Tag Archives: Personal finance

In some parts of Switzerland, welfare payments are sometimes considered more like bridging loans to help someone through a financially difficult period rather than a one-way payment. A recent case in the canton of Bern shows this system in action. © Andrey Anisimov | Dreamstime.comAccording to 20 Minutes, a man who received welfare over 20 years was asked to repay the money he’d received after an inheritance windfall in 2020. During the summer of 2020, the man received CHF 261,000 in...

The tax burden is set to rise in 10 Swiss cantons and fall in 16 in 2022, according to data published this week by the Federal Finance Administration (FFA). Nationally, the tax burden in 2022 will represent 24.6% of Switzerland’s tax potential, down from 24.8% in 2021. © Francisco Javier Zea Lara | Dreamstime.comWhile the national tax burden percentage offers some indication of the average rate of income tax, it can differ significantly because of the complexity and incomparability of the...

On 1 January 2022, new laws aimed at helping Swiss consumers will come into force. © Alexey Novikov | Dreamstime.comFrom 1 January 2022, foreign companies and brands will no longer be able to use geographic blocking to force consumers with Swiss IP addresses to shop on local Swiss web pages with different prices. Laws aimed at ending the practice of foreign brand and product owners forcing higher wholesale prices on Swiss retailers and consumers will also come into force on 1 January...

In Switzerland, the official state pension age is 65 for men and 64 for women. Government plans to make the retirement age 65 for both men and women have met with resistance from groups fighting against gender discrimination in Switzerland. © Ammentorp | Dreamstime.comThe change would not affect women about to retire, and those born between 1960 and 1968 would receive some extra compensatory pension payments. Groups against the move argue that the extra year of state pension women...

Switzerland might not lead Europe on average income (GDP), but it wins on cost, according to recent Eurostat data. © Daniele Mezzadri | Dreamstime.comThe nations leading on per capita income in 2020 were Luxembourg and Ireland. Average GDP per resident was 2.63 times the EU average in Luxembourg and 2.09 times in Ireland. Average residents of Switzerland, came in third with GDP per head of 1.60 times the EU average. However, on costs, Switzerland takes the lead with prices 1.59 times...

The world is getting tougher on tobacco. This week, New Zealand’s government announced plans to make it illegal to sell cigarettes to anyone born after 2008. In Switzerland, where cigarettes are around 40% of the price in New Zealand, an anti-smoking association has called for prices to be hiked from CHF 8 to CHF 14 a packet, reported 20 Minutes. © Jaochainoi | Dreamstime.comAccording to the Swiss Association for Tobacco Control (AT), hiking the price of cigarettes will cut the number of...

According to the latest report by the U.S. Department of the Treasury released this week, Switzerland is no longer defined as a currency manipulator, a status it has held for some time. © Diego Grandi | Dreamstime.comTo be classified as a currency manipulator by the U.S. Treasury a nation has to fulfil three criteria. It has to have a bilateral trade surplus with the United States of at least $15 billion, a current account surplus of at least 3% of GDP and a persistent, one-sided...

© Giuseppe De Filippo | Dreamstime.com The latest Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey of the prices of 200 goods and services in 173 cities placed both Geneva and Zurich in the top 10 most expensive cities in 2021. Overall, the cost of living across these 173 cities has risen by an average of 3.5%, the highest inflation seen in the last 5 years. This compares with inflation of just 1.9% in 2020 and 2.8% in 2019. Supply-chain problems, as well as exchange-rate...

The latest Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey of the prices of 200 goods and services in 173 cities placed both Geneva and Zurich in the top 10 most expensive cities in 2021. © Giuseppe De Filippo | Dreamstime.comOverall, the cost of living across these 173 cities has risen by an average of 3.5%, the highest inflation seen in the last 5 years. This compares with inflation of just 1.9% in 2020 and 2.8% in 2019. Supply-chain problems, as well as exchange-rate shifts and changing...

© Petrina Calabalic | Dreamstime.com The gross mean household income in Switzerland was CHF 114,984 (US$ 125,000) in 2019, according to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Overall, 40% of households in Switzerland had income over this mean while 60% brought in less. 73% of this income came from working, 23% came from pensions, welfare and household transfers such as alimony, and 4% from investment income. In many places an income this high would offer a life of...