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Even though there are some things I dislike about Switzerland, I love living in Switzerland. In this post, I list the things I love about Switzerland.
There are 12 things on my love list! And there are not the only things I love about Switzerland. I have many more things I like about it than things I do not like.
Before you read what I love about Switzerland, you should be aware of my situation! You have to remember that I live in the Swiss countryside. I live in a tiny village. And I do not like cities. Some people like cities more than villages. But I would hate living in a town. I also enjoy hiking a lot, and I like being outside. This situation will be reflected in some things I like the most about Switzerland.
Below, you

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Finpension just started their third pillar offer: Finpension 3a. And it is extremely interesting.
Finpension is already behind valuepension, the best vested benefits (second pillar) account available in Switzerland. So, it is great that they now start to offer a third pillar account.
So, let’s review Finpension 3a in detail.

In this article, I will look at many things about Finpension 3a: their fees, their investment strategy, and its security. Finally, I am also going to compare it against other third pillar providers.

Finpension 3a
Finpension 3a is a pension foundation that is managed by finpension AG. Finpension 3a is related to the third pillar offer. But finpension has managed other kinds of pension assets, such as

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Many people use a home bias in their investing portfolio. These investors are allocating a large portion of their portfolio to domestic stocks. And this portion is not based on the size of their local stock market. But not every investor agrees on that strategy. And some people do not know what a home bias is.
So, in this article, I want to answer the question of whether investors should have a home bias in their portfolio. We are also going to look at existing research on the subject.

Home Bias in investing
So, let’s start at the beginning: what is a home bias in investing?
You have a home bias when you dedicate a large portion of your portfolio to stocks of your home country. For instance, you could say that you are

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The Poor Swiss blog just turned three years old. It is difficult to believe it has already been three years since I started this blog.
I have done a lot of things on this blog in the last year. Some of these things paid off. Some did not. But I think the blog is in a much better place right now than one year ago, which is always a good sign. I hope you agree with me!
This article is a retrospective of this third year of blogging. I am going to share the numbers about this blog but also what went well and what did not go well.
Keep in mind that I am no blogging expert! I am just doing this on the side as a hobby.
Overall, the third year of blogging was excellent! I am happy with how it played out.

The

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Since the beginning of 2019, Swiss investors cannot buy Exchanged Traded Funds (ETFs) domiciled in the United States from my previous broker, DEGIRO. This event is terrible news for Swiss investors.
This problem is due to new regulations that will come into play. These regulations already affected all European investors since 2018. But Switzerland was not affected before. We are going to see what changed. These issues are based on several European and Swiss laws. These laws are sad news for European investors and Swiss investors. I am not a legal expert at all. So this is only my interpretation of these laws. If I am wrong or I missed something, please let me know!
Normally, this should only come into effect in January 2022.

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The Poor Swiss blog just turned three years old. It is difficult to believe it has already been three years since I started this blog.
I have done a lot of things on this blog in the last year. Some of these things paid off. Some did not. But I think the blog is in a much better place right now than one year ago, which is always a good sign. I hope you agree with me!
This article is a retrospective of this third year of blogging. I am going to share the numbers about this blog but also what went well and what did not go well.
Keep in mind that I am no blogging expert! I am just doing this on the side as a hobby.
Overall, the third year of blogging was excellent! I am happy with how it played out.

The Poor Swiss in numbers

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Yova is a Swiss Robo-Advisor that focuses on impact investing. The main idea is to invest to make the world better. Not only will you get good returns for your investment, but your money will work at improving the world.
But how does Yova compare with other Robo-Advisor, and how much does it cost? That is what we are going to find out in this complete review of Yova.

By the end of this article, you will know all the advantages and disadvantages of investing with Yova. You will also know if this service fits your personal investing needs.
Keep in mind that I am not investing with Robo-Advisors. For people willing to put in the time and effort, DIY Investing is better and will save you money. But DIY Investing takes time and

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Recently, I have received many questions regarding currency hedging. More particularly, I have received questions about whether people should use currency-hedged ETFs.
Currency Hedging is a technique that tries to reduce currency risk when you are investing in foreign equities. In practice, it sounds great, but it has several disadvantages that many people do not know about.
So, should investors use currency-hedged ETFs? Or should they stick to the standard non-hedged ETFs?

Currency Hedging
First, let’s start at the beginning with what currency hedging is. You will sometimes find it called Foreign Exchange Hedging or Forex Hedging. These three terms are the same thing.
When your base currency is different from the currency

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It is time for my update for September 2020. It was a quiet month for us. But it was not quiet for our finances.
We continued to shop for furniture for the new house. We once again spent a lot of money on that category this month. And we also several smaller expenses that added up to our budget.
We still managed to save money this month. But we did not save nearly as much as we usually try to save.

Let’s see the details of September 2020.

September 2020
Not much happened to us in September 2020 except for a few dinners and lunches here and there. It was a good month, but an expensive month.
I almost completed physiotherapy for my knees. But I do not see any significant difference. The only thing that I realized was that I

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If you plan to retire early, it is important to know when you will be able to retire. We have already covered a lot of simple math about Financial Independence. But we have not yet covered how to know how long it will take you to retire (or to become Financially Independent).
In this article, we are going to cover the simple math behind Financial Independence and find out how long you will need before you can early!

And since we are on the subject, we are also going to see how you can retire earlier!

How to retire early?
Let’s review first how you can retire early. You will be able to retire when you are financially independent.
When you retire at the standard retirement age, you can generally rely on your country’s social

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Zak and Neon are two good Swiss Digital bank accounts. They are both entirely digital and accessible through mobile applications.
The great thing about these bank accounts is that they are significantly cheaper than conventional bank accounts. Their low prices are what make their success. And they have some attractive features.
But which one should you choose? Which of Zak vs Neon is better for you? Let’s find out!
In this article, I am going to compare Zak vs Neon in detail. We are going to see the fees, the security, and the limits of both bank accounts. By the end of this post, you should know which of Zak vs Neon is best for you!
Zak
Zak is a bank account managed by Bank Cler (previously Bank Coop).

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Zak and Neon are two good Swiss Digital bank accounts. They are both entirely digital and accessible through mobile applications.
The great thing about these bank accounts is that they are significantly cheaper than conventional bank accounts. Their low prices are what make their success. And they have some attractive features.
But which one should you choose? Which of Zak vs Neon is better for you? Let’s find out!

In this article, I am going to compare Zak vs Neon in detail. We are going to see the fees, the security, and the limits of both bank accounts. By the end of this post, you should know which of Zak vs Neon is best for you!

Zak
Zak vs Neon: Interface of ZakZak is a bank account managed by Bank Cler (previously Bank

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A lot of people are currently wondering why the stock market is going up so high. Indeed, at the same time, most world economies are in trouble. But the stock market keeps going up.
While they are sometimes correlated, the stock market is not the same as the economy. It is essential to realize that the stock market and the economy are different. So, we need to go over why the stock market is not the economy.

In this article, I am going to describe both concepts and then try to pin the main differences between the stock market and the economy.

The Stock Market
Let’s start by defining what the stock market is. The Stock market represents all the publicly-traded companies. A stock exchange is where we can trade shares of these

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Everybody needs a bank account. Your company (or clients) will transfer your income into a bank account. And you will need to pay your bills from your bank account. Unless you live entirely off the grid and get paid in cash, you will need a bank account. But which Swiss Bank should you choose?
There are tons of different banks. After all, Switzerland is the country of banks. However, contrary to popular belief, Swiss banks are not great!
Most Swiss banks are costly and offer poor service. You can find much cheaper and better banks in other countries. Fortunately, this is starting to improve with some new banks that try to make things move in a better direction.
Let’s see which is the Best Swiss Bank in 2020! But first, let’s

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Interactive Brokers (IB) is an excellent broker. I have been using their services for about two years now. It is time to give my honest review of Interactive Brokers.
In this review, you will find all you need to know about Interactive Brokers, what you can do with it, how much it will cost, and much more!

By the end of this review, you will know whether IB is a good broker for you or not!

What is Interactive Brokers?

Best Broker for Swiss Investors

Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers is an outstanding broker, with extremely affordable fees! Trade U.S. security for as little as 0.5 USD!

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Interactive Brokers (IB) is a well-established brokerage firm (a broker)

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Choosing a great third pillar is very important. You will invest in this account for many years in the future. Recently, there has been a trend for Robo-Advisors. So, now there are also Robo-Advisors third pillars.
I have already talked about Selma, the Robo-Advisor. But now, I want to talk about their third pillar offer. In late 2019, Selma introduced their third pillar offer.
If you already have an account with Selma or if you like Robo-Advisors, this could be interesting for you!
So, how does the  Selma 3a account compare with the other third pillars available in Switzerland’ Let’s find out!

Selma 3a

Selma

Selma is a great Swiss Robo-Advisor that will let you invest simply. It is a great way to invest in the

Depending on which index you are following, the bull market is back! It is now time to reflect on the bear market. If your portfolio is not yet out of the red, it does not hurt to be prepared.
We have already discussed the things you should do during a bear market. The most important of these things is not to panic. But when the stock market recovers, there are a few more things you can do.
It is now time to think about what happened and analyze how you have acted and reacted during these times.
The reason you should think about that is that if you are investing for the long-term, you will see other bear markets. The stock market is a long cycle of bull and bear markets. And you need to be prepared for both.
Living through a bear market is not a pleasant

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Depending on which index you are following, the bull market is back! It is now time to reflect on the recent bear market. If your portfolio is not yet out of the red, it does not hurt to be prepared for the next bull market.
We have already discussed the things you should do during a bear market. The most important of these things is not to panic. But when the stock market recovers, there are a few more things you can do.
It is now time to think about what happened and analyze how you have acted and reacted during these times.

The reason you should think about that is that if you are investing for the long-term, you will see other bear markets. The stock market is a long cycle of bull and bear markets, and you need to be

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) Investing is very important if you want to fight inflation and get returns on your saved money. But there are many ways to invest. Some of these ways are very simple, while others are complex.But with simplicity comes higher fees. If you want the lowest price possible, you will need to get more control, and thus complexity. You will need to find the perfect balance for your needs. Not everybody will use the same investing level.In this article, we are going to see what I call the four levels of investing. It is essential to know what the other ways of investing are. Each of these investing levels has pros and cons.Level 0: Not investingLet’s start with the investing level 0. At this level, you are not investing at all.It is not

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) It is time for my monthly update for August 2020 already! Quite a few things happened in this month. We went for a short vacation in Davos. And we started buying some furniture for the house.On top of that, we had many smaller expenses that quickly piled up. So, this month ended up very expensive.While it was an expensive month, it was still a good month. We had several parties with friends, and the vacation was really good.So, let’s find everything that happened to us in August 2020.August 2020Overall, there were no significant events in August 2020. We went to Davos for four days for a little trip. It was excellent to get some vacations. I quite needed some days off.I am still working from home and will be at least until the

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) Buying a house in Switzerland is not an easy matter. There will be many steps involved in the process. You will have to fill in many forms and learn about many things.This guide is here to help you through the process of buying a house in Switzerland. I am going to go over all the necessary steps in the process.Buying a house in SwitzerlandWe recently went through the process of buying a house in Switzerland. After many months of research, we finally found the house we wanted. And in the end, we got it!However, we made several mistakes along the way. And we learned a ton of things about buying a house in Switzerland. It is not a straightforward process.With this guide, hopefully, you will be able to enjoy a smoother process than

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) Neon recently released a new and very exciting feature when they announced their partnership with TransferWise. With this partnership, international transfers with Neon will now be cheaper and faster!Now, when you do a transfer to another country, in another currency, Neon will route the transfer through TransferWise. So, we can profit from the very banking routing system that TransferWise uses.With this partnership, Neon is now the cheapest (and fastest!) Swiss bank for international transfers from Switzerland! It is awe-inspiring for a bank that is less thanSo, let’s see what this partnership means for Neon!Neon and TransferWise Great Swiss Digital Bank Neon FreeNeon is the best digital bank in Switzerland. And it is free!Use

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) I recently learned about Path To Independence, a book about FIRE, from Switzerland! There are very few interesting books from Switzerland, so when I saw a book about FIRE from Switzerland, I had to read it!This book is about saving more money, either by spending less or by earning more. And then, the book recommends you invest the money you can save for long-term returns.In this article, I am going to share my review of the book, Path to Independence, by Elias Noschis.Path to Independence Path to Independence A good short book about saving and investing money in Switzerland and reach Financial Independence. Buy Now Learn More Path to Independence is a book by Elias Noschis. This book is about saving and investing money in

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) Update: Fully updated as of August 2020! Plans have become even cheaper than before!We can agree that everybody wants to pay as little as possible for their phone bills. Even though you may think your current phone plan is the cheapest available, there could be new deals since you started using your plan. It is always essential to keep up to date with the latest offers.The Swiss Phone plan market is quite diverse these days. Fifteen years ago, it was almost only Swisscom, and everybody was content with it. Now, many other providers are using one of the three major networks.In this post, I am going to compare the phone plans and prepaid cards for seven standard phone usages. For each of them, I will show the cheapest options

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) Frankly is a third pillar account offered by Zurcher Kantonal Bank (ZKB). It is an interesting third pillar because it allows you to invest heavily in stocks. And on top of that, the fees are quite low.It is good to see that there are more and more alternatives for good third pillar accounts in Switzerland.So, let’s see what exactly is Frankly and how good it is!In this article, I am going to look at many things about Frankly: its investment strategies, its fees, and its security. And I am also going to compare it against other good third pillars.Frankly 3a from ZKBFrankly is a third pillar account offered by the Zurcher Kantonal Bank (ZKB).ZKB is a large bank that has been established a long time ago. They started Frankly as a

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) There are many ways to budget for personal households. And there is no such thing as the best way to budget that will work for everybody.Many people use many different ways to budget their life. As long as the way you choose works for you, it is enough. You just need to find the best way for yourself.I thought it would be interesting to go over the main ways to budget for your personal finances that exist. And I am also going to share my experience with budgeting.What is a budget?Let’s start with the definition of a budget. We are going to focus on personal budgets, not on corporate budgets that are much more complex.For me, a budget is a plan for your revenue and your expenses. A budget is made for a specific period. For

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) There are many advantages to start investing early. However, many people do not start investing until late in their careers. If you start investing early, you will see many more benefits to investing.Investing is a long-term game. The average returns are good. But you will not see instant results. You could see a few bad years as well. If you do not give it time, you will not be able to reap all the benefits of investing.In this article, we will see that there are many reasons why it is interesting to start investing early. And retiring early is not the only reason to invest!Compound InterestThe first reason to start investing early is about compound interest.The earlier you start investing, the more important will your returns

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) We have now crossed into the second part of 2020. July 2020 went fast very quickly on our side. Life in Switzerland is starting to get back to normal for most things.The most significant event that happened to us this month is that we signed the contract for buying a house! We finally found a house that we liked, and we were able to get it! We are delighted with that.On top of that, we managed to save a large portion of our expenses during the month. So, it was a great month overall!So, in this article, I am going to go over all that that happened during July 2020!July 2020Overall, July 2020 was not a very eventful month. We started again seeing friends and family now that most restrictions have been removed. Switzerland began to

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) Since we have been looking at buying a house, I had to do a lot of research on mortgages. In Switzerland, mortgages are not as simple as they should be!So, in this post, I will share all there is to know about mortgages in Switzerland and how they work.Before you buy a real estate property, you must know this. You do not want to go to the bank without knowing first a few things. Otherwise, it could be easy for them to give you a bad deal.Mortgages in SwitzerlandMortgages in Switzerland are quite complicated. While the basic idea is straightforward, there are many refined principles about them.If you are planning to buy a house, it is essential to know as much as you can about mortgages. You do not want to get a bad deal from your

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) Robo-Advisors are a good way to invest when you do not want to invest directly through a broker. They will manage your money for a fee. While more expensive than DIY investing, Robo-Advisors are significantly cheaper than an advisor from a bank.True Wealth is a leading Robo-Advisor in Switzerland. They are the first  Robo-Advisor, started already seven years. And they are also the cheapest available in Switzerland.I have reviewed other Robo-Advisors in the past. Now is the time to review True Wealth. I will take a look in detail at their investment models, their fees, and their security.True WealthTrue Wealth LogoTrue Wealth was founded in 2013 by David Herren and Felix Niederer. And the service became available to the public in