On 12 May the budget killed the bucket company. A 30% minimum tax on trust income was the headline, but the real damage was underneath it, because that tax came with no credit when the money moved on to a company. Stack the two together and business owners were looking at an effective rate over 60% on profit they had already been taxed on once.

On 3 September the government released draft legislation that changes the picture, and Ben walks through exactly what it does. There is a window, it closes on 1 July 2028, and if you make a fixed election on your trust before then, the 30% minimum tax doesn't apply. The trade is that a discretionary trust stops being discretionary, forever.

Ben runs the numbers on a business making $400k a year and shows a gap of just under $2 million between two owners doing the same thing in different structures. He also covers the strategy the election kills, which is distributing to your adult kids. And he explains why who owns the shares in your bucket company now matters more than it ever has, with a 22-month window that just started.

WHAT YOU'LL GET OUT OF IT

• What a bucket company is and why business owners built their wealth around it

• How the budget got the effective tax rate on trust distributions above 60%

• What the 3 September draft legislation changes, and when it's expected to pass

• The fixed election, how it works, why it's permanent, and the two things that reset it

• A business making $400k a year, in a company versus personally, over 10 and 30 years

• Why distributing to adult children is now off the table

• Who should own the shares in your bucket company

• What happens to anyone who starts a business after 1 July 2028

• The sequence to follow before the window closes

CHAPTERS

00:06 Is the bucket company dead?
01:10 What a bucket company actually does
02:53 What the budget did on 12 May
05:00 The 3 September draft legislation
06:13 The election window closes 1 July 2028
08:15 A discretionary trust that isn't discretionary
10:30 Plan ten years out, not twelve months
11:35 If you start a business after July 2028
14:21 Ben paid himself nothing for three years
15:45 The numbers: $200k a year into a bucket company
18:33 The adult kids strategy is finished
20:44 Income versus distribution, and payroll tax
21:27 Who should own the bucket company
22:46 Stress test your accountant
23:23 The 22-month window
24:02 Stamp duty and why the states said no
25:57 The sequence to follow before the deadline
28:00 Don't die wondering
29:20 Wrap

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DISCLAIMER
This podcast is for education only and doesn't take into account your personal circumstances. It's not financial advice. If you buy a financial product, read the PDS and TMD, and seek advice tailored to your situation. Ben Nash and Pivot Wealth are authorised representatives of Fish Tacos Pty Ltd, ABN 14 649 248 082, AFSL 533055.

Every second call at the moment ends the same way. The budget has tightened the screws, the pay rise didn't move the needle, so what if we just moved to Singapore? Or Dubai. Or Hong Kong.

Ben and Siobhan ran the numbers, and the first thing they found is that Australia is a lower tax country than the UK, Canada, New Zealand and most of Europe. The catch is where we collect it. Almost 43% of every tax dollar in Australia comes from personal income, one of the heaviest reliances on personal income tax in the developed world, and that is exactly why it feels the way it does.

From there it gets practical. What you take home on $100k, $250k, $500k and $1 million in Sydney versus Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai. What those countries charge you instead, from a 60% stamp duty on foreigners to private everything. How you actually get in.

The tax bill Australia hands you on the way out. And the two residency tests the ATO uses to decide whether you really left, because the people getting caught aren't the ones who moved, they're the ones who pretended to.

WHAT YOU'LL GET OUT OF IT

• Why Australia's total tax take is below the OECD average, and why it feels worse than that

• Take-home pay on $100k, $250k, $500k and $1m across Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai

• Zero capital gains, zero on dividends and zero on interest, and what these countries charge instead

• The employment pass, the top talent pass and the golden visa, and what each one costs to qualify for

• Monaco, the Caribbean, Vanuatu and the other places that make the list

• The deemed disposal tax bill you pay when you leave, without selling anything

• Source tax versus residency tax, and why your Australian property still gets taxed

• The six-month test and the centre of vital economic interest

• Who relocating actually works for, and who ends up worse off

• The tax-smart moves available to you if you stay

CHAPTERS

00:07 Should you move to Singapore to save tax?
01:33 Australia is below the OECD average, with one big but
03:50 Why the pay rise stopped moving the needle
04:30 Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai, why those three
05:46 Take-home pay on $100k, $250k, $500k and $1m
08:13 One year in Dubai equals five years here
09:22 Zero CGT, zero on dividends, zero on interest
10:09 Tax residency is the whole game
11:23 How these countries tax you instead
12:13 Getting in: employment passes, talent passes and golden visas
15:37 Monaco, the Caribbean and Vanuatu
19:21 The deemed disposal bill on the way out
20:20 Source tax versus residency tax
24:19 The six-month test and centre of vital economic interest
26:16 Line-ball residency cases
28:37 Who this actually works for
29:38 Is it worth six months away from your family?
30:36 The tax-smart moves if you stay
32:33 Wrap

Smarter money moves start here.
Learn how to cut through the noise, avoid expensive mistakes, and get ahead faster.

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DISCLAIMER
This podcast is for education only and doesn't take into account your personal circumstances. It's not financial advice. If you buy a financial product, read the PDS and TMD, and seek advice tailored to your situation. Ben Nash and Pivot Wealth are authorised representatives of Fish Tacos Pty Ltd, ABN 14 649 248 082, AFSL 533055.

Hugh Robertson reckons the world changed for Aussie investors on 12 May. For years the playbook
was simple. Earn well, borrow, negatively gear into residential property and let the market do the
rest. The budget took a fair chunk of that off the table, and now a lot of people with money to put to
work are asking the same question. What's the play now?
Hugh runs Centaur Financial Services, sits on the Barron's Top 100 adviser list, and has been a
mate of Ben's for over a decade, which means he doesn't get to be diplomatic. In this one he walks
through exactly what his firm changed in client portfolios after the budget, why they've gone
underweight Australian shares, and the asset classes they're now allocating to that they never
touched before.
We also get into the commercial property pitch flooding everyone's feed, and why two emerging
markets ETFs can hold completely different countries. Hugh explains what big tech raising debt tells
you about where the US market sits, and puts Ben through the maths question about a 50% fall that
trips up almost everyone. Then the honest bit on stock picking, why only around one in ten active
managers beats the index over a decade, and what Hugh thinks matters most for investors over the
next six to 12 months.

CHAPTERS (raw recording times, re-map to the final cut before publishing)
00:00 Intro and the list that actually counts
01:27 The world changed on 12 May
03:38 Where ambitious investors go now
04:06 The commercial property trap
06:48 What Centaur changed in its portfolios after the budget
08:17 The nanny state and the aspirational investor
11:00 How much the CGT changes drove the shift to global
12:11 The fully franked dividend obsession

13:12 Total return and where wealth sits once trusts are gone
14:26 ETF, managed fund or direct
15:17 Investing at all-time highs
16:58 AI after the picks and shovels
18:49 Emerging markets and the South Korea trade
20:09 Two emerging markets ETFs, two very different baskets
21:01 Staying in the US and backing the jockey
22:06 Same profit, half the price
22:47 Infrastructure as inflation protection
24:09 Locked-up money and closed-end funds
24:44 Private markets, evergreen funds and secondaries
25:59 Comparison is the thief of joy
26:42 Is the US market overcooked?
28:10 The canary in the coal mine
29:20 SpaceX, IPOs and Aussie super money
31:07 Where the opportunity actually is
33:47 Global small caps and the information edge
36:21 Only one in ten active managers beats the index
37:22 Accumulators want volatility, retirees don't
38:09 The maths test almost everyone fails
39:17 GFC lessons and the free lunch
40:44 When DIY stops making sense
42:52 Boring portfolio, interesting life
43:34 Don't get mad at your adviser when markets fall
45:06 The most important thing for the next six to 12 months
46:29 Why not to ask AI for financial advice


Smarter money moves start here.
Learn how to cut through the noise, avoid expensive mistakes, and get ahead faster.

FREE 7-DAY MONEY CHALLENGES
Pick one and see what changes in a week: https://pivotwealth.com.au/challenges/

WORK WITH US
Book a no-strings call: https://www.pivotwealth.com.au/booking
More about Pivot Wealth: https://www.pivotwealth.com.au

BEN'S BOOKS
Virgin Millionaire: https://amzn.to/3VFPPDM
Replace Your Salary by Investing: https://amzn.to/3J9Ta8g
Get Unstuck: https://amzn.to/3xo0MQG
All books: https://www.pivotwealth.com.au/books

FOLLOW
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pivotben
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bentalksmoney
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BenNashPivot
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pivotwealth/

DISCLAIMER
This podcast is for education only and doesn't take into account your personal circumstances. It's
not financial advice. If you buy a financial product, read the PDS and TMD, and seek advice tailored
to your situation. Ben Nash and Pivot Wealth are authorised representatives of Fish Tacos Pty Ltd,
ABN 14 649 248 082, AFSL 533055.