Switzerland Archives - Page 2 of 2

Home » Switzerland

What is the best credit card in Switzerland ?

Mr. The Poor SwissMay 28, 2018August 27, 2018Frugality, Spending, Switzerland, Tips9 Comments

This month I had to use my credit card a lot. We paid for our honeymoon in full in advance. I also had to advance money to my company for a trip that they will reimburse later. Also, we purchased many things online. Finally, we pay all our groceries with credit card. To make sure I could pay for our wedding lunch, I even had to increase my limit to 5000 CHF.

Once I realized how much I was using this credit card, I started to wonder if my card was the best available for me. Also, I read a lot of stories of people getting a lot of flights and hotels for free using credit cards. I wanted to know if this was possible for me too. Let’s explore the different options that are available in Switzerland.

Continue reading “What is the best credit card in Switzerland ?”

We got married! Wedding in Switzerland

Mr. The Poor SwissMay 25, 2018July 9, 2018Frugality, Spending, Switzerland15 Comments

We got married! Last friday (18.05.2018) Mr and Mrs the Poor Swiss got married! Find out about our wedding in Switzerland.

This post is mostly an occasion for me to share the good news 😉 And some photos! I will also share information about how weddings in Switzerland.

Continue reading “We got married! Wedding in Switzerland”

The three pillars of Retirement in Switzerland – 4. Summary

Mr. The Poor SwissApril 20, 2018July 9, 2018FIRE, Investment, Switzerland7 Comments

This post is part 4 of 4 in the series The three pillars of Retirement in Switzerland.

The previous three posts of the series covered the three pillars of retirement in Switzerland:

The first pillar: A state pension for everybody
The second pillar: An occupational pension for retired workers
The third pillar: A private pension to complete your retirement

In this final post of the series, I’m going to summarize over the entire system. I’m also going to talk about how early retirement works in this system.

Continue reading “The three pillars of Retirement in Switzerland – 4. Summary”

The three pillars of Retirement in Switzerland – 3. The third pillar

Mr. The Poor SwissApril 18, 2018July 9, 2018FIRE, Investment, Switzerland6 Comments

This post is part 3 of 4 in the series The three pillars of Retirement in Switzerland.

I started this series with details about the first pillar. I then continued with information about the second pillar. This post will cover the last of the three pillars, the third pillar. This pillar is the only one that is not mandatory. Everybody is free to choose to invest into the third pillar or not. It is simpler than the second pillar. But there are much more choices than you can make. In this post, you’ll find all the details you need to invest into a third pillar. And also, what you can do to optimize your use of the third pillar.

Continue reading “The three pillars of Retirement in Switzerland – 3. The third pillar”

The three pillars of Retirement in Switzerland – 2. The second pillar

Mr. The Poor SwissApril 13, 2018July 9, 2018FIRE, Investment, SwitzerlandLeave a comment

This post is part 2 of 4 in the series The three pillars of Retirement in Switzerland.

We have studied the first pillar and Switzerland three pillars system in the previous post in the series. Now, it’s time to see the second pillar. The first pillar cover the basic needs of everybody. The second pillar is here to cover a larger part of your salary than the first one. If you never worked, you’ll never pay anything for this and you’ll never receive anything from this. It is significantly more complicated than the first pillar. In this post, I’m going to try to give you as much important details as possible on the second pillar. I’m also going to try to help understand what you can do to improve it.

Continue reading “The three pillars of Retirement in Switzerland – 2. The second pillar”

The three pillars of Retirement in Switzerland – 1. The first pillar

Mr. The Poor SwissApril 11, 2018July 9, 2018FIRE, Investment, Switzerland10 Comments

This post is part 1 of 4 in the series The three pillars of Retirement in Switzerland.

Switzerland retirement system is based on a system with three pillars. Each pillar is paid in a different manner and will cover different needs. If you are working in Switzerland, it’s important to know these three pillars. This will help you plan your retirement.

In a series of posts, I’ll try to give you enough information on these three pillars. The goal is that you have a good understanding on how they work. And also what you can do with them to improve your retirement. In this first post of the series, I’ll introduce the system and talk about the first pillar.

Continue reading “The three pillars of Retirement in Switzerland – 1. The first pillar”

How to integrate second pillar in my net worth

Mr. The Poor SwissApril 9, 2018July 9, 2018Budget, FIRE, Goals, Investment, Switzerland8 Comments

I’ve been monitoring my net worth since October 2017. But I’ve not considered my second pillar into it. Why ? Because I don’t get a monthly report on my second pillar. However, I don’t really need it since I can extrapolate from the monthly results. I just was too lazy before to do it.

I decided to stop being lazy and do it. Let’s see how (and why) I did it.

If you need, first take a look at how to calculate your net worth.

Continue reading “How to integrate second pillar in my net worth”

My review of Degiro as a broker for Swiss investor

Mr. The Poor SwissMarch 30, 2018August 1, 2018Broker, ETF, Investment, Switzerland2 Comments

(This post was first published on Mustachian Post. Thanks a lot to MP for the opportunity of guest posting.)

I’ve now been using DEGIRO for about four months. It’s now time for a review of the tool.

I would like to mention that I never tried any other broker. I decided to use Degiro four months ago based on costs. Moreover, I’m a computer scientist, so no issues with potential tech issues. Finally, my portfolio is very small, so my experience may not compare to yours.

Note: The links to DEGIRO are affiliate links. If you use them to create an account, you will receive 20 CHF and I will receive 20 CHF as well.

Continue reading “My review of Degiro as a broker for Swiss investor”

Updated ETF portfolio for Switzerland – Bonds and Dividends

Mr. The Poor SwissMarch 7, 2018September 14, 2018Broker, ETF, Investment, Switzerland18 Comments

In 2018, I wanted to add a few bonds to my portfolio. I’m in long-term investing. I only in my 30s and I don’t plan to retire for at least 10 years. And I already have some very safe investments in my second and third pillars. Therefore, I don’t need a lot of bonds. But I wanted to add 5% of bonds into my portfolio to be safe and to allow for more re-balancing opportunities. Also, I do have bonds in my third pillar account.

Moreover, I wanted to improve my portfolio. More specifically, I also wanted to get rid of my crypto-currencies. So, I updated a bit my previous portfolio to reflect this. Moreover, I also wanted to depend less on the dollar. In this post, we are going to see exactly what I changed in my portfolio. Remember that it’s only one example of a portfolio. I’m no financial advisor, I’m just sharing what I’m doing for investment.

Continue reading “Updated ETF portfolio for Switzerland – Bonds and Dividends”

No Billag: Swiss people like to pay taxes

Mr. The Poor SwissMarch 5, 2018July 9, 2018Spending, Switzerland4 Comments

Yesterday, the Swiss people were voting on several objects. The No-Billag initiative was one of them, as I mentioned earlier. This initiative wanted to remove the Billag tax. This tax supports the Swiss TV and Radio services. This tax is currently around 450 CHF. But the government will reduce the tax next year to 365 CHF. Unfortunately, the Swiss citizens strongly refused the initiative 🙁 I have to say that I’m quite disappointed in my fellow citizens today. It seems like people like to pay inconsiderate taxes. Thus, we’ll still have to pay this tax.

There is a BIG problem with this tax. There are two parts to the tax, one part for the radio and one part for the television. If you have a car, you need to pay the radio tax even if you never listen to radio. I never listen to the radio. If you have a television or internet, you need to pay the TV tax even if you never watch TV. Again, I never watch TV. Moreover, this tax is only to pay for Swiss radio and TV services. So if you have a TV and only watch foreign TV network, you still have to pay the tax to finance Swiss TV networks. This makes no sense at all and the Swiss should have refused the initiative yesterday. Now, we need to pay this tax for a long time again with no reason.

To sum up, I will have to pay 365 CHF each year for Radio and TV services that I never use.

There is one slight possibility that I recently came across. When I first registered to this terrible tax, they told me that having internet was enough to need to pay the tax. But, looking at the official conditions, you need to have an account on an online TV service to pay the tax. Thus, I’m going to ask them to remove me from the TV tax and pay only for the radio tax. This should at least save me some money. I’m even inclined to remove my radio from my car to not pay anymore, but that’s a bit extreme.

What do you think about this ? What did you vote ?