Sean Abreu - Leading Financial Adviser for Expats in Singapore

After giving financial advice to Australian expats for almost 20 years now, I’ve noticed something very interesting.

Many of the most successful people I meet have absolutely no clear idea what their retirement or ideal life actually looks like.

A large portion of my clients are senior executives in big tech and other high-performance industries. They are on huge packages and for good reason. They are intelligent, disciplined and extremely driven people.

But most of them don’t have normal 9 to 5 jobs.

They live and breathe their work.

Their career is not something they simply switch off from at 5pm. It becomes part of their identity. Part of who they are.

And because of that, many become completely consumed by the rat race. Or in modern terms, “the matrix”.

They are constantly chasing the next promotion, the next stock vest, the next milestone, the next achievement.

But strangely enough, many of them have barely stopped to ask themselves what they are actually doing it all for.

Then I ask them a very simple question.

“Imagine you had 100 million dollars in the bank right now. But here are the rules. You cannot give the money away. You cannot endlessly buy material things. You cannot invest it. You can only buy your dream home and spend the money on experiences. With that in mind, what does your perfect day look like? Walk me through it from the moment you wake up until the moment you go to sleep.”

And the answer is almost always surprisingly simple.

“Well Sean, I’d wake up in a beautiful home near the beach. I’d go for a walk. Train at the gym. Have breakfast with my family. Maybe play a round of golf. Read more. Write that book I always wanted to write. Catch up with friends for lunch. Finish the day with a nice dinner and a glass of wine.”

And that’s when I usually reply:

“You do realise you could probably start living much of that life right now?”

I had to ask myself this same question during Covid.

Before Covid, I was a complete workaholic. I worked weekends. My entire identity revolved around productivity and achievement. Then Singapore locked down and for the first time in years, life forced me to slow down.

And honestly, it changed me.

For the first time in a very long time, I came up for air.

I started questioning everything.

What am I actually doing all this for?

Thankfully, Covid helped me finally find balance in my life.

I realised something very important.

The goal is not simply to make more money.

The goal is to intentionally design a life you genuinely enjoy living.

Most people never truly stop to think about what that life actually looks like for them.

We are heavily conditioned by modern capitalist societies to stay on the treadmill. Especially in highly competitive East Asian and Western cultures, many of us become trapped in a cycle of endless achievement without ever truly asking ourselves what we genuinely want out of life.

And the truth is, life is passing us by.

None of us know how long we truly have left.

That does not mean we should stop being ambitious or stop working hard. Not at all.

But it does mean we need to become more intentional with the life we are building.

Not the life society expects from us.
Not the life our parents expect from us.
Not the life that merely looks successful from the outside.

But the life that genuinely fulfils us.

As a financial adviser working with expats and executives here in Singapore, I try to do far more than simply grow wealth for my clients.

I help them define what success actually means to them.

Because ultimately, a good investment is only a good investment if it helps you build the life you truly want.

So I’ll leave you with the same question I ask many of my clients.

What does your perfect day actually look like?

If you're an Australian Expat and would like some advice, book a complimentary video call here

https://calendly.com/seanabreu/initial-consultation

The Australian Government’s proposed changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount only strengthen the case for many Australians living in Singapore to rethink property investing back home.

As an Australian expat in Singapore, you currently sit in one of the most tax-efficient environments in the world for investing in global equities.

No capital gains tax in Singapore.

And if structured correctly through offshore investment insurance bonds, many Australians can even significantly reduce or potentially eliminate capital gains tax exposure when eventually returning home to Australia after the 10-year period.

This is one of the major reasons why I personally never heavily invested into Australian property.

When you actually run the numbers properly, the maths often does not add up anymore.

Especially once you factor in:
• Interest costs
• Stamp duty
• Land tax
• Ongoing maintenance
• Insurance
• Agent fees
• Illiquidity
• Tenant risk
• Government policy risk
• And now potentially reduced tax incentives

Meanwhile, global equities have historically compounded at extraordinary rates over long periods with far less friction.

Australia built an entire culture around leveraged property speculation because the tax system encouraged it.

But if those incentives continue disappearing, many Australians may eventually realise they were buying a highly illiquid asset class with massive transaction costs and political risk attached to it.

For expats living in Singapore, the opportunity cost of ignoring global equities is becoming harder and harder to justify.

Here’s why I’ve personally chosen not to invest in Australian property while living in Singapore

Several years ago, I saved $500,000 AUD and considered purchasing an investment property back home in Perth, WA. As I always do, I opened Excel and ran the numbers.

This was the scenario:

Purchase price: $1.5 million
Expected growth rate: 6.5% per annum
Deposit: $500,000
Loan: $1,000,000 at 5.5% interest
Stamp duty: 4%
Ongoing costs: 1% land tax/strata plus 0.5% maintenance
Rental income: 4% yield, less 10% agent fees
Selling costs: 2% agent fee on exit
Capital gains tax applied on profit (no 50% discount as a non-resident)

I then compared this with investing the same $500,000 into the S&P 500, assuming a long-term average return of 9% per annum and no capital gains tax while residing in Singapore.

The result was clear.

Over a 10-year period, the property investment left me approximately $600,000 AUD worse off in net profit compared to the stock market alternative.

And that is before factoring in the intangible costs. Time, stress, and complexity. Tenants, agents, maintenance, tax compliance, and lack of liquidity.

From both a financial and lifestyle perspective, it simply did not make sense.

In my case, stamp duty, land tax, strata fees, interest costs, and significant capital gains tax completely eroded returns. In contrast, the stock market offered low entry costs, minimal ongoing expenses, high liquidity, and zero capital gains tax under my residency status.

Conclusion

I have chosen to build my wealth through equities and managed funds first, and then purchase my ideal home when I eventually return to Australia.

For me, this approach is far more efficient than doing it the other way around.

A final point

I am not against Australian property. It absolutely has a place in a portfolio when used correctly.

What I am against is making large financial decisions without doing the numbers.

Most people never run these calculations. They rely on cultural conditioning, family pressure, and outdated beliefs.

Strong investors do the maths.

If it works, proceed with confidence. If it does not, adjust.

Feel free to book a complimentary meeting with me here.

https://lnkd.in/gGvXzY_y

There is a 26 percentage chance for investors to lose money in the US 500 in the first year of ownership. This percentage chance decreases to less than 3% if the investor holds for 10 plus years.

In short, there is a 97% chance of you making money in the U.S 500 if you hold for 10 years or more.

Its about time in the market, not timing the market.

Far more has been lost from people trying to time the market than those who just invest now. Never try to time the market. Pull the trigger and hold long term.

Put all your emotions aside, and buy now. Thats how you win.

Happy Australia Day! Im so blessed to be born and raised in the most beautiful country on earth.

Singaporean vs Australian tax in regards to making 1 million dollars profit on the stock market.

Singapore - nil tax
Australia - 235k

Singaporean vs Australian tax in regards to making 1 million dollars in dividend income

Singapore- nil tax
Australia - 437k

Singaporean vs Australian tax in regards to making 1 million dollars in employment income

Singapore - 175k
Australia- 437k

The future of the Australian Economy? A macro look…

Most Aussies do not realise how dependent Australia has become on government money

If you count everyone whose salary or income is directly or indirectly funded by government spending, the number creeps toward half the population. I repeat: just over fifty percent of the Australian population is either directly or indirectly funded by the taxpayer 🤯.

Think about this. The Australian government, meaning the taxpayers, spends approximately forty five thousand dollars per person per year. In other words, each Australian effectively costs the government about forty five thousand dollars annually. That includes public servants, teachers, hospital staff, NDIS carers, aged care workers, university staff, defence contractors, consultants, welfare recipients, pensioners, family tax benefits, childcare subsidies. The list goes on.

To cover your own cost to society purely through income tax, you would need to earn around one hundred and sixty thousand dollars per year. That is roughly what it takes for your tax bill to match what the government spends on you. If you earn less than that, you are, from a purely economic standpoint, a net negative contributor to Australian society.
And that is just for a single adult. A typical family of two adults and two children costs Australia approximately one hundred and eighty thousand dollars per year, which includes public schooling and Medicare. For that family to be a net contributor, their combined household income would need to be around four hundred and forty thousand dollars per year 🤯.

So if most Australians and immigrants do not pay enough tax to cover their own cost of living, who is footing the bill?

The answer is simple.

The top twenty percent already pay most of the tax. The top ten percent pay almost half the entire income tax collected in the country. The top one percent of wealthy Australians are literally responsible for holding the entire system up 🤯.
This is a very real structural problem. No nation on Earth can build long term prosperity when a smaller and smaller group of productive taxpayers is carrying a larger and larger group who rely on government income.

As more people depend on government money, there are only two ways the system survives.

The first is to raise taxes on the people who are actually producing.

The second is to bring in more immigrants to widen the tax base.

Both of these strategies come with extreme consequences.
Higher taxes push away the very people a country needs to keep. Wealth creators, business owners, innovators, high earners. These people have options. They can move their tax residency to the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Malta, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Monaco. And when they leave, they take their productivity with them. I have personally decided to hold my tax residency in Singapore.

This allows me to spend up to one hundred and eighty three days per year in Australia while preventing the Australian government from ever touching my wealth.

The other strategy is mass immigration. That comes with its own pressures: housing shortages, higher rents, lower wages, competition for services, strain on infrastructure, and most importantly cultural tensions. The very thing people are complaining about now is the predictable result of relying on immigration to keep a welfare heavy system afloat.

The scariest part is that when half the country depends on government spending for survival, no politician can cut anything. They cannot shrink the public service. They cannot reduce welfare. They cannot fix the root causes. Why? Because any honest political figure who suggests reducing public spending would be committing career su***de. It is obvious that the fifty percent of Australians who rely on government spending would vote against their own demise. The only thing an Australian politician can do in this situation is promise to spend more. More subsidies. More programs. More grants. More handouts. That is the only way to win votes.

The truth is, this model is not sustainable. A productive society must have the courage to admit when it is drifting off course. Australia has everything it needs to be a powerhouse. The natural resources, the talent, the stability. But it cannot get there if the backbone of the country is a shrinking group of taxpayers supporting an ever growing number of dependents.

A nation becomes wealthy when people create more than they consume. When risk is rewarded. When success is not punished. When people are encouraged to build, innovate, contribute. That is how you strengthen a country. Not by expanding dependence or increasing regulation. Not by punishing the motivated, but by expanding capability and rewarding risk.

Here is my honest prediction.

Australia will rely more and more on mass immigration to fund a growing welfare system.

This will bring economic and cultural tensions.

The economic implications

Did you know that over two hundred billion dollars, mostly from China and India, has poured into the Australian property market over the last ten years. The Australian government does not classify these purchases as foreign ownership because the properties are usually purchased by new permanent residents or newly arrived citizens.

Nevertheless, no society on Earth can handle that kind of money entering its housing market. The economic consequences are drastic. Singapore has now introduced a sixty percent stamp duty to prevent foreign money from inflating their housing market any further.

In the year two thousand, the average Australian house price was four point two times the average wage. In the year two thousand and twenty five, it is almost twelve times the average wage 🤯.

It now takes the average Australian around twenty years to save for a twenty percent deposit. That is three times longer than it took our parents generation.
But the consequences go deeper than money.

The psychological, spiritual and cultural damage will be massive.

What happens to a society when your brothers, sisters, cousins, children, neighbours and friends cannot afford a home? What happens when they realise that even working a full time job and being in the top ten percent of income earners still leaves them with nothing to show for it except a small home in the outer suburbs? What happens when Australians realise the dream of raising a family in a beautiful home is no longer attainable?

They lose hope. They stop having babies.

And when people lose hope, they turn to drugs, crime, alcohol. Society begins to decay. The frequency drops. The energy darkens. Morals collapse.

The cultural challenges of mass immigration will also rise faster than anyone expects. We are already seeing signs of fragmentation and cultural tension. If you have travelled through the immigrant neighbourhoods of Germany, France, Sweden and the United Kingdom recently, then you understand the very real negative effects of mass immigration. If Australia does not wise up soon, I believe we will experience the same consequences within the next ten to twenty years.

The government will also raise taxes to fund the imbalance. It has no choice. The tax burden will increase to a point where getting ahead becomes nearly impossible for the average person. Wealthy and productive people, like many of my friends, will gradually move their money and their lives overseas to Dubai, Singapore and other low tax jurisdictions.
The wealthy will be fine. The lower and middle class will struggle the most.

I personally manage over one hundred million in private wealth, so I know how to navigate this situation for my clients benefit. Wealthy Australians will benefit through the correct investment structures, tax strategies, lower labour costs and rising asset prices.

Sadly, it will be the middle class and low income earners who feel the full impact. The divide between rich and poor will widen significantly, and Australia will gradually lose the cultural identity that once made it such an easy place to live.

This may sound bleak, but it is important to remember that change is a natural part of society. As Marcus Aurelius said,
“Everything changes. That is the law of nature. The wise man does not resist it. He observes, accepts, and remains unshaken.”

The key is to be prepared. We can either suffer from the shift or benefit from it. The choice is ours.

My recommendations for handling the changing Australian economy

• Move online. Location freedom is the key to tax residency.
• Structure your investments correctly. Investment insurance bonds allow you to hold a share portfolio with no capital gains tax.
• If possible, spend fewer than one hundred and eighty three days in Australia to avoid tax residency.

As Marcus Aurelius wrote,
“Do not merely endure change. Turn it to your advantage. The obstacle becomes the way.”

S&P Index up almost 19% in 6 months

Why is the Australian dollar so strong while other currencies are comparatively weak? For example, why is the Indian rupee significantly weaker than the Singapore dollar?

The strength of a currency reflects its global demand and the level of trust the world places in a country’s systems. The Australian dollar is in high demand because foreign nations rely on it to purchase valuable exports such as natural resources. In a similar way, the Singapore dollar is strong because Singapore has built one of the most trusted and efficient financial hubs in the world, despite having no natural resources of its own.

By contrast, countries with less trusted systems or less diversified exports tend to have weaker currencies. That does not change unless they manage to offer something valuable to the world, whether it is a product, a service, or a system that instills confidence.

Singapore is a powerful example of how a nation can create global relevance through discipline, integrity, and strategic policymaking. They turned trust into an economic advantage. Today, global investors actively seek out Singapore as a reliable destination for capital not because of land or material wealth, but because of confidence in the system.

I see this dynamic play out in real life. A close friend is raising USD 3 million for a project in Bali, Indonesia. Almost all of the investors requested that the legal structure and financial accounts be handled through Singapore rather than Indonesia. Why? Because they trust Singaporean law, banks, and institutions.

Indonesia has enormous natural wealth, and many Indonesians are successful, but the broader population still struggles. The currency does not hold significant value internationally, and that has a real human impact. A weak currency means the average Indonesian may have to work a lifetime to afford a holiday in Australia, while an Australian could work a weekend and enjoy a wonderful trip to Bali.

As a first generation Australian, I am deeply grateful to have benefited from what previous Aussie Skippies built. Systems, infrastructure, freedoms, fair governance, and a trusted currency did not come about by accident. And I feel the same way living in Singapore now. I enjoy the stability, trust, and opportunity that Singaporeans have spent decades building. I did not create any of this, but I benefit from it every day.

That is why I believe immigrants and expats like me have a responsibility to show gratitude. We live in societies we did not build. We succeed because others, whether in Australia or Singapore, laid down trusted systems, strong institutions, and clear values.

Prosperity is not about land or natural resources. It is about trust, culture, and leadership. Singapore is proof of that.

Daily trading in stocks, crypto, or currency markets is a losing game.

Let’s be honest. Day trading is no different from walking into a casino and placing bets. Yes, I’ll occasionally make a quick trade when there’s an exceptionally clear opportunity, like when panic-selling is triggered by headline-driven events. But those are exceptions, not a strategy.

The data is clear: 99 percent of day traders lose money. So why are there endless influencers selling trading courses and “exclusive groups” online? Ask yourself: if they’re truly making a fortune from trading, why are they charging you $250 a month for tips?

The reality is, the real money lies in selling the dream, not trading itself.

Here’s the unglamorous truth:
You don’t need flashy charts or emotional bets to build wealth. You need patience, discipline, and a long-term strategy. Pick assets you believe in, understand them deeply, and hold them for years.

Long-term investing isn’t flashy. It won’t get you a “trader lifestyle” video on Instagram. But it works. Every. Single. Time.

If your “trading system” is really just gambling disguised as ambition, it’s time to rethink your approach. Real confidence comes from owning a strategy built on logic, not luck.

S&P hits all time high