August 2026 – Switching to Bank WIR Bankpaket top

August 2026

August 2026 started in plain heat again and then finally cooled down. We are delighted about getting some fresh air and cooler nights again. The rain was also welcome, but we could have had more. Things are still looking pretty dry around here.

We had more activities than  usual this month. For the heat, we turned to activities such as visiting military bunkers and salt mines. This was really nice to do some activities without being drenched in sweat. We also invited people over more than usual, which was also nice.

Our son just entered school this month. He only did a few days so far, so next month will be the real test. But so far, it went really well.

I learned very late that I will have to go back to the US for work next month. And this coincides with a bad week. So the organization has been a mess. With school for both my son and wife, such organization is getting very hard. The first year of school in Switzerland only consists of half days.

Our income was higher than expected because I received some shares from my employer.

Switching to Bank WIR Bankpaket top

Best primary bank account

WIR Bank Top

5.0

WIR Bank Top is an excellent banking package without fees from a reputable bank.

Use our link to receive 50 CHF when you open an account.

Pros:

• Interbank exchange rate

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You need to deposit 250 CHF in the first 30 days to get the bonus on your account.

Until now, we were using the Migros Bank account as our main bank account and Neon and Alpian as secondary bank accounts for payments abroad. I finally got tired of having multiple accounts. So, we decided to switch to Bank WIR Bankpaket top.

When I first reviewed this product, I was not too enthusiastic because of its conditions that make it unsuitable for a secondary bank account. But I am starting to think that these conditions are not so bad because Bank WIR Bankpaket top is the perfect primary bank account:

• No fees for the account
• Plenty of free withdrawals
• Interbank exchange rate abroad and in foreign currencies
• Access to e-banking

Currently, Bank WIR Bankpaket top is the only account that ticks all these boxes. So, we have created a new joint account with them. Everything went smoothly. And now, we have transitioned all remaining references to the bank account. We still have our Migros Bank account and will keep it for a few months to make sure no payments are making it there.

Expenses

Here are the details of our expenses in August 2026:

In total, we spent 14077 CHF. Without taxes, we spent 5850 CHF. This is still slightly higher than our goal, but this is better than many of our recent months. So I am pleased that we reduced our expenses.

Overall, these expenses are higher than they should be, but they are not nearly as bad as last month.

The groceries are high for two reasons. First, we invited people over multiple times, each time in a large group. I am perfectly happy with that kind of expense. Second, we went back to Prodega to do some reserves. This is something that will last for months, so again, I am fine with that.

Talking about groceries, we found a new money-saving tip. Through my employer, we have access to Swibeco. Swibeco is a platform that some employers join to give benefits to their employees. And we found out that we get Lidl vouchers at a 5% discount. Since Lidl is where we do most of our groceries, we plan to use that extensively in the future.

In August, we also installed a second garden bed next to the first one. We will likely install a third one next year.

We had some non-monthly bills this month. First, we had to pay for the water, which is a bill we get every 6 months. Then, we had to pay for the power, which is a bill we pay every 3 months. Finally, we had the yearly real estate tax to this pay this month.

Other than that, our expenses are pretty much standard and are mostly fixed expenses or expenses for family activities.

I am quite happy that we got to reduce our expenses. This is one of the best months of the year. We still have to be careful, but we made some progress.

2026 Goals

Here is the status of our goals by the end of August 2026:

Overall, we did rather well towards our goals this month. With our better expenses this month, we lower our average expenses. It is still not in a great place, but it is still better than before.

I am counting the Swibeco 5% coupons as an optimization of our budget. We will not manage to pay everything with coupons, of course, but if we manage to use 2 coupons per month, that is already 10 CHF per month saved, and we can probably do better.

I did slightly fewer workouts than before in August 2026. I usually do it in  the mornings when I work. And many mornings were not standard this month. But it is still more than a decent result.

For some reason, I am unable to get back step counters from my walking pad. The old app does not work anymore. And the new one is not even connecting to the walking pad. I have tried multiple apps that can control the walking pad properly, but I did not find one that could track steps. Therefore, I am simply using the remote now and have lost the tracking from my steps. I would have failed this goal anyway, but now I cannot even track it.

We still are not done with the solar installation. Indeed, we are still waiting for the final electrical audit. Also, we have not yet received the subvention.

Overall, I am happy about our goals. I am just a bit disappointed about WalkingPad not being able to make decent apps.

FI Ratio

Here is the progress of our FI ratio as of August 2026:

Overall, our FI ratio is going well this month. We crossed over the 69% ratio this month for the first time. We reached about 69.7% this month. The stock market did rather well, and the USD/CHF rate was almost flat.

Since we are quite far from retirement, I am not too concerned about these numbers. Next month, we will pay the very large land register bill, so it will go down significantly. My goal this year is to end up the year about where we started it. Given the move into the new house, the solar panels, and the land register, we did not plan to increase much this year.

Since we did not know how much we would have to pay in land register, we did hold more cash than necessary. Once we have paid the land register bill next month, we will be able to reduce our cash again.

Overall, I am happy about our progress towards financial independence.

The blog

Very little happened on the blog. I was a bit late producing this article, so I shifted it by one week. I am trying to not let that happen again, but time will be very scarce now that both my wife and son are in school.

Other than that, I had to do some minor improvements to some calculators. And I need to refresh some links for my partners, but it was quiet. I only managed to do one video (total of 3), far from the 10 I want to have ready before I start the channel. At this rate, I will not even have the 10 videos ready this year.

Next Month – September 2026

In September, I have to go back to the US for work. So I may be less active on the blog than I am usually am. Our son just started school, so September will be his first full month in school. Organization will be tough. We will also celebrate the 5-year anniversary of our son. Other than that, we have nothing else planned, which is already more than enough.

We just received the bill for the land register transfer. This means that we will have to pay about 40K CHF in September and will have no savings. We will also fix the radiator that was broken and improve the water issue. Other than that, we are not expecting special income or special expenses.

What about you? How was August 2026?