Patrick Canion

A great episode (if I do say so myself). Recorded last Monday, I am just happy that my prediction on interest rates came true - well, not happy for Aussie mortgage-holders, but you get my drift...

Just back from a trip to Australia. The economic heart of the country is small business, the social heart the family. These are two indefatigable forces, but I'm bearish on the economic outlook. Increasing complexity, tax, bureaucracy is sapping the spirit of the former. The latter needs 2 incomes just to get into a home. But how do you raise kids when both parents are working? I left Australia nearly 8 years ago and one day I'll likely return. I love the country. But it is naive, and doesn't seem to realize that prosperity isn't a given and freedom isn't secured by big government.

Well, as someone with a little bit of vicarious Eurovision experience myself (thanks to @AlexCanion and @Voyagerau !) I reckon I could claim him for the Geneva Jets!

Currently in Australia, and if you follow me, you'll know I just posted a summary and link to my Substack. What I wasn't prepared for was Substack requiring me to verify my age. To access my own blog article. Three cheers for freedom and democracy...and three more cheers for VPNs.

Many Australians who move to Switzerland aim straight for the centre of Zurich or Geneva. That is the Australian city instinct. In Switzerland more than 60% of people rent without stigma, and the practical question is how the week runs and what stays in the bank at the end of the year. UBS’s 2026 Residential Attractiveness Indicator looks at a renting family with two children across ten labour-market regions. Zurich and Geneva do not rank in the top three even inside their own regions. Medium centres and cantonal capitals do: Vevey, Solothurn, Fribourg, Sion, Basel, Lucerne, Aarau, Lugano, St. Gallen, Chur. Vevey is about 15% cheaper overall than Geneva. Aarau is 28% and Schaffhausen 34% cheaper than Zurich city. Ten to fifteen minutes out of Zurich by train saves roughly CHF 11,500 a year for that family; further out the saving climbs past CHF 20,000. For most arriving Australians, the map is constrained at first. A third-country B or L permit is tied to the employer’s canton. Optimise inside the canton while the permit lasts. Once a C permit (or dual EU citizenship) opens the borders, the medium-centre option becomes available. At higher incomes, the ranking flips toward low-tax communes (Freienbach, Cologny, Zug, Paradiso), but wealth tax on worldwide assets can still outweigh a rent saving, and housing supply remains tight in the usual places. Language and schooling can change across the Röstigraben even on a short move. Life is for living; the structures and the postcode exist to support that, not the other way around. Check out the full story here: patrickcanion.substack.com/p…

Everybody in here is getting in a lather waiting for @GeminiApp Pro 4, and I'm still arguing with 3.8 flash that, yes, Gemini really CAN create a Google Doc...

Sponsoring the Beautiful Game of AFL in Switzerland: Our pleasure ❤️ Being an Ambassador to AFL Switzerland: My honour 👑 Volunteering as a Goal Umpire: Priceless! 🏳️🏳️

What has happened to @grok over the past day? Has it been nerfed? Lost memory, no imagination, just terrible.

If you live in Switzerland, your Australian will may not do what you think. Most Aussies here have a will written in Australia years ago. Valid document. Wrong assumption: that Switzerland will follow it. Live here, die here, and Swiss law decides who inherits. Spouse and children get a reserved minimum slice of the estate even if the will leaves those assets to someone else. You can change the will so Switzerland applies Australian succession law. Since January 2025 that option is on the table. If you are Australian only, the Swiss reserved shares can fall away. If you are Swiss as well, you can still make the change — the reserved shares stay. Super and Pillar pensions are not in the will. Lodge a nomination with the fund. Tell each Swiss foundation separately. The useful question is not “is the will valid?” It is “will this document produce the result I think it will, for this family, in both countries?” Article: patrickcanion.substack.com/p…

For the last few weeks I’ve been looking at moves to or from Australia and Switzerland. Two lessons. Choose your timing before you choose your country. And a move does not make the old obligations disappear. That raises a practical question. Are you actually deciding which jurisdiction wins, or whether a relocation is required at all for the next chapter of family life? A Budget can make that feel urgent. So can Italy or Singapore over dinner. Urgency is not a reason to go. The direction Australia is taking on tax is concerning. It is not serious enough yet to force your hand. If you stay in Australia, you still have to look at what the new rules do to later capital gains, and to a later exit. That belongs on a page. It is not, on its own, an argument for emigration. If you already live in Switzerland and the life here is the one you want, Wealth Tax will keep arriving. The house in Perth or the apartment in Sydney still affects the rate, even though it is not taxed as if it sat on the lake. That is the current arrangement, not a waiting room because Canberra changed a price list. If the household is going, you are planning a move of a life, not a tax election. Line up the last two articles before anyone books the shipping container. And if someone is waving a third country: only if the family would actually live there, work there, or run the business there. I have migrated twice. It is more than a new address. A letterbox is not a plan. Full piece: patrickcanion.substack.com/p…

I'm a very simple non-tech user of AI, but I feel like Grok 4.6 has become completely dumb over the past few days, especially when it comes to language composition. Anecdotal, I know.