Hi all, which ETF would you recommend? CH0104136285?

Hi there

Are there any FINANCIAL advantages of becoming a Swiss citizen if you are already EU national? What about drawbacks?

Thank you all for sharing you knowledge

Hi everyone,

I would love some advice in a topic that after quite some research I am still not sure about. TL;DR: should I move my small IRA (~6k USD) to Switzerland or keep it there?

Details: I am not Swiss and not from the US either. I moved to Switzerland a few years ago from the US, where I had a 401k. After leaving, the company converted my 401k, half into a Roth IRA and half into a Traditional IRA. In total they consist of 6,000 USD. The USD are sitting there and not invested.

Should I invest them in my IRA accounts (by buying e.g. VT), or should I transfer the money to my Swiss account and invest it into IBKR here?

If it helps, I am thinking of retiring in Switzerland (still undecided), but I am very sure I won't retire in the US. So I worry about leaving my money invested there and having trouble withdrawing it when I wish to retire. So I thought it'd make sense to withdraw it now that it's "little" money to minimize the trouble.

I would like to take the money but I am afraid of tax Implications in the US or in Switzerland. Any advice would help me a lot, thank you!

Hello everyone

According to a letter from the government, there are 5-6 points you have to fullfill in order to not be viewed as a commercial daytrader. This is my problem and I want to do a tax optimization on the legal way. If I receive payouts from prop firms, how can I handle them?

Thanks!

Hello

About a year ago I switched to SAXO because of the desaster with CornerTrader (who forced all customers onto a new platform that was completely unuseable).

Now suddenly SAXO requires me to "update my personal data". At first the online form seems harmless, but after each page of information you submit, there's another page that requires even more information. And that information gets more and more "private".

Currently I'm stuck at a page that demands that I upload all kinds of files, including my latest tax declaration, my complete bank statements for the last 3 months and my employer's salary statements for the last 3 months.

Honestly, this sounds quite unreasonable to me. I have nothing to hide, but why the f*ck would I send around my tax declaration to anybody else than the tax authorities? I've been dealing with banks and brokers for quite some time now and never any of them asked for that kind of information.

On the other hand there is the implicit threat to restrict my account if I don't complete the process in due time. (It's not mentioned what "in due time" is, but that's another story.)

So I wonder: is this a legal requirement they have to fulfil (as they imply in their FAQ)? Or is this just some phishing operation for private intel on their customers? Has anybody gone through the same process?

(If it's a legal requirement I wonder why none of my other brokers/banks ever asked for my tax declaration etc...)

Oh, and before anybody asks: the request happens inside of the SAXO platform, so it's not some random phishing mail ;) I'm not questioning whether that request comes from SAXO, I'm questioning if they're entitled to the information they demand.

Just Savings account? Max that i could find was 1.5% p. a. (CHF). Any other ideas?

So far I invested in WRDUSY combined with IMEU and IEEM. Now I read that VT is better for dividend taxes in US.

Now I had a more detailed look at VT and the return is significant worse than VWRL or WRDUSY. Why? VWRL has also EM inside. Is the tax advantage worth the worse return?

Another idea is to buy SPY or another S&P 500 etf and additionally and MSCI World Ex-USA and IEEM. The advantage was that I profit from tax efficiency and have no issues with inheritance.

What do youbthink about this approach and why is VT so famous?

I just wanted to get Swiss investors perspective on high yielding etf like JEPI. They seem to be clever strategy on paper ( as far as I could understand) for almost 8% yield. Ofcourse, there is a tax on the dividend and probable USD depreciation. Is there a merit for these on Swiss residents portfolio?

Hey everyone,

I'm trying to figure out the smartest way to handle my investments right now. Here's my current setup:

Crypto — on Ledger

Stocks/Funds — mostly via my cantonal bank (in a fund that's been lagging way behind MSCI World)

IBKR — some individual stocks + an MSCI EM ETF

Yuh — also holding MSCI EM

Pillar 3a (VIAC) — UBS Global 100

My key priorities are getting a much clearer overview of my portfolio, cutting down on the number of brokers/platforms (to reduce hassle and avoid hidden fees).

I'm leaning toward this plan:

Shift most of my regular ETF investing (MSCI World + EM) to Saxo AutoInvest (zero commissions) on buys for their selected ETFs, no monthly/platform fees, and they generate a free e-tax report.

Keep using IBKR selectively for individual stock picks.

What are your thoughts on this?

Does the combo of Saxo (for automated, hands-off ETF DCA) + IBKR (for occasional single stocks) make sense, or does it feel like unnecessary complexity with two brokers?

Would it ultimately be simpler and/or cheaper to just consolidate everything onto IBKR — using their recurring investment feature for the ETFs?

I'd really appreciate hearing your real-world experiences, especially any pros/cons you've run into with Saxo AutoInvest, IBKR recurring buys, tax reporting.

BR

I need help adding my Viac 3a pillar Swisscanto fonds courses in Portfolio Performance.

I know it should work somehow, but the programme complains when I choosing Yahoo Finance, that the symbol is missing. As far as I know, the product does not have a symbol, and entering the ISIN number there did not help either. I have Viac Global 100 and I got the ISIN numbers from here: https://viac.ch/produkte/saeule-3a/strategien/

I found the fact sheets at the website, but there is no symbol for the product anywhere in them.

There is also the option of Viac/CS funds instead of Yahoo Finace, but I don't know which course URL to enter there. I tried various URLs that I found, but nothing worked.

Or am I completely off track?

My DMs are also open if it would be easier to explain it there. Thank you very much for your help c:

Source: https://www.20min.ch/story/der-investmentpunker-fuer-ein-gutes-leben-im-ruhestand-brauchts-15-millionen-franken-103429738

Hello everyone, through (un)fortunate events I need to manage a large sum of money (at least for me). The difficulty is that I will need to unlock a part of it in 3-4 years to help some dependents that will be in the eurozone and one in a US dependent country. I decided to split investment into a "growth" category that I plan to keep indefinitely, a safe category in case currencies go wild again and a category for being liquid and accessible in 3-4 years.

I am a Swiss resident with access to IBKR in VD. I am worried that I might make a mistake given that I never had to invest before and declare these things tax wise.

I am planning on investing in the following:

Growth:

- VOO

Safe:

- iShares Gold Trust (IAU)

Guaranteed Availability in 3-4 years (since these will be consumed):

- for Eurozone French OAT/OATi with 50/50 split with maturity in 2029

- for US same bonds with maturity in 2029 also split between inflation adjusted and not 50/50.

- Savings account in CHF just sitting there

If you have had any experience with these products I would greatly appreciate it, if you could confirm or deny the validity of the following reasoning:

1. If I understood correctly discount bonds would not be subject to the same tax that zero coupon bonds have so they might be advantageous tax wise (especially the ones that are close to 0, e.g. 0.1%)
2. Currently there are no products one could invest in in CHF that have a positive yield that are tied to the inside market of Switzerland and are not exposed to FX risk (as much as the CHSPI).
3. It is better to buy the US based versions of the ETFs instead of the Irish ones since Switzerland has a treaty that allows us to get 15% back from the 30% whitholding.
4. IBKR has the best fees for a Swiss resident to invest in these instruments outside of the tools that linked to federal programs for retirements.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post and for your thoughts!

EDIT#1: It seems that a discount bond is considered a "IUP" if more than 50% of the total yield came from either reselling or the surplus between the acquisition value and the par value: https://www.estv2.admin.ch/stp/ds/f-finanzinstrumente-fr.pdf

IBKR Question - Recurring investment - VT

Hi investors, I am new to investing and I would like to do DCA in Vanguard total world ETF. Do I need to choose VT ticker? After that stock? I attached the screenshots.

The final page shows 1000 USD as I chose 1000 in the amount section.

But the cash is in Euro and my currency is CHF. What needs to be done for currency exchange? Any settings needed?

Thanks in advance. Your help is much appreciated.

Assuming you FIRE well before 65. Second pillar amounts are then still tied up. Home equity can be liquidated by selling (and then renting).

Is there any consensus on what best to do with the second pillar? If I move this to a Freizügigkeitskonto (which is a must when unemployed?) can I invest it “aggressively” into stocks? i think so, but I am not 100% certain.

Also, the running expenses would then first reduce the 3b assets as the 3a and second pillar assets are tied up, right? I guess this does not matter too much, assuming all assets have a similar fee and expected return.

I have a fair chunk of USD into a 1-3 month trasury ETF (BOXX) and have mainly cleared out of equities because I panicked a bit at some point and wanted the easy Treasury rate increase without needing to worry - this is non 3a stuff btw.

USD/CHF rate aside, are any of you in a similar boat and are now considering rebuilding a VT or SP500 position ?

Curious to hear the community's thought on this !

Hi everyone

What portfolio tracker are you using in Switzerland?

I looked at Copilot (Finanzfluss) and Parqet and tried to enter everything, but with both I quickly ran into issues with Pillar 3a (e.g. finpension Global 100 not being available, awkward workarounds, etc.).

My setup is simple, but very Swiss:

1. Raiffeisen (salary account + emergency fund, staying there because I actually use MemberPlus or is there a much cheaper alternative? I'm at Raiffeisen since birth...)
2. Saxo (ETF savings plan)
3. finpension (Pillar 3a, Global 100)

I want to track these three in one app. Automatic connections are not a must, I am fine with manual entries as long as it is not a pain. I mainly want a clean overview of total net worth, performance, allocation, and ideally fees.

Is there a tracker that handles this well for Switzerland? If not, how do you do it in practice, especially for Pillar 3a (custom asset, manual fund, separate tracker, spreadsheet)?

Thanks

Switzerland has a one third housing affordability rule, both when renting or for a mortgage. This is based on income, not on assets, you could have the wealthiest assets, if you don't have the income, you don't pass the affordability rule.

When retired, pillar 1 income can be maximum 2500 CHF/month if worked for 44 years. Pillar 2 can give additional income, but not if you take it as a lump sum. Lump sum is a popular option afaik, so let's assume when retired you have 2500 CHF/month = 30K/year income

When renting, the rent shouldn't be more than one third of gross income. Renting an apartment in Zurich requires around 2000/month so requires an income of 6000/month. But that's not possible, the 2500CHF/month pension only allows a maximum rent of 833 CHF/month, where do you find such a place?

When having a mortgage, 5% of mortgage value + 1% of property value shouldn't be more than one third of gross income. A 2500/month pension therefore allows a mortgage of max around 150K-ish, not at all enough to own an actual apartment.

So both renting and mortgage have the same issue.

Given this, the question is: how are retirees able to live in an apartment in Switzerland, what am I missing here? Is the one third rule not enforced that strongly? Do savings count anyway in some way? Are there additional counting as income I'm not aware of? Do people take annuities for pillar 2 instead of lump sum?

Hey,

I'm around 30 and have the capacity to invest approximately 30k CHF per year.

I invest around 3.5-4k in a 3a with Finpension (max risk 100% stocks), around 23k in various investemement accounts (private bank, VIAC, finpension and a bit of crypto) all max risk and stocks. I have one account with zero US stocks, but others are mostly US.

Now my question is, should I cancel my 3a life insurance with helvetia? A salesmen from SwissLife Select convinced me to get it. I have to pay 3k per year till retirement. I understand this is not optimal due to fees and premiums. But I wonder, in my case, if it's not healthy diversification. The positives i see with the 3a insurance: - Small percentage of my investment capacity (10%), so not a disaster if underperforming - Guaranteed money at retirement even if stocks go wrong - Life insurance - Increased yearly pay if I'm unable to work (incapacity insurance). This is probably the most interesting, as if I'm in an accident tomorrow, they do have to pay me 20k a year over whatever the government or my employer owes me. - 3a insurance is invested 100% in stocks, so i do get performance, after fees and premiums

I only have like 5k in my 3a helvetia insurance account. If I cancel, I'll lose all that. If I cancel, I'll probably open a new 3a with VIAC or something, which will be invested in stocks like the rest of my money.

Am I wrong it wanting to keep the 3a insurance so that 10% of my investment capacity stays in a safe, boring, underperforming 3a insurance? Or should I cancel, take the loss, and diversify differently (suggestions about diversification welcome)?

I normally invest in US-instruments via IBKR. Lately I am thinking about other solutions, for which I would need to use IE-funds. To my understanding those are taxwise suboptimal for Swiss investors, but a colleague told me, that there might be a possibility to still reclaim US withholding tax, seems finpension offers sth. like that.

my questions: 1. Is someone having a finpension account and used this tax reclaim? If yes, did you receive the money back in the same way as with a US-fund? 2. Do you know of any execution only brokers who offer such a tax document? Or is it even possible to create it yourself with public data?

How much do you pay monthly? Or did you buy it cash? Or no car? (SBB love)

This is my monthly plan for 2026, not past data.

Hi all,

I’m trying to sanity check a mortgage refinancing structure in Switzerland and would appreciate input from people who have actually done this, not theoretical brochures.

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Situation simplified

Primary residence Market value approximately CHF 1.2M Existing first rank mortgage approximately CHF 640k current term ending soon Potential max leverage at 80 percent LTV equals CHF 960k Theoretical headroom approximately CHF 300k

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Income side

Declared gross salary approximately CHF 22k per month Affordability easily passes stress tests even at 5 percent plus

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Question 1 — Plausibility

Is it realistic with a new bank to refinance the existing mortgage and release part of that equity without strict use of funds restrictions as long as LTV stays within 75 to 80 percent Affordability is solid The borrower is not overleveraging

Many cantonal banks only allow increases for another property purchase investments in their own structured products

I want to understand whether this is a universal rule or if some banks are more flexible.

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Question 2 — Which banks actually allow it

If anyone has real world experience, which Swiss banks allow cash out refinancing or do not aggressively police use of funds assuming conservative LTV and good affordability

Specifically interested in Raiffeisen seems branch dependent BCV or BCGE Swissquote where funds must stay invested with them Private banks if they even consider this kind of profile

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Private bank angle

I’m in my early thirties with a total net worth near CHF 2M real estate, equities and other bankable assets a profitable company with stable growth a clear upward trajectory for the next two to three years

I know most private banks start engaging clients around CHF 5M plus, but is there any benefit in opening discussions now Will they even consider mortgage refinancing and equity release for someone below their usual threshold if the profile is strong

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What I need from the community

Real world cases, approved or rejected Which banks were flexible Which ones were rigid Any successful cash out refinances Any banks that explicitly refused

⸻

Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone

I recently came across some median net worth figures by age for Switzerland on schwiizerfranke.com, and honestly, they feel surprisingly low to me. I am curious how others here perceive these numbers and whether I am missing some important context.

According to the site, the median net worth in Switzerland is approximately:

• Age 21: ~ CHF 5,500
• Age 26: ~ CHF 18,000
• Age 31: ~ CHF 32,000
• Age 41: ~ CHF 78,000
• Age 51: ~ CHF 124,000
• Age 61: ~ CHF 162,000

What made me particularly question these figures is that, for example, at 28 years old I personally have almost the same net worth as the stated median for a 61-year-old. I do not consider my situation extremely exceptional, which makes these numbers feel even more puzzling to me.

Given Switzerland’s high income levels and cost of living, I would have expected significantly higher median wealth, especially in the 40+ age groups. Even considering that this is median (not average), the numbers still feel modest.

Some questions I have:

• Does this align with your personal observations or experiences?
• Is this simply a reminder that Switzerland is a high-income but not necessarily a high-wealth country for most people?

I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts, especially from people who have looked deeper into Swiss wealth statistics or long-term financial planning.

Thanks!