About The Poor Swiss
(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links)
Hi! I am Baptiste Wicht, alias The Poor Swiss, the author of this blog.
Is it possible to retire early in Switzerland? This is the question I was asking myself when I started this blog. I am going to try to find out the answer. But I strongly believe that it is possible. My goal is to become Financially Independent in Switzerland.
We are The Poor Swiss family:
- Baptiste (Mr. The Poor Swiss), a software engineer in his 30s
- Mrs. The Poor Swiss, my wife, coming from China
- Baby Poor Swiss, our very young son
We live in Switzerland, in a small village, in the canton Fribourg. We are a single-income family. I have recently finished my doctorate in Computer Science. I am learning about personal finance and investing and trying to improve my finances and especially my savings rate.
I started The Poor Swiss blog in October 2017. Before I started my blog, I barely saved 10% of my income on average. In 2021, I saved about 50% of my entire income! Every month, we work on improving our expenses to increase our savings rate. In 2020, we bought a house. We were able to save for the downpayment in only two years. Our next goal is to work towards Financial Independence.
This blog is about helping you reach Financial Independence and learn about Personal Finance in Switzerland.
Journey to Financial Independence
My goal is to become financially independent. I do not have a set year in mind. But I would like to be financially independent before the age of 50. Ideally, I would like to become financially-independent before. I do not know yet if I will retire directly since I currently like my job. But there are many reasons why being Financially Independent is highly desirable.
Every month, I will publish an update on how I am financially. You can also follow my important numbers, such as my net worth and my savings rate, in our monthly updates. As I learn new things related to investing and personal finance, I will also try to share my findings with you!
What is this blog all about?
I am trying to communicate my experience on this site along the way to Financial Independence (FI). The idea is to motivate me to get better at managing my expenses and income. And if I can help some of you along the way, it would be great as well!
Of course, Financial Independence is highly related to Personal Finance. So, you will find many tips about Personal Finance and especially Personal Finance in Switzerland on this blog.
I will try to share my thoughts and information about personal finance, budget, Switzerland, and such. Hopefully, you can learn and improve your finances like I am doing.
What makes this blog different?
Several things may make this blog from all the other personal finance blogs.
- A basic situation I am not a millionaire who already retired and had a 300K yearly income. I am not very successful in finance or investing, for that matter.
- A different perspective I am among the few Swiss (and European) Personal Finance Bloggers. So I may have a different perspective than most.
- Follow the full journey This blog is starting from the early beginning of my finance path. This blog started a few months after I finished my Ph.D., so just before the real work begins.
- Transparency I am going to share as many details as possible regarding my finances. You should be able to see the full story here! If you feel something is missing, please let me know!
I hope these traits will help make my blog interesting for my readers!
Why the “The Poor Swiss”?
Come on, everybody knows all people are rich in Switzerland…
Not really! If you look at net worth per capita, and income per capita, Switzerland is always in the TOP 10. However, we are also in the TOP 10 of the most expensive countries in the world. And Zurich is considered the most expensive city in the world. Switzerland is also one of the countries where it is the most difficult to own your own house. It is also a country where many people do not get medical treatment because they cannot afford it.
The main problem is that there is a huge number of wealthy people in Switzerland. Because taxes are very affordable in Switzerland. This completely skews the averages. Do not get me wrong. I love this country! However, compared to the image that most people have of Swiss people, I am a poor Swiss.
And strangely, Swiss people are not educated in Personal Finance. Most people do not talk about their finances. And a lot of people significantly overspend. For instance, too many people take their cars in leasing. Finally, young people do not care enough about their financial future. Hopefully, this blog will improve the state of Personal Finance in Switzerland.
My story
The story started when I realized that my finances were not going well. Therefore, I decided to fix my budget, and I started reading many personal finance blogs. I soon discovered the Financial Independence and Retire Early (FIRE) philosophy. I decided I wanted to get financially independent. So I started investing and saving more and more of my income. I document my savings rate month after month as well as my net worth.
We now save about 50% of our income every month. And all our savings are invested in the stock market. We are not investing in real estate, but we own our house. Once our stock portfolio reaches a nice value, we may consider investing in real estate for diversification.
If you like what you read on this blog, you can subscribe to the newsletter.
If you have questions or suggestions about the blog, please do not hesitate to contact me. I will do my best to answer you as soon as possible. You can also comment on any post on this website
Transparency and accountability
To make us accountable, we are trying to share as much as possible regarding our finances!
If you are interested, you can find out more about us:
These pages should contain all the information you need! You can follow the full story month after month.
How to get the most from the blog?
This blog is all about sharing all that I have learned during my journey. If you are just getting started, I have a guide for new readers.
If you are interested in the services I am using, you can find them in my Toolbox.
Disclosure
I am not a financial advisor and not nearly an expert in investing. What I share here is my experience, not financial advice. This website is here for entertainment purposes only. What I share on this is not to be taken as financial advice. I am not responsible, nor reliable, for any money loss or suffering one would face after reading from this blog.
Read my full disclosure for more information.