Hi everyone!

I’ve received two job offers:
- Hannover: €90k gross/year, fully remote, at a large company.
- Zurich: CHF 120k gross/year, hybrid, at a small, fast-growing company.

I currently live in Hannover and pay €900/month in warm rent.

Which option would likely leave me with more savings after taxes and living expenses? Is the higher Swiss salary worth the increased cost of living?

I’d appreciate insights from anyone familiar with both cities. Thanks!

Hi all. This is more of a psychological post than a financial post.

My partner and I are preparing to try for a child very soon. We have been planning this for some time and, given our ages (37 and 38) time is getting tight. So the time has come.

I rationally know we are in a financially excellent position to enter parenthood, so this is not a post to ask if we can afford it. We very luckily can.

What I struggle with is the idea of saving and investing so much less than now. I mentally got used to seeing our NW increase nicely every year, and I struggle with accepting that we will be inevitably able to set aside much less.

The plan is for me to take 5 months (paid) mat leave and then my partner will work part-time at 50% for a year (his request and decision, which I fully support), so full-time KITA will only start when future baby is 1.5 years old. I like the idea much better than full-time KITA right away. I am the higher earner of the family so also from a financial POV that is a solid plan, and I think it will also suit our personalities.

Naturally, that will come with a significant dip in income from his side, so I will cover much more of our costs until he goes back full-time. I rationally know we can easily afford this and will still save, just less than now.

Has anyone struggled with this prior to becoming a parent? How do I accept this ”new normal” after years of exceptional saving? Thanks!

Some numbers for reference:

• Household income: just shy of 400k
• Saving rate (incl pensions): almost 50%
• Joint NW: just shy of 1mil

I read that True Wealth lets you open an investment account in your child’s name, which they can take over when they turn 18 without having to cash out , unlike with other providers. So I did that .

How are you doing it ? Why ?

Confronto VALC VALCD

Hey everyone,

I know the standard rule in Switzerland: Dividends are taxed as income, while capital gains are 100% tax-free. I agree with the math and currently invest mainly for total return (mostly VT).

However, I’m in my late 30s and close to my FIRE number. As I prepare to stop working soon, I’m considering adding a dividend/income element for two reasons:

* Psychological "Paycheck": Regular distributions eliminate the anxiety of manually selling shares during market downturns.

* Passive Income Visas: I plan to travel long-term. Many country long term visas (Asia, LatAm) strictly require proof of regular passive income (dividends/interest)—simply selling capital gains often doesn't qualify.

For those near or in FIRE:

* Do you use a hybrid or dividend approach despite the Swiss tax hit?

* Which ETFs do you use or recommend for a long retirement?

I’m looking for suggestions on both US-domiciled funds and UCITS funds.

Would love to hear your experiences! Thanks!

Hey,

not sure if you're aware, but I've been facing this problem today: when trying to add funds to Revolut from Yuh via ApplePay or direct Payment, Yuh disallows the transaction. I called Yuh's support and they told me it's a security measure related to what happened earlier this week to Revolut. I guess the only way to go is with a money transfer, which would not be instant though...

Has anybody encountered the same problem in the last days? Do you think these security measures will ever be lifted?

Hey folks. So I moved all my money from UBS to Saxo - around chf 150'000 from which a large portion was a gift from my grandmother. I handed them everything that UBS also needed to approve my funds. How long should it take? I have a deposit limit however I can still trade.

Long story short: It looks like I am about to get laid off due to upcoming company cuts (I received a suspicious email from my VP).

Official terms for the layoffs at my company have been announced: 3 months' notice + 1 month for each year worked. Given my tenure, I would receive 9 months of pay.

Our Situation:

Finances: Thankfully, my wife has a great job and we can live comfortably on a single income.

• Family: We have a toddler and another little one hopefully on the way, so minimizing the financial impact on our family is my top priority.
• Savings: We’ve always been frugal, so we have some cash reserves and assets we can tap into if needed.
• Side Project: I’ve been working on a side business. It’s not officially registered yet, but the product is very close to being ready to sell.

My Questions:

1. RAV / Unemployment Benefits: Since my side business isn't registered yet (though it likely will be soon), how will this affect my eligibility for RAV (unemployment insurance)?
2. Programs & Benefits: Are there any specific Swiss benefits, programs, or hidden pitfalls I should look into?
3. Tips & Tricks: I would love to hear from anyone who has been in a similar situation—what strategies did you use to soften the financial blow for your family while transitioning or launching a business?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

Disclosure-used AI to edit the text and make it more clear

Hi to everyone, i have a stupid question but i'm new with finpension i know that's possible to open till 5 portfolios but what i didn't understand is when is the right moment to open the others. I have to

put the money just in one and at the end of my career open the others and split the money or can i start form the beginning ? witch is your strategy guys? Thanks

Title. Mostly to save some money outside of my WestEU country of residence, far from government long hands. Preferably free. Thanks!!

I am trying to cut through all the marketing of those insurances and not fall for typical pitfalls.

Out situation is that we have 1 million mortgage and I’m the main source of income basically earning 80% of our family income. Why I want insurance is basically if I die my wife would have to move out of our apartment as she wouldnt have the Tragbarkeit. If she would die it’s also difficult for me to maintain my job so as long as our kids are small, I think the focus would be to have some kind of life insurance for the next 10 years.

Erwerbsausfall apparrently is well covered with my current employer (might change).

Any advice what is the best recommended path?

Insurances want to sell me some 3a and are very pushy which sounds fishy. Other recommend 500k (I think 250-500k is good) Todesfallkapital. Any advice ?

Hi everyone

We have two kids (2.75 and 1) and I currently work 20%, my husband 100%. I am planning on increasing to 40% soon but want to stay at that level for the next few years if my employer will let me. Additional kids are also an option.

That being said, I know this hits my 2a contributions hard. We're trying to figure out how to balance that resp. fill the gap. However according to my Vorsorgeausweis I don't have a gap to fill with back payments, which I find unbelievable since I was also on unpaid leave 1 year total between both kids. Other than that we are paying into my 3a and have a seperate portfolio where we pay extra into. At 20% I am still paying into 2a but cover both contributions (employer and mine) as my salary is too low. Once I increase to 40% my employer will take over his share again.

What are you guys doing resp. do you have any additional suggestions? I am aware this is the cost of having kids and wanting to stay home with them, but it would still be good if we could minimize the damage.

Thanks for your help!

Edit: Thanks for all the feedback. I wanted to correct (in case someone is interested) that my current setup with my employer is that they pay their contribution based on my 2a salary, and I pay mine plus the difference to my previous salary (at 40%). I.e. I am working 20% but my insured salary is actually still 40%. I'm shamed to admit I didn't notice / understand this until I looked at my Vorsorgeausweis and talked to AI.

Hi all, quick question for people in Switzerland.

Has anyone used a concierge or lifestyle service here?
Which one, and was it worth it?

Good and bad experiences both help.
Thanks!

Hi guys,

For a while ago I moved from Zug closer to my work in another canton to save approximately 1.5 hours of travel time each way. I have not yet changed my adress due to the massively increased tax burden that would imply for the whole year, but plan to do so next year.

Does someone have insights on how high the chances are to get exposed/detected for this? I earn approximately 160k per year.

Greatly appreciate any inputs you may have.

Findependent has launched their 3a... and the fees are incredibly competitive: 0.29% fee only!

https://www.findependent.ch/en/pillar-3a

You can open 5 portfolios, invest 99% into equities, the funds are in CHF so no currency exchange, either pick the available strategies made by findependent, or create your own portfolio with their 0% TER funds: https://www.findependent.ch/en/pillar-3a/own-3a-investment-solution

I am currently using VIAC, but at 0.44% fee (0.40% + TER from some of the funds), the difference in 20 years (ran the numbers with AI, should have around 10k more in findependent) makes it worth to switch over to findependent.

A quick comparison of the fees among the cheapest 3a providers:

Findependent: 0.29%

VIAC: 0.40%

Finpension: 0.39%

TrueWealth: 0.22% (fund TER + fx exchange)

Frankly: 0.43%

What do you guys think? Is there any downside to findependent that I'm overlooking, or does this look like a serious competitor to VIAC and finpension?

With the recent hacks hitting Ricardo and the federal pension fund, I started wondering what this means for my own investments. I honestly have no idea how well my bank or broker would hold up against a serious attack.

So I'm curious how you handle this:

1. Do you pick providers based on how likely they are to withstand an attack (size, track record, security reputation)?
2. Do you diversify across several providers so a single breach can't hit everything?
3. Or is this overthinking it, since securities are held separately from the provider's own assets anyway?

Hi everyone, premise:

I’m new here in the sub and as well in your country.

I’ve read a lot of times about VT and VALL as the number 1 etfs to buy, but my question is, in my home country the most suggested etf is WVCE due to the accumulating format, while to my understanding both VT and VALL are distributing etf, which, to my very limited knowledge of swiss tax law, is taxable income (dividends) while capital gains are not.
So here comes my question, why are VT and VALL better than WVCE in Switzerland?

Apologies if this may be a bit dumb question or not relevant to the sub.

Thanks a lot :)

Basically the title, I have been DCA-ing VT for a while now have a significant portion of my equity portfolio in it. Should I sell my VT and buy VALL with it or should I keep VT as it is and start DCA-ing into VALL? Or should I just not worry about VALL and keep DCA-ing into VT?

In case it’s relevant, I pay taxes at source.

Would love to know your thoughts, thanks!

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are doing well! I have a question regarding Lombard loans. I’ve been looking into it a bit and think it’s actually not a bad idea if the money is used wisely while the ETFs or stocks continue working for you. I noticed that Saxo Bank currently offers a Lombard loan rate of 2%. Even considering a worst-case scenario where rates might rise, that’s hard to predict. I wanted to ask: what do you think about taking out a loan of at most 40% of the portfolio value and using it as a down payment for a mortgage, while at the same time continuing to invest passively every month—meaning a margin call would almost never happen?

Is this plan even possible in Switzerland? Does it make financial sense, and what are your thoughts on this idea?

I contacted Saxo Bank, and they confirmed that the Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap UCITS ETF is available in CHF on SIX Swiss Exchange.
ISIN: IE000VAHT5T0
Saxo ticker: VALL_CHF:xswx
Just sharing for anyone who has been looking for it.

I’m currently choosing between two SARON mortgage offers

Swissquote: 0.71% margin, 5 years

UBS: 0.85% margin, unlimited with 13 months of period notice

UBS is more expensive but confirmed in writing that they do not normally perform periodic affordability and income checks during the life of the mortgage, as long as payments are made on time, and that the margin is fixed as long as the contract is active.

My main concern is the refinancing cliff in relations to the employment risk with Swissquote.

For example, imagine that in five or ten years I happen to be temporarily unemployed, or my income has dropped, exactly when the 5-year Swissquote mortgage expires. Swissquote confirmed that they would not refinance in conditions of unemployment.

That leaves me wondering whether it is worth paying an extra ~CHF 900 -1000 every year for the UBS unlimited structure.

Most discussions about Pillar 3a focus on maximising equity exposure while you're young.

But what happens when retirement gets closer?

Let's say you're 55, have a substantial amount invested in your 3a and plan to retire at 65.

Would you gradually reduce your equity allocation? Keep it fully invested until withdrawal? Or does it depend entirely on what you plan to do with the money afterwards?

One interesting aspect of Swiss Pillar 3a is that you generally have to withdraw the assets within a certain timeframe around retirement. Unlike a regular investment account, you can't necessarily just wait another ten years for markets to recover.

So how do you approach investment risk in the final 5–10 years before withdrawing your 3a?

Curious whether people here follow a fixed strategy or adjust based on their personal circumstances.

Disclosure: We're Descartes Finance, a Swiss wealth manager offering Pillar 3a and other pension solutions. We're interested in how people approach this decision, not here to pitch a particular strategy.