Tag Archives: Personal finance

Reaching the official retirement age1 is an important milestone for many people. Some look forward to it while others dread it. © Rawpixelimages | Dreamstime.com Some dreading it would prefer to continue working either because they enjoy their work or would like the extra income. Some feel they are being systematically and unfairly labelled too old to work. A survey by the bank UBS showed that many people now don’t feel old until they’re in their 80s. A one-size-fits-all official retirement...

© Ifeelstock | Dreamstime.com In 2016, Switzerland’s government decided to tighten the VAT exemption on imported purchases, a move that affects most online orders from foreign retailers. The new rules took effect on 1 January 2019 – they were originally planned for 1 January 2018 but systems and processes were not ready. Until the beginning of this year, any order attracting less than CHF 5 francs of VAT was allowed...

In 2016, Switzerland’s government decided to tighten the VAT exemption on imported purchases, a move that affects most online orders from foreign retailers. The new rules took effect on 1 January 2019 – they were originally planned for 1 January 2018 but systems and processes were not ready. © Ifeelstock | Dreamstime.com Until the beginning of this year, any order attracting less than CHF 5 francs of VAT was allowed across the border tax free. This meant CHF 64.931 of most goods and CHF 2002...

Since the beginning of December 2018 more and more counterfeit 100 Swiss franc notes have been appearing in the Swiss canton of Valais in and around Sion and Conthey. ©-Ginasanders-_-Dreamstime.com_ - Click to enlarge The fake notes, which the local Police say can be spotted if compared to real ones, have been making their way into circulation via shopping centres, kiosks and service stations in the Sion and Conthey...

Since the beginning of December 2018 more and more counterfeit 100 Swiss franc notes have been appearing in the Swiss canton of Valais in and around Sion and Conthey. © Ginasanders | Dreamstime.com The fake notes, which the local Police say can be spotted if compared to real ones, have been making their way into circulation via shopping centres, kiosks and service stations in the Sion and Conthey region. Counterfeiting is rare in Switzerland because Swiss notes are virtually impossible to...

Heidi Joos, the managing director of the organisation Avenir 50 plus, and others, plan to launch a referendum aimed at introducing laws against age discrimination in Switzerland. © Vadimgozhda | Dreamstime.com Age discrimination in recruitment is common in Switzerland. Some job search websites allow filtering by age, and job adverts sometimes specify applicants be below a particular age. The initiative aims to provide a framework for seeking legal justice in cases of age discrimination, to...

One way to reduce the cost of compulsory Swiss health insurance is to choose a high deductible. Currently, some people do this and then postpone treatment until they’ve switched to a lower deductible the following year. © Gregory Alekhin. | Dreamstime.com Recently, Switzerland’s parliament voted 113 against 60 in favour of locking in deductibles for three years to reduce this practice of switching deductibles from year to year. Going forward, it will be possible to switch insurers every year...

When shoppers see a discount they typically assume the original price is correct. However, this is not always the case, as some hidden price labels have revealed. This week Ochsner, one of the Swiss retailers caught with suspect price discount labels, was fined CHF 4,000, according to the newspaper 20 minutes. Tandis que Manor dément avoir voulu tromper ses clients, Ochsner a été condamné à une amende minime pour sa pratique à large échelle des faux soldes. https://t.co/TWxaxJ6m9P — 20...

Every three months the rate of interest used to set Swiss rents is reviewed. If it goes down some renters have the right to request a decrease in rent. This time it remained at 1.50%. ©-Sergei-Razvodovskij-_-Dreamstime.com_ - Click to enlarge The last time it dropped was 2 June 2017 when it fell to 1.5%, its lowest level since 2008. The rate is based on the average Swiss mortgage rate over three months. This rate is...

The latest figures show that Swiss salaries have not kept up with inflation. An average Swiss salary rose 0.4% in 2017, compared to inflation of 0.5%. This left the average salary earner 0.1% worse off in real terms over the year. © Convisum | Dreamstime.com The figures were the same for both the secondary and tertiary sectors. The rise in 2017 (+0.4%) was the same as 2016 (+0.4%) but less than 2015 (+0.5%) and 2014 (+0.9%). Average annual salary increases in Switzerland have been below 1%...