Tag Archives: Personal finance

© Mcwilli1 | Dreamstime.com Health care in Switzerland is funded by a mixture of taxes and health insurance premiums. Much of the insurance premiums paid are compulsory with no discounts offered to non-smokers. According to figures recently published by the Swiss association for smoking, the annual direct medical costs of smoking are CHF 3 billion (2015), or CHF 350 per person. This sum represents 3.9% of Switzerland’s total annual health spending. Tobacco use is the...

© Ppvector | Dreamstime.com Recent figures show an annual 4.2% rise in the number of vacant homes in Switzerland, extending a trend that started 10 years ago, according to the Federal Statistical Office. At the start of June 2019, there were 75,323 vacant homes, representing 1.66% of Switzerland’s total stock of homes. However, high vacancy rates in some regions masked low ones in others. While cantons such as Solothurn (3.40%), Thurgau (2.65%), Jura (2.59%), Aargau...

Health care in Switzerland is funded by a mixture of taxes and health insurance premiums. Much of the insurance premiums paid are compulsory with no discounts offered to non-smokers. © Mcwilli1 | Dreamstime.comAccording to figures recently published by the Swiss association for smoking, the annual direct medical costs of smoking are CHF 3 billion (2015), or CHF 350 per person. This sum represents 3.9% of Switzerland’s total annual health spending. Tobacco use is the main risk factor...

In 1998, GDP per person in Switzerland was CHF 59,693. Recently published statistics put the figure at CHF 80,986 in 2018, a rise of 36%.  © Mr.siwabud Veerapaisarn | Dreamstime.comWhen Swiss GDP per capita is expressed in globally comparable US dollar terms its rise is even greater. In US dollar terms Swiss GDP per capita grew from US$ 41,497 to US$ 82,839 between 1998 and 2018, a rise of 100%. In Germany the same figure went from US$ 27,341 to US$ 48,196, a rise of 76%, in France...

Recent figures show an annual 4.2% rise in the number of vacant homes in Switzerland, extending a trend that started 10 years ago, according to the Federal Statistical Office. © Ppvector | Dreamstime.comAt the start of June 2019, there were 75,323 vacant homes, representing 1.66% of Switzerland’s total stock of homes. However, high vacancy rates in some regions masked low ones in others. While cantons such as Solothurn (3.40%), Thurgau (2.65%), Jura (2.59%), Aargau (2.59%),...

Recently, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) unveiled the new 100 franc banknote. Only one note missing – © Janusz Pieńkowski | Dreamstime.com The note’s design is inspired by Switzerland’s tradition of humanitarianism, represented on the note by water. The note remains blue but is much smaller than the existing one, making it easier to fit into wallets. The note is the last one in Switzerland’s ninth series of notes to be updated. Updating the series began in April 2016...

Swiss banks have agreed to tighten lending conditions for investment properties following concerns by the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA), a self-regulatory body. © Alexandre Zveiger | Dreamstime.comThe SBA, which represents most of Switzerland’s banks, has issued new lending guidelines requiring lending deposits of at least 25% of the assessed value of the property for residential investment properties. In addition, minimum annual loan repayments must reduce loans by one third over the...

A man in Zurich has been sentenced to close to four years in prison after receiving more than half a million francs of welfare despite possessing numerous cars and large bank balances, according to Tages-Anzeiger and reported in 20 Minutes. © Andrey Popov | Dreamstime.comThe 51 year old man from Kosovo, who received CHF 527,000 of welfare money between 2003 and 2014, failed to declare eight bank accounts, one with a balance of around CHF 196,000. In addition, between 2003 and 2015, he’d...

Agencies paying social welfare in Switzerland will be able to hire detectives to uncover fraud from 1 October 2019. © Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime.comIn Switzerland, between 2009 and 2016, detectives were used on around 220 investigations a year. Two thirds of those trailed were found guilty of fraud. In 2016, the European court of human rights ruled that accident beneficiaries should not be tracked because there was no defined Swiss legal framework covering the practice. Then in 2017,...

Recently, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) unveiled the new 100 franc banknote. Only one note missing – © Janusz Pieńkowski | Dreamstime.comThe note’s design is inspired by Switzerland’s tradition of humanitarianism, represented on the note by water. The note remains blue but is much smaller than the existing one, making it easier to fit into wallets. The note is the last one in Switzerland’s ninth series of notes to be updated. Updating the series began in April 2016 with the...