already starting to get bright (dawn). I think WFH has changed me so much because i am home all the time and always observing daylight/sunset more closely (i must be getting a bit nutty nowadays )

Woke up 5.30am sharp this morning. Weather overcast with showers predicted. At least it is not so cold - currently 17.5deg.

When you mention Lakes Entrance, it brings back memories of my first drive down to Melb from Sydney using the coastal roads - went past Eden and then Lakes Entrance en route to Melb in 1991 in an old Nissan Bluebird. I was poor in those days and probably only had a few hundred bucks in my pocket. Three of us in the car (myself, wife and another friend who was an overseas student from Penang called Ah Keong). The car nearly broke down near Bega!! Now reflecting back on my younger days - we were so adventurous and have not got much money!! I think my wife and i had less than A$3,000 (our total net worth!!) when we drove down to Melb in 1991 in an old bomb. Actually all the money that we had belonged to my wife as i was nearly made a bankrupt in 1988-89 (because i was shorting some gold stocks in 1987 and lost my pants - avoided bankruptcy but had to repay a reduced debt liability over the next 7 years). The things we do when we are young Long story and don't want to reveal too much as it is my ugly past.

I must say Lakes Entrance is a beautiful town. In those days, i was young and cocky because i was spoilt when i was younger. Now after going through a lot of hard knocks and hardship throughout life (and learning lessons the hard way), this has turned me into a lot wiser uncle.

Something to share with you on a gloomy Sunday morning.

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Sep 20 2020, 04:22 AM

I remember driving Sydney to Melb around 1982 with a group of Chung Ling boys in a car (Toyota Corolla) my mum bought me when i was a Uni student. The car has been written off and a backyard repairer fixed it up on the cheap and sold it to me - i was totally unaware the car was not roadworthy but it was a good lesson as i am a lot more careful after that buying cars.

Anyway, we used the Hume Highway and it was in the middle of winter (during semester break) and the car heated up (i think it was a blown head gasket) but still we managed to drive to Melb and back. We only stayed 1 night with another group of Chung Ling students (i think it was somewhere in Footscray) - so long ago i cannot really recall much now. The Hume Highway was just a single-lane carriageway in those days. What crazy things we do when we are young!!