Yuh 3a Review 2024 – Pros & Cons
| Updated: |(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links)
Many people want to simplify their finances by having all their services in the same place. It is difficult to achieve since good services are generally found with different providers.
Yuh just introduced their third pillar: Yuh 3a! Yuh is among the best digital bank accounts and brokers available in Switzerland. So, launching a third pillar may make it even more interesting and may allow you to use the same provider for two services.
In this article, we will examine Yuh 3a in detail, as well as its advantages and disadvantages. We are especially interested in its investing strategy and fees.
By the end of the article, you will know whether you should use Yuh 3a.
| Total Fee | 0.50% per year |
|---|---|
| Maximum portfolios | 1 |
| Stock allocation | Up to 98% |
| Maximum foreign exposure | 0% |
| Maximum investment in cash | 2% |
| Investment Strategy | Index funds |
| Fund providers | Swisscanto |
| Languages | English, French, German, and Italian |
| Sustainable option | Sustainable only |
| Mobile Application | Yes |
| Web Application | No |
| Custodian Bank | Lienhardt & Partner Privatbank Zurich |
| Established | 2023 |
| Foundation’s domicile | Schwyz |
Yuh 3a
Yuh is an easy and affordable way to invest in the stock market and spend money abroad.
Use my code YUHTHEPOORSWISS to get 25 CHF in trading credits!
- Low fees for small operations
- Fractiona trading in stocks
Yuh was launched in 2021 as a single app allowing users to spend, save, and invest. Their goal is to make banking easy and available within a single app.
Until now, Yuh only had banking and investing features. With the introduction of Yuh 3a, they now have retirement features as well. They are becoming a fully-fledged banking app.
It is essential to mention that Yuh is a joint initiative by Swissquote and PostFinance, two financial services providers. In my opinion, this makes it safer and more trustworthy than simply being a startup.
In August 2023, Yuh 3a was introduced to the public. It is directly available in the Yuh app. If you already have a Yuh account, you can directly access it. You simply can click on the 3a button, and you will be able to get started quickly. Otherwise, you will need to create a new Yuh account.
The Yuh 3a is done through collaboration with Lienhardt & Partner Privatbank Zurich and Descartes Vorsorge.
To learn more about Yuh, you can read my review of Yuh.
Investing Strategy
First, we can look at the investing strategy of Yuh 3a.
Yuh 3a currently has five different strategies:
- Mild: 20% in stocks
- Tasty: 40% in stocks
- Spicy: 60%in stocks
- Hot: 80% in stocks
- Fiery: 98% in stocks
Going up to 98% in stocks is a great feature. Of course, it could have gone up to 99%, but the difference is not huge.
The portion not invested in stocks will be invested in bonds, real estate, precious metals, and a small amount in cash. The cash portion is there to pay the fees.
Unfortunately, at this point, you can only open a single third pillar with Yuh. Since the optimal number of third pillars is five, it would be better if they allowed multiple third pillars.
Each of the different Yuh 3a strategies is a portfolio of index funds from Swisscanto. The exact funds being used are found in the Yuh app. However, the portfolios are unavailable on the website at this point, which is a severe lack of transparency.
An unfortunate issue with these portfolios is that they all are heavily hedged to CHF. Each of the funds is either in CHF or hedged to CHF. Currency hedging is excellent in the short term but not in the long term.
One tiny advantage of using only CHF funds is that you will not have to pay currency exchange fees. This is good because currency conversion fees are expensive at Yuh (0.95%). However, it would be better to have non-hedging and cheap currency conversions.
It seems that you can only invest in sustainable funds at this time. I wish this were an option because this should be the investor’s choice.
There is no minimum to start investing with Yuh 3a. You could create a 3a with less than 100 CHF to get started.
Overall, these strategies are alright but not great. The fact that we locked in hedging and sustainable investing is not great for many investors.
Investing Fees
Then, we must examine Yuh 3a’s investing fees. You do not want to waste your retirement money on fees.
Regardless of your investment strategy, you will pay 0.50% in fees to Yuh 3a. You will lose 0.50% of your invested money every year. Even if this fee seems high, it is relatively low for third pillars in Switzerland.
The good thing about this fee is that it is an all-in fee. This management fee includes everything, including the product costs of the funds.
However, we must keep in mind that currency hedging itself will probably reduce your returns in the long term.
Overall, the fees are relatively good for a third pillar. It is not the cheapest, but it is among the cheapest. However, hedging may add some invisible costs to your portfolio.
Is Yuh 3a safe?
It is essential to make sure that your retirement assets are safe.
In this case, Yuh 3a is quite safe. Yuh is backed by PostFinance and Swissquote, two financial giants.
In addition, the Yuh 3a assets are held by Lienhardt & Partner Privatbank Zurich, a Swiss bank with a well-established reputation.
In Switzerland, each of the third pillars is managed by a third-pillar foundation, which is well-regulated.
In this case, I do not see any reason why Yuh 3a would not be safe.
Alternatives
Before choosing a financial service, comparing it with the alternatives is essential.
Yuh 3a vs Finpension 3a
Finpension 3a is the best third pillar in Switzerland.
Use the FEYKV5 code to get a fee credit of 25 CHF*!
*(if you deposit 1000 CHF in the first 12 months)
- Invest 99% in stocks
Finpension 3a is currently my favorite third pillar available in Switzerland. So, comparing any new third pillars with Finpension 3a makes sense.
Finpension also offers portfolios of index funds. These index funds are very cheap and very efficient. For instance, they can optimize for US dividends since they are using funds. This can make a very significant difference and avoid having to pay stamp duty.
On top of that, you can choose whether you want to invest sustainably or not. You can also entirely opt out of hedging by creating a custom portfolio.
Finally, the fees are as follows: Finpension 3a is 0.39% per year, while Yuh 3a is 0.50% per year. This makes Finpension 3a 20% cheaper than Yuh 3a!
Yuh 3a vs True Wealth 3a
TrueWealth is an excellent Swiss Robo-advisor with very affordable prices, making it the best Robo-advisor for serious investors.
- Very customizable
True Wealth 3a uses ETFs, an interesting alternative to Yuh 3a. It is interesting to compare the two approaches.
True Wealth is much more flexible and allows you to make many choices. For instance, you can choose whether you want standard or sustainable ETFs and the countries you want to invest in.
The main limitation is that your portfolio requires 35% in Swiss francs. So you either invest 35% in Swiss shares or use currency hedging. But that is already significantly better than Yuh 3a, which does not let you invest in foreign currency.
On top of that, True Wealth 3a’s fee is currently at 0.20%. This fee does not contain stamp duty and currency conversion fee, but they should add to little and only on operations. However, we must add about 0.14% because they use ETFs and cannot reclaim all foreign dividend withholding. But even with that, True Wealth 3a is 30% cheaper than Yuh 3a!
Since True Wealth 3a is more flexible, aggressive, and has lower fees, it is strictly better than Yuh 3a.
Yuh 3a vs Frankly 3a
Even though Frankly is not among my favorite third pillars, it is interesting to compare it against Yuh 3a. Indeed, both third pillars are quite similar, especially regarding hedging. They also both use index funds and are limited in transparency.
Another advantage of Frankly is that the active funds are sustainability-oriented, while the index funds are not. This somehow gives you the option between sustainable and standard investing.
One advantage of Yuh is that it lets you invest up to 98% in stocks, while Frankly is limited to 95%.
I have often criticized the use of hedging of Frankly, but they are doing better than Yuh. Indeed, Frankly 3a lets you have a 30% foreign currency exposure, while Yuh does not allow you to have any.
Frankly 3a has a 0.45% management fee, while Yuh 3a has a 0.50% fee. Frankly 3a is about 10% cheaper than Yuh 3a.
Overall, I feel like Frankly 3a has multiple advantages over Yuh 3a. If you want to learn more, you can read my review of Frankly 3a.
FAQ
What is the minimum you can invest with Yuh 3a?
You can start investing in Yuh 3a with 1 CHF.
How many Yuh 3a accounts can I open?
You can only have 1 account with Yuh 3a.
What does Yuh 3a invest in?
Yuh 3a invests in stocks, bonds, real estate and precious metals.
Who is Yuh 3a good for?
Yuh 3a is good if you are a Yuh user, looking for an average third pillar and do not want to have multiple 3a.
Who is Yuh 3a not good for?
Yuh 3a is not good for you if you are looking for an aggressive 3a or if you do not already have a Yuh account. It is also not good if you want to optimize your taxes by having multiple third pillar accounts.
Yuh 3a Summary
Yuh 3a is a new third pillar from Yuh. I examine their pros and cons in details to see whether we should use Yuh 3a!
Product Brand: Yuh
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Yuh 3a Pros
Let's summarize the main advantages of Yuh 3a:
- All-in fee
- Reasonable fee
- Good tax domicile for the 3a foundation
- Up to 98% in stocks
Yuh 3a Cons
Let's summarize the main disadvantages of Yuh 3a:
- Cannot opt out of currency-hedging
- Cannot opt out of sustainable investing
- Only one portfolio
- No customization
Conclusion
Yuh is an easy and affordable way to invest in the stock market and spend money abroad.
Use my code YUHTHEPOORSWISS to get 25 CHF in trading credits!
- Low fees for small operations
- Fractiona trading in stocks
Overall, I think that Yuh 3a is a reasonably good third pillar. However, it lacks any significant advantages over existing third pillars. There are significantly better third pillars available in Switzerland.
Yuh 3a has three main limitations: one portfolio only, only sustainable options, and forced currency hedging. These limitations make it less attractive. If they worked on improving these three limitations, it would be more interesting for everybody.
Yuh itself is quite interesting as a broker. However, I do not see the selling point of Yuh 3a as a third pillar account.
What about you? What do you think about Yuh 3a?
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Hello,
thanks for the article. Having in mind that you can only open 1 account with yuh, is it still possible to open the other accounts with other providers? Do you see and disadvantages of this?
Hi Andrea
Yes, you can definitely mix providers. You can have 4 at Finpension and 1 at Yuh. The disadvantage is making your finances more complicated. So, why not open 5 at Finpension?
I recently went through the steps to create a Yuh account. As a last step, they ask you transfer some money. So far, so good.
After a week of awaiting the account creation, I received a message about providing additional information. Specifically, they wanted to know the name of my employer and details about my job/position (main tasks/responsibilities, if it’s a management position, etc.).
I was not willing to provide all the information, but told them the industry and that I’m working for a Swiss company. But they insisted and wanted more information, so I asked them to cancel my application and refund my money. They will now do so, but according to the lady on the phone it will take around two months.
By the way: It took several attempts with a long waiting time (more than an hour) to reach them by phone.
Hi havoc,
That’s really bad. How can it take two months to get this money back… This is terrible service.
I am sorry to hear about your experience.
For the questions, it seems they are overzealous, but this may well fall into the money laundering system which is standard.
Do you by any chance have an article explaining why the optimal number of 3a pillars is five?
Yes, I talk about this on this article: Third Pillar: All you need to know to retire in Switzerland
Great review. I don’t know why these “young-oriented banks” always castrate investments in general.
I personally use VIAC for my 3a, and since a couple of months, there’s the possibility to customise your strategy completely (perhaps worth having a look for a possible review).
Don’t ask me why and how I know it, but VIAC is planning to launch a sort of robo-advisor investment account as well in Q1 24, and I can’t wait to get rid of Selma in their favour, especially if they keep the same personalisation XD
Hi,
I have also heard about the robo-advisor from VIAC. And I would not be surprised if Finpension did the same (but I have not heard anything).
It would be good to have a new actor on the market. If you want personalization, you can use True Wealth, they are extremely flexible.
Yeah, I know about True Wealth, it’s a mistake I made initially.
I’ll wait on VIAC, and I hope it’s at least as good as Truw Wealth.
BTW True Wealth now has the children’s account.
Hey Baptiste, great article as usual, thank you for all the good work!
I came to the same conclusion for Yuh 3a. ; )
This year I was waiting with my investment in 3a only because I knew Yuh will come with their solution.
So, now I know I will just top up my finpension portfolio as it overall seems still to be the better bet than True Wealth 3a.
Would you mind to share with us the instruments you use in your custom 3a portfolio(s) for finpension (and VIAC if you still have one open)?
I basically have 20% SPI and 80% replicating the VT ETF in my custom one. Right now using the CS funds, but may switch two minor instruments to Swisscanto or UBS, because they do not have a TER compared to CS.
Have a great day and best regards,
Claudio
Hi Claudio,
Thanks for sharing!
All my portfolios are on Finpension 3a. The majority is using Global 100 but without any currency-hedged funds. In that case, you can simply replace the “H” version funds with the same funds without the “H”.
I am also testing a custom portfolio with only World fund. But generally, Global 100 or Global 100 Unhedged are very good options for most people.
Thanks for the quick reply Baptiste! : )
I have the same for my custom portfolio, for the replicated VT part (80%) I am using the unhedged funds. I just forgot to mention that in my previous comment.
Interesting that you prefer 39% Swiss market exposure with your “Global 100 Unhedged” portfolio and not further reduce the Swiss part to about 20%.
Or is this because you don’t hedge against CHF for the other funds in the portfolio and with 39% Swiss Francs you kind of compensate this?
It’s more because my 3a represent a small portion of our wealth, so the extra CHF is not really an issue. You are right that this means that I am slightly out of balance, but not so much so that it is a problem for me.