Tag Archives: Personal finance

Against the wishes of the Federal Council, Switzerland’s upper house, the Council of States, rejected a plan to prevent people from withdrawing lump sums from their 2nd Pillar pensions, according to the newspaper Tribune de Genève. © Edgars Sermulis | Dreamstime.com Last week, the Council of States voted 25 to 15 to reject the plan. The Federal Council thinks forcing people to convert their pension money into an annuity, which pays a regular income on retirement, will reduce the number of...

The number of registered unemployed in Switzerland dropped by 9% in May 2018 to a rate of 2.4%, down from 2.7% in April, according to a report by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). The rate in May 2018 was 22% lower than in May 2017. © Sculpies | Dreamstime.com Switzerland’s unemployment hasn’t been this low since 2008. In March 2018, SECO changed the way it calculates unemployment and estimates this change reduced the rate of registered unemployment by 0.1%. The lowest rates...

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%. The last time it dropped was 1 June 2017 when it fell to its lowest level since 2008. The rate is based on the average Swiss mortgage rate over three months. This rate is then rounded to the nearest 0.25%. This time that rate was 1.51%,...

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%. © Asdf_1 | Dreamstime.com The last time it dropped was 1 June 2017 when it fell to its lowest level since 2008. The rate is based on the average Swiss mortgage rate over three months. This rate is then rounded to the nearest 0.25%. This time that rate was 1.51%, which rounds to 1.5% In general if your rental...

Universal retirement at a set age is a relatively modern concept. In 1900, 54% of French and 58% of Germans over 65 were working, according data presented by Dr. Marco Salvi of the Swiss think tank Avenir Suisse. © Gemphotography | Dreamstime.com In some countries, such as the US, Japan and Iceland, there were relatively high numbers of older workers until quite recently. In 1960, 29% of Americans over this age were working. In 1968, 34% of over 65s in Japan were in work. And, as recently as...

In January 2015, when the Swiss National Bank stopped its attempt to keep the Swiss franc to Euro exchange rate at 1.20, the Swiss currency quickly rose beyond parity. © Valeriya Potapova | Dreamstime.com To soften the economic shock, Switzerland’s government allowed working hours to be extended with no extra pay and working hours and pay to be cut. Employees were offered partial unemployment benefits to compensate for pay cuts. The logic behind the scheme was that extra unpaid hours or...

A survey of the cost of living in 77 cities, by UBS, ranks Zurich (1st) and Geneva (2nd) as the most expensive. But while these cities are the most expensive, their workers are also the highest paid. © Astra490 | Dreamstime.com In Zurich, less than five days pay affords an iPhone X. In Geneva, the same device requires less than six days of labour. Los Angeles (6.3 days) and Miami (6.5 days) complete the top four. At the other end of the ranking, a worker in Cairo would need nearly 27 weeks...

This week, the Swiss NGO Public Eye, launched a campaign for more affordable medicine in Switzerland under the slogan: protect patients, not patents. © Penchan Pumila | Dreamstime.com The NGO says high prices, of cancer drugs in particular, is not only an issue affecting developing nations but wealthy ones too. It says that cancer treatments in Switzerland often cost over CHF 100,000 a year. Public Eye’s proposed cure is compulsory licensing, an international patent law mechanism that allows...

Switzerland’s government is working hard to find ways to fix a looming state pension shortfall. © Sang Lei | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge Two politicians in the canton of Fribourg have decided to seek savings by attempting to cut lifetime government pensions granted after short stints in the job, according to the newspaper 20 Minutes. In some Swiss cantons, government leaders can work for several years and leave...

Sometimes Swiss voters are presented with questions that only specialists are equipped to answer. The vote on 10 June 2018 to change their monetary system appears to be one of these. © Valeriya Potapova | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge On the surface it appears simple. Upon closer inspection it contains much complexity and uncertainty, compounded by a widespread misunderstanding of how the financial system works –...