Tag Archives: Personal finance

Philomena Colatrella, the CEO of Swiss insurer CSS Insurance, has stirred the lively debate around Switzerland’s rising cost of health insurance by proposing deductibles of CHF 5,000 and CHF 10,000 – deductibles set the amount people pay out of their own pockets before their insurance kicks in. CSS Versicherung_source Facebook Colatrella discussed the idea in an interview with Blick. The response to her comments was widely covered by Switzerland’s media, including by the broadcaster RTS....

Philomena Colatrella, the CEO of Swiss insurer CSS Insurance, has stirred the lively debate around Switzerland’s rising cost of health insurance by proposing deductibles of CHF 5,000 and CHF 10,000 – deductibles set the amount people pay out of their own pockets before their insurance kicks in. - Click to enlarge Colatrella discussed the idea in an interview with Blick. The response to her comments was widely...

In some parts of Switzerland welfare payments are effectively loans that must be repaid when the recipient’s financial situation improves. © PeJo29 | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge According to the Aargauer Zeitung, a welfare recipient in the commune of Klingnau in the canton of Aargau received a bill of 173,000 francs after he came into some money. A windfall of 173,000 francs is rare, according to Rolf Walker,...

In some parts of Switzerland welfare payments are effectively loans that must be repaid when the recipient’s financial situation improves. © PeJo29 | Dreamstime.com According to the Aargauer Zeitung, a welfare recipient in the commune of Klingnau in the canton of Aargau received a bill of 173,000 francs after he came into some money. A windfall of 173,000 francs is rare, according to Rolf Walker, head of administration at the commune. Where the money came from in this case was not disclosed,...

In 2016, 7.5% of Switzerland’s population survived on a income below the poverty line, defined as CHF 3,981 a month for a couple with two young children, CHF 3,039 for a couple without children and CHF 2,247 for a single person. © Inna Blanco | Dreamstime.com Among the 615,000 people encountering poverty in Switzerland in 2016, 140,000 were working. Over the four years up to and including 2016, 12.3% of Swiss residents experienced one or more periods of poverty. For most (7.7%) it lasted one...

Comparing the most recent statistics on Swiss consumer inflation to those in 1993 reveals a steep drop in the percentage of spending allocated to food. © Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge When statisticians calculate consumer price rises they look at the prices of a standard basket of goods. In 1993, food and non-alcoholic beverages made up 14.3% of the value of this standard basket. By 2018, the...

Comparing the most recent statistics on Swiss consumer inflation to those in 1993 reveals a steep drop in the percentage of spending allocated to food. © Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime.com When statisticians calculate consumer price rises they look at the prices of a standard basket of goods. In 1993, food and non-alcoholic beverages made up 14.3% of the value of this standard basket. By 2018, the percentage had fallen to 10.4%, a 27% drop. The chart below compares the percentages spent on food...

When Geneva’s finances make the news it is typically bad. At the end of 2016, the canton had debts of CHF 12.5 billion, equal to 153% of its income. In January 2018, the rating agency Standard and Poors gave Geneva a negative outlook citing risks related to the canton’s poorly funded public pension scheme. © Sam74100 | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge This time the news is good. The CHF 80 million budget deficit...

When Geneva’s finances make the news it is typically bad. At the end of 2016, the canton had debts of CHF 12.5 billion, equal to 153% of its income. In January 2018, the rating agency Standard and Poors gave Geneva a negative outlook citing risks related to the canton’s poorly funded public pension scheme. © Sam74100 | Dreamstime.com This time the news is good. The CHF 80 million budget deficit predicted for 2017 turned into a CHF 69 million surplus, CHF 149 million better. So what happened?...

In Switzerland, married couples file one combined tax return. Because tax rates rise in line with income it means that second incomes of married couples are taxed at a higher rate than those of single cohabitating ones. © Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge Those campaigning to have this changed argue that it is unfair and acts as a disincentive for second income earners. In 1984, Switzerland’s Federal...