[unable to retrieve full-text content]July 2026 was a very expensive and hot month. In the previous month, we had to do multiple house maintenance tasks at once. And this month, we had to pay for these tasks. Other than that, it was a good and relatively quiet month. Financially, it was not a good month. Because of all these … Continue reading "July 2026 – Expensive and hot"

[unable to retrieve full-text content]You just inherited money. This is usually a good thing for your financial situation. But there are often surprises with an inheritance if you do not plan it properly. For instance, did you know you could inherit debt as well? And did you know that you can refuse an inheritance? This article will delve into … Continue reading "Inheritance in Switzerland: A Financial Guide"

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Liberty is one of the largest vested benefits providers in Switzerland. They are also providing third-pillar accounts. But are they good? In this review, we go into details about the Liberty vested benefits account, its fees, and its features. We will also compare it against some alternatives. By the end of this review, you will … Continue reading "Liberty Vested Benefits Review 2026 – Pros & Cons"

[unable to retrieve full-text content]With the increasing price of gas, people are talking more and more about electric cars again. Despite being wealthy, Switzerland is not one of the best examples for electric car adoption. But should you buy an electric car? In this article, we delve into this question. By the end of the article, you should have … Continue reading "Should You Buy An Electric Car In Switzerland in 2026?"

[unable to retrieve full-text content]In June 2026, we went on a short holiday to Alsace. It was great taking a week off work. Even though we fell during a massive heat wave (again), it was a very nice vacation. On the less nice side of things, we had quite a few issues with the house this month. This is … Continue reading "June 2026 – House maintenance and holidays"

[unable to retrieve full-text content]For our second car, we have chosen to use smile.car insurance. Smile is an insurance company that offers various policies. Its unique selling point is to be an online-only insurance. In this review, I want to cover smile.car insurance in detail. We will review its fees, pros, and cons and compare it with some other … Continue reading "smile.car Insurance Review 2026 – Pros & Cons"

[unable to retrieve full-text content]We recently went through the installation of solar panels on our house. I believe that solar panels are a great way to reduce our carbon footprint. And with oil prices rising, solar panels are making a lot of sense financially as well. From asking for the first quote to the first solar power generated, it … Continue reading "We Just Installed Solar Panels: Process, Costs and Early Results"

[unable to retrieve full-text content]You just got married or are about to get married? Congratulations! Marriage is a wonderful thing. But did you know that many things are going to change? For instance, your taxes will be filed commonly, and some of your retirement benefits will change. While marriage should not be about money, it is important to learn … Continue reading "The Financial Impact of Getting Married in Switzerland"

[unable to retrieve full-text content]In Switzerland, we have mandatory health insurance for everybody. This basic health insurance is offered by many providers, but they are all based on the same legal basis. Next to this, insurance companies are also providing supplemental health insurance policies. Each insurance company can provide its own policies with different conditions, so it is sometimes … Continue reading "Supplemental Health Insurance in Switzerland: Do you really need it?"

[unable to retrieve full-text content]May 2026 was weird. The month started with bad weather and ended with a heatwave. But it was a nice month. We had the occasion to invite friends and family over. And we could open the pool thanks to the weather. For us, the main event of the month was the completion of our solar … Continue reading "May 2026 – ebook in German and solar panels"

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Tellco is a Swiss bank with a major pension fund that has been operating for more than 20 years in Switzerland. In addition to their pension fund, they also offer a third pillar account. In the past, we have reviewed their vested benefits account, and people were eager to learn about their Tellco 3a account. … Continue reading "Tellco 3a Review 2026 – Pros & Cons"

[unable to retrieve full-text content]arvy is a robo-advisor that invests differently from others by using its own active fund of stocks. Since it has been requested multiple times by my readers, it was time to review this robo-advisor service. In this review, we will look in detail into the advantages and disadvantages of this service. For that, we will … Continue reading "arvy Review 2026 – Pros & Cons"

[unable to retrieve full-text content]We are often paying for multiple software subscriptions. Open-source software is an alternative to many paid applications, but often people do not know about these. In this article, I want to go over a few open-source software that would help us save money by replacing paid software. Open-source software is not nearly as difficult to … Continue reading "Save money with open-source software: Stop Paying for Subscriptions"

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Overall, April 2026 was relatively uneventful, which is great after a few hectic months. We had a few events with our family, but not so many. The weather was quite nice, and we enjoyed some quiet time outdoors. Financially, it was a normal month. We bought a new car, so our net worth went down … Continue reading "April 2026 – Buying a second car"

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Interactive Brokers is my favorite foreign broker, and Swissquote is my favorite Swiss broker. Both brokers are very well known and have a good reputation.
So, it is time to compare Swissquote vs Interactive Brokers in detail. In this article, I look at their fees, features, and usability. We also look at the user reviews for these two tools.

Best foreign broker

Best Swiss Broker

5.0

4.5

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Invest with the MKT_THEPOORSWISS code

My Review

My Review

Best foreign broker

5.0

Start investing!

My Review

Best Swiss Broker

4.5

Invest with

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These last few years, we have seen more and more commission-free brokers pop up. At first sight, they look great. Who would not want to pay fewer transaction fees?
But usually, if something is too good to be true, that is because it is! How do these commission-free brokers make money if they do not charge anything?
We discuss that exact question in this article! By the end of this article, you will know how these brokers make money and whether that is good for you or not!

Commission-Free brokers
Over the last decade, many commission-free brokers have entered the market. Even some big names in the industry have started offering commission-free trading on their platform.
You have probably heard of Robinhood. This broker has

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We all like getting raises at work! It always feels great to know your work is recognized, and you will get paid more.
But is a raise that important for your financial independence? And how much of a raise can you afford to spend?
In this article, I answer these questions through several examples. At the end of the article, you will know exactly how much of a save you should save!

Impacts of a raise
Before we start, when I talk about raises in this article, I talk about any increased income. This could be a raise at work, a new side hustle, or some extra allowance. They all impact you in the same way.
The first impact is that you get more money every month. When you get a raise, your income increases. You are free to save that

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After stopping its partnership with Cembra, Migros Bank introduced its new credit card: The Cumulus Visa credit card.
Since the Cumulus Mastercard from Cembra was one of the best credit cards available, we need to look at this new Cumulus Visa credit card.
By the end of this review, you will know whether you should use this new Cumulus Visa credit card by Migros Bank.

The fall of the Cumulus Mastercard
As you may know, Cembra was issuing the Cumulus Mastercard until recently. It was an excellent credit card, and I have used it for several years.
But things changed in May 2022 when Migros announced the end of this 15-year partnership. Indeed, Migros decided that Migros Bank would issue a new Cumulus credit card directly. The old

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July 2022 was a pretty standard month for us, at least on the financial side. It was once again a scorching month, too hot for me.
But we still managed to see friends and family and have an excellent time. Financially, we are back to a standard month and saved about 50% of our income.
So, let’s see in detail what happened to us during the hot month of July 2022.

July 2022
July 2022 was a good month. We did not have many events, but we had pleasant times. We met many friends and family members on two separate occasions. The first half of the month was way too hot, but the end of the month finally cooled down, which is excellent.
However, I am having a hard time with the heat. And given that we will not be able to slow global

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I have talked a lot about budget and net worth on this blog. Now, it is time to talk about which budget application I am using to track my budget and net worth.
I am using a simple tool for doing these two tasks. I also use the tool to generate the graphs in my monthly reports.
While many people in the personal finance community use Personal Capital, Mint, or Quicken, I use a little-known tool called budgetwarrior. I wrote this application myself.
This article presents this tool and how I use it to track my finances.

budgetwarrior
budgetwarrior started as a simple console application to manage my budget. I started this application in June 2013. Before, I used a simple spreadsheet for my budget. I was looking for a new personal

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Trading 212 is a European broker that offers commission-free trading on many stock exchanges. Many of you have asked my opinion about this broker.
So, today, I review Trading 212 in-depth, with its fees, features, and security. By the end of the review, you will know whether Trading 212 is a good choice for you to invest with.

Trading 212
Trading 212 LogoTrading 212 was established in Bulgaria in 2004. They later moved to England but kept their entity in Bulgaria. They now have several entities (UK, Bulgaria, and Cyprus).
Although they have been around for a while, the platform only became well-known with the introduction of its commission-free structure.
As of 2022, they claim about 1.5 million users, most of them created

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Cembra is a well-known credit card provider in Switzerland. They are primarily known for their Cumulus card with a good cashback. After stopping this card, they started a new set of cards: The Certo One Mastercard World and the Certo Mastercard World.
And these cards look even better than the last card from Cembra. So, let’s delve into the details of these two cards and see how interesting they are.
By the end of this review, you will know whether you should use one of these new cards from Cembra.

The end of the Cumulus Card
Until recently, Cembra issued the Cumulus Mastercard, an excellent free credit card in Switzerland. I have used this card for several years.
However, in May 2022, Migros Bank announced they would issue

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I can summarise June 2022 in two extremes: heat and taxes.
It has been too hot this month. I do not handle heat well, so it has been hard for me, especially adding on top of sleep deprivation.
As for taxes, as I expected, we did not pay enough last year. Our income increased significantly but not the prepayment. So, we are left with more than 10K taxes from last year. I was a bit surprised by the amount. I was expecting less than that.
Aside from these two points, I would say it has been a routine month. So, let’s see in detail what happened.

June 2022
During the month, we had a big heat wave. I dislike heat, so it was not the best part of the month. I am thrilled to work at home since my home office is much colder than the

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Most of the time, when we hear stories of early retirees, they are all living in countries where the cost of living is much lower than in Switzerland. But recently, I have had the chance to interview an early retiree in Switzerland!
Dror has retired in Switzerland in 2021 at the age of 46. His story is very interesting, in that he is one of the first early retirees I have had the chance to talk with.
Without further ado, here is the story of Dror Allouche, an early retiree in Switzerland!

Tell us a little about yourself
My name is Dror. I am 46 years old. I was born in Switzerland, but I grew up in France.
I have two young children and a wonderful wife. We live in the heights, 20 minutes from Zurich.
Since when are you early

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Charles Schwab is a giant financial firm in the United States. Among other services, they offer stock broker services. And through Charles Schwab International, they are open to non-US residents.
Many of my readers have requested that I write about it. Therefore, I will review Charles Schwab International from the point of view of a Swiss investor. We will how much it costs to invest with Charles Schwab International and the advantages and disadvantages.
I am only going to focus on their offer for non-US residents. They also offer their platform for US investors under slightly different conditions.

Charles Schwab International
Charles Schwab is both a bank and a stock broker. The company was founded in 1971 and had a rich

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I have not done a book review in a long time on this blog. I felt like most books did not deserve to be talked about. However, I felt like Just Keep Buying, from Nick Maggiulli, deserved to be talked about.
In this article, I will review this book, what I liked and what I did not like. By the end of the book review, you should know whether you want to read that book or not.

Just Keep Buying
The book’s title already tells the main investing principle that this book is about. If you want to build wealth, you should always keep buying, regardless of the state of the stock market. But we will come back to that.
Nick Maggiuli is the author being the Of Dollars And Data blog, an excellent blog about investing and personal finance

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May 2022 was a good month. We had a nice time in the lovely weather. The first half of the month almost felt like summer. I even started wishing for colder temperatures (which I got in the second half of the month).
Financially, it was a good month for our savings rate. However, it was a bad month for our net worth because of the wild stock market. Even though we saved a considerable amount of money, our net worth decreased compared to last month.

May 2022
Overall, May 2022 was a good month, a little more active than the previous ones. We had several dinners and lunches with families and friends. And we also did a few things, the three of us.
It is great to see our son growing and learning things. He is a little different every

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I have talked about car costs a few times already on this blog. However, I have never written about Mobility.
Mobility is a Swiss car-sharing cooperative. Mobility has a large fleet of cars in Switzerland. Mobility users can then use these cars when they need them and do not need to own a car.
Is Mobility actually cheaper than owning your car? Let’s find out!

Mobility carsharing
Mobility carsharing is a cooperative with more than 3000 cars in Switzerland. The principle is straightforward:
you reserve a car
you get a vehicle at one of their dedicated parking spots
you drive wherever you want
you fill the fuel tank (using the Mobility card)
you deposit the vehicle in one of their dedicated parking spots (not necessarily the one

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Recently, I realized that too much optimization of our finances was creating complexity that I did not want anymore. Optimization of finances is about balance.
Until recently, we were optimizing for the best price. Now, we are trying to make our finances simpler in a few ways. In this article, I will discuss what we are planning to do.

Optimization is all about balance
Sometimes, it is essential to realize that optimization for the best price often has a downside. Basic optimization is generally good. But when you overoptimize for prices, you give up something else.
For instance, if you have three different payment cards, you introduce complexity to each of your payments. You have to think about which card you want to use for

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It is time for yet another Robo-advisor review. Simplewealth is a Swiss Robo-advisor that aims to be affordable, transparent, and easy to use.
This review will analyze Simplewealth in detail: its pros and cons, its fees and strategies. By the end of the article, you will know whether you should use Simplewealth for your investing.

Simplewealth
Simplewealth LogoSimplewealth was born in 2015 from the minds of Jeremy Cohen and Adrien Wegschiede. They then obtained authorization to manage client funds in 2017 under Swiss regulations. 
In 2020, the company was bought by private investors and taken private. These investors significantly boosted the service with new algorithms, new features, and better fees.
One interesting point is