Tag Archives: Personal finance

One idea for containing rising healthcare costs was to remove the possibility of changing health insurance deductibles every year, making it possible only every three years. © Andrii Yalanskyi | Dreamstime.com If people are able to switch from high to low deductibles annually then they can save money by opting for a high deductible one year, while postponing visits to the doctor until the following year when they opt for a low one. Locking deductibles for three years would reduce this...

The National Council, Switzerland’s parliament, supported a motion that would end the transfer of debt from unpaid health insurance premiums to young adults, according to 20 Minutes. © Fizkes | Dreamstime.com Under the current system, when young adults reach the age of 18 they must pay any health insurance premiums that were not paid on their behalf by their parents when they were children. Recently, 174 members of parliament voted to stop this practice. Only 2 voted not to. Some young Swiss...

The National Council, Switzerland’s parliament, rejected a motion to force Swiss mobile phone operators to remove EU roaming charges. 99 voted against, 78 for and 14 abstained, according to the newspaper 20 Minutes. © Georgejmclittle | Dreamstime.com In 2017, the European Union (EU) forced EU operators to stop charging their customers extra for calls made outside their home country but within the EU. This left Swiss mobile phone users among the few still paying extra for calls in neighbouring...

Many new to Switzerland are shocked by the prices of things. High Swiss prices have not gone unnoticed by locals either, many of whom shop in neighbouring countries to avoid them. © Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime.com However, cross-border shopping hurts the environment – more time is spent in cars – and hurts local Swiss retailers. There are many reasons for Switzerland’s high prices. Among them is the relatively high wholesale prices some Swiss retailers are charged by importers, international...

Switzerland’s third largest health insurer had a good year in 2018, according to recently published financial statements. Instead of holding onto all of the CHF 61.9 million profit it made last year, the not-for-profit company plans to return some of the money to policyholders between now and the end of the year. Around half of all policyholders will receive something. Policyholders in ten cantons will receive them. In Vaud each adult will get CHF 50. In Geneva they’ll get CHF 100 and in...

© Rosshelen | Dreamstime.com On average, renting a 4.5 room apartment of 100 to 110 m2 costs CHF 3,820 a month in Geneva. The same apartment in the Swiss city of St. Gallen costs CHF 2,004, 52% of the price, according to a report on rents in Switzerland’s ten main cities by the price comparison website Comparis. For an apartment of this size, Geneva (3,820) is the most expensive, followed by Zurich (3,073), Lausanne...

On average, renting a 4.5 room apartment of 100 to 110 m2 costs CHF 3,820 a month in Geneva. The same apartment in the Swiss city of St. Gallen costs CHF 2,004, 52% of the price, according to a report on rents in Switzerland’s ten main cities by the price comparison website Comparis. © Rosshelen | Dreamstime.com For an apartment of this size, Geneva (3,820) is the most expensive, followed by Zurich (3,073), Lausanne (2,850), Basel (2,660), Bern (2,600), Luzern (2,430), Winterthur (2,400),...

A recent study by Geneva’s department of economic development (DDE) looks at the shopping habits of its residents and the residents of neighbouring Vaud and neighbouring France – an area including Nyon and parts of the French Ain and Haute Savoie regions. © Viorel Dudau | Dreamstime.com Every year, the residents of this greater Geneva region spend around CHF 7.2 billion francs on consumable items in physical stores. This money is spread across personal goods (19%), garden and DIY goods (6%),...

In 2018, 68.5% of the nation’s residents aged 15 or older was working, 1.5% more than in 2010. © Arturoosorno | Dreamstime.com This rise was largely driven by an increase in the percentage of women in the workforce. In 2010, 60.0% were working. By 2018, 62.9% were, a rise of 2.9%. On the other hand, the overall percentage of men working declined slightly (-0.1%) to reach 74.2% by 2018. Swiss versus foreignersOverall, foreigners were much more likely than Swiss to be working. In 2018, 76% of...

© Eziogutzemberg | Dreamstime.com In 2016, before the effects of taxes and welfare, the highest earning 20% of Swiss households made on average 40.8 times what an average household in the bottom 20 percent made, an inequality measure known as the S80/S20. However, after taxes and welfare, including low income support, health insurance subsidies, pensions and disability benefits, the same income ratio fell to 4.4....