My partner has inherited around CHF 300,000 following a death in the family. The plan is to use the money to buy a house within the next 3–5 years. Until then, the money can be invested, but given the relatively short time horizon, we want to keep the risk appropriately low.
What would be the smart move here? Would an ETF still make sense? Are there any alternatives we might not be aware of?
I really need someone that know things about working in Switzerland explain for me about all the deduction in my girlfriend's salary.
Her gross salary is 3,409.15.- , but she recently received the paycheck for 2,553.75.-, meaning almost 900.- deduction.
I have listed down all the deduction and here are all the things:
According to her contract, the 13th-month salary is supposed to be paid monthly at the rate of 8.33%. When she brought this up to her boss , he said they will only pay the 13th-month salary after 3-month probation period (Probezeit). Is that normal or allowed?
There is also a 180.- “Verpflegung” deduction for food. She works in the kitchen and apparently isn't allowed to opt out of the meals. When she asked about it, the boss basically just responded 🤷🏻♂️
Other coworkers have the same problem as hers, received around 500 to 900 deduction in paycheck so she's not the only one.
I never work in Swiss before so I don't know anything about all the deductions in paycheck and she said that she never got this much amount of deduction either. I really want to know if these are normal in Switzerland, especially the 180.- food deduction and the 13th-month salary arrangement? Is there anything here that we should ask the employer about?
Thank you all for reading my post. Any help would be greatly appreciated! 🙏
My son received CHF 3k as a gift, and I’m considering True Wealth for him (~0.5% p.a.) until he turns 18.
Would you go with True Wealth Kids, a regular True Wealth account (in my name), another robo-advisor, investment gold, or just buy ETFs yourself?
Curious to hear your experience with True Wealth in general, especially if you’ve been using it for several years.
Dear everyone, some time ago I came to realize that my current plan with Postfinance (PF) was not really going to give me much going on in the future due to very high fees, which set me on course of finding a solution; I tried searching for information whenever I wasn't exhausted from work or amidst life problems, and was grateful when some people here responded quickly with some explanations.
Yesterday I took some extra time to think about everything and my current situation as an exhausted person that thinks losing so many money to fee isn't worth the current suffering, and was wondering if the plan I came up with makes sense from the perspective of someone that is more savvy like you guys here:
1) I have a Pillar 3a at about 40k (Pension 25 with Postfinance)
The above is the result of the talk I had with the consultant at the time, who told me that the 25 3a made sense, and the sustainable investing was an option if I was caring about which companies to invest into.
2) Reviewing some posts and making some calculations on my own (which are for sure far from perfect) I think it might be better to put the Pillar 3a that is almost 50k as five different accounts and move it to Finpension (or VIAC depending on opinions, Finpension seems a nice choice). This would help stagger them in the future between age 60-65, while they grow equally now (at least my understanding is that it's better to let them grow equally than top one, then try to top another). The 3a would be Standard Global 100 Strategy, compared to VIAC putting 30% allocation into Swiss Companies.
For the 3b, I would cancel the e-asset management, mandate into pure cash which would go in the main account. This brings forth the decision of what to do with the rest. As I'm in my late 30s and still have a bit more than 25 years of work to do, the VT and Chill or similar safe investments seems to be ideal. As for the sum to put, it seems convenient to keep about 40-50k in my account for regular use at Postfinance (I would leave an account open since it seems convenient) and effectively put the rest into VT and Chill or other investments.
I would not do sustainable again, because it seems to essentially be greenwashing, and while there are more regulations made in 2025 and more promises in 2026, it doesn't really mean much in real world effectiveness, but rather a kind of safeguard on my conscience.
I do appreciate that the sustainable alternative VT/VWCE and Chill named V3AA seems to keep up well overall, but I also understand now that them dealing with ESG also makes it more expensive.
The question would be whether to do it with True Wealth or better make use of Saxo and just do things on my own.
3) This were lots of doubts further come into mind: is the above strategy good?
I'm absolutely no expert myself, but I tried to inform as much as I could, and yet it doesn't necessarily translate into this being a sound strategy, so I wanted to have an opinion from everyone here. In addition, lots of people I spoke with seem to have a 'home bias' for Switzerland, where they avoid doing a fully diversified portfolio like VT where Switzerland has just 3%, and rather prefer to set a margin of 30% for Switzerland or more.
I'm not sure if I understood fully this bias or the situation, as I assume many Swiss companies actually deal a lot globally, unless I misunderstand the operations that big companies like Novartis and Nestlé (eww) have. (The very typing of Nestlé kinda makes me want to try to go sustainable again, but if they still receive money there is not much point in limiting myself. I also didn't really see many here investing in sustainability, but if someone here does I'd love to hear opinions)
Another doubt is: is there any merit in 'home bias' for Switzerland?
And if yes, what type of investment would one make compared to VT and Chill?
(e.g. putting 15% to 30% into CHSPI or similar well-qualified and profitable packages?)
In addition, I would think of VT and Chill as the preferable option (True Wealth managing seems akin to what I'm doing now, but it seems to also cost more for what it gives compared to SAXO), because it doesn't sound bad to just re-adjust and check once per year, though I also need to learn what exactly it implies.
I also found some threads where people praised Postfinance surprisingly enough, especially when comparing it to SAXO: some people say that SAXO froze their accounts, PF support was better, or the fees are high but it's still worth to remain in PF. This made me feel a bit mortified and thinking whether what I'm doing now would be the safest choice, because I would implement this directly now, in November 2026 mandate the cash, pay the 3a for 2027 then move it to Finpension along setting up SAXO. I'm not sure if SAXO would think putting about 100k is something to block directly, so I would like to hear experiences or other recommendations if you have any.
Would you guys have any advice on this plan? Does it make sense for me at almost 40 years of age with the capital mentioned above? I'm open for both recommendations and criticism (and thank you in advance for your patience)
TL;DR
Current assets all in Postfinance (3a, 3b, and extra money that just sit in account)
Wanting to move to Finpension Standard Global 100 (3a), diversify from one single 3a into opening five at once
SAXO VT and Chill (3b), unsure if 'home bias' for Switzerland/Swiss Franc has some merit
Leave only 40k-50k in account at any time for use during the year
Bonus questions: any merit in sustainability/ESG, and what is your experience with the above providers/apps?
background: I'm 29M, portfolio of ~100k and my investments currently consist of 90% VT-equivalent (with a 50/50 USA vs RoW split), as well as 10% BTC in self-custody. I also work in the financial sector so I have a decent understanding of how macro factors affect markets.
I'm starting to think that maybe I'm overweight stocks and underweight bonds, especially at the high stock valuations VS decent fixed income returns on offer thanks to the bond market sell off. My personal opinion is that it has become a bit overblown, though I often times like to take on contrarian investment positions.
Do you think it would make sense adding a small allocation to a global/regional fixed income ETF? (10-15% max since I have a long investment horizon)
Any product recommendations or criticism would be greatly appreciated!
Hi everyone, I'm struggling to understand something with taxes and retrofilling.
I want to retro-fill my 3a pillar for 2025 and also fill it in for 2026, which is going to cost 2 x 7258 CHF from what I understand.
When I do my tax declaration for 2026, can I deduct 14k or only 7k (which is the limit per year).
The Swiss tax calculators I use only allow to deduct up to 7k, but I am not sure if that's just a bug (not a feature), since this is very new rule and may not be adopted.
Or am I living in wonderland and doing wishful thinking?
29M, working 80% in IT in ZH as "Wochenaufenthalter". Taxes are typically about 150 CHF less, just to be save. Weekends I'm often doing trips or just staying at my parents place. I have club responsibilities/activities there. Also good to spend time together while it's still possible 😄
Subscriptions are phone + some AI stuff. I'm usually out of the country 2-3 months per year. Working remote & travel. Life is good
Other is some freelance income. AHV is already deducted.
I know this question gets asked all the time, or at least permutations of it, but I'm tripping on the details. At the outset: I don't want to invest in VT. As an ex-American, I want as little to do with the IRS as humanly possible for the rest of my life. I will take anal positions on the US market, but I don't want to large positions that would have inheritance tax implications.
I'm looking for a simple strategy to use for the bulk of my investing. Up till now it's been VWRA. (VALL is looking very interesting, and I'm considering investing future deposits there, but I think I'll wait a bit longer before I start.)
I have an interactive brokers family account, with three sub accounts. I'm having a lot of trouble understanding where and how to invest. Up till now I have some VWRA purchased in USD on the LSTE, and some purchased in CHF on the "EBS" ( I guess this is what ibkr calls SIX?) I understand the underlying asset is the same, but it's not clear to me what is the most efficient? Transferring CHF to USD has fees involved. I also need to split the investment across 3 accounts (one for me and one each for my kids). I guess I'm just trying to get a simple answer? Should I be investing in USD? I think that would be the only option for VALL regardless of the exchange? Which exchange should I be using? Should I do one transfer and currency conversion a month, and then distribute the money to the sub accounts? Should I just be buying VWRA in CHF, and keep it simple? Should I wait and do one larger currency conversion every 3 months? I need specific details, and I can't find them...
Hey guys
After some research I found that Interactive Brokers apparently is the best broker for swiss investors.
Thanks poor swiss. I've used it now since the beginning of the year and I am still not really familiar with the interfaces. Yesterday I accidentally sold all my VT-Stocks, oops. I bought them again shortly after.
Are there any tricks/a tutorial or anything else like it, that someone can share?
As my first broker, I've used yuh, which is really easy to use, but I want to optimise my return obviously, so I changed to IBKR.
Is it worth the change and how difficult is that form for the taxes?
Thanks
I have a comfortable job: very nice coworkers, only 30 minute-commute (20 of which on foot), flexible work hours, stress-free, not-so-exciting tasks, but not boring either.
The pay is okay-ish, although greatly lower than in my previous job, which came to a natural end a year ago (project completed).
If I stay on this course, I expect to retire early in around 13 years, at 62.
Due to circumstances (too long to explain here), my employer is reducing my workload (and salary) to 80%. This 20% decrease pretty much eats away my savings rate. I can still contribute to the 2nd and 3rd pillars, and face emergencies, but cannot invest much. There is very little chance that my employer can raise the workload again to 100% in the coming years.
As a consequence, every month I stay at this job is a month later I can retire. Moreover, I'm not even sure that my profession will still exist 10 years from now in Switzerland (de-industrialization of our country). So, I might be one of those involuntarily early retirees that have neither job nor money to really enjoy their retirement with travels, etc. This possibility stresses me out. Therefore, I feel under pressure to accumulate money while I still can, i.e. right now.
That's why I've been job hunting a bit. But my skills are in low demand right now. And I'm afraid of landing in a stressful or inflexible job with a 3-hour daily commute for just a little bit more pay. (been there done that several times, and swore never to do it again, several times ;-( .
I could use that 20% for 3-day weekends, for weeks of vacation, or for upskilling (i.e. working for free). But because of the 20% salary decrease, I won't be able to afford trips during that time. Which sucks and feels to me like I'm losing valuable time of my active life, which won't be eternal.
PS: Text written w/o AI. Yes, I like formatting and have been using bold, paragraphs, etc. since the past century :-)
NW: 1460k CHF
income:
Roughly a year ago I went to 75% employment, so I can call it living 25% FIRE already.
relationship:
Physical health: even more healthy and fit ...more healthy eating, more daily exercise, more time in nature.
Friends & community: More time with friends. Be it for talk or sporty activity, or helping out when they need. In that the 75% schedule had been amazing. I did better on being close with my closest friends, having a good, deep exchange with them. Less so on broader community, but that's also important to me.
Mental health: Doing more on the mental wellbeing and reflection. I meditate a lot more, I read a lot more. I got excited about dancing and painting. Also more time with my diary. Much less on social media. Eliminated most of it, with exception of some focused reddit usage, and selectively youtube, mostly around hobbies and education. Every now and then I slip, like when ill or super stressed. Bu so far I always recovered to my new, happy place within at most 1-2 weeks. Diary habit helps a lot, to bring me back to my other healthy habits.
Speaking of FIRE, I actually like "FINE" = Financial Independence, Next Endevour(s). Puts more focus on active ways of using your time.
Retirement, for good or bad, at least partially conjours up in me image of fairly passive ways of spending ones time. That's certainly not me.
I do recognize I'm extremely lucky living the life I do. On this sub, many people come to say I just write to gloat or brag. I recently saw this post from someone else in a bit similar situation, similar approach to life. Gets the same criticism. But I do come here as one of few places where there are people in similar situation, similar plans, view on life. We can share, inspire each other, etc. https://www.reddit.com/r/SwissFIRE/comments/1uxerie/comment/oxr7ngq/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
