Retirement investing
Pillar 3a (Säule 3a), vested benefits and pension capital, invested rather than left in cash, and the drawdown question that follows.
Book a 30-minute callWho this is for
- Your pillar 3a has sat in a cash account earning almost nothing for years
- You have vested benefits (Freizügigkeitsleistung) from a former employer sitting idle
- You are approaching the point where the money has to start paying you instead
What is included
- 01What you already havePillar 3aThe voluntary private pension, called Säule 3a in German. You pay in yourself up to a yearly limit, deduct it from taxable income, and cannot touch it until close to retirement. accounts, Vested benefitsFreizügigkeitsleistung: the pension money left behind when you leave a job and do not immediately join another Swiss scheme. It sits in a holding account until it has somewhere to go. and pension entitlements read together, which for most people is the first sight of the whole figure.
- 02Invested or in cashWhether Pillar 3aThe voluntary private pension, called Säule 3a in German. You pay in yourself up to a yearly limit, deduct it from taxable income, and cannot touch it until close to retirement. and Vested benefitsFreizügigkeitsleistung: the pension money left behind when you leave a job and do not immediately join another Swiss scheme. It sits in a holding account until it has somewhere to go. should be invested at all given your horizon, and in what, with the cost of each option stated.
- 03StaggeringMultiple 3a accounts opened and filled deliberately, so eventual withdrawals spread across tax years instead of landing in one.
- 04Buy-in analysisPension buy-inEinkauf: paying extra into your pillar 2 to fill gaps from years you were not contributing. It reduces taxable income now and locks the money up until retirement. (Einkauf) capacity, the relief it produces at your marginal rate, the lock-up it creates, and where it is the wrong move.
- 05Lump sum or annuityKapitalbezug against Rente, modelled against your own assumptions and your partner, not against a rule of thumb.
- 06DrawdownWhich pot is drawn in which year, and how the invested part is structured so a bad market year does not force a sale at the worst time.
What this looks like in practice
Two pillar 3a accounts and a vested benefits account, all in cash, roughly a decade before the money would be needed, and no view of what that decade of cash was costing.
We consolidated the picture, modelled invested against cash over the remaining horizon, staggered the accounts for eventual withdrawal, and set out the buy-in question against the marginal rate in each remaining working year.
A written schedule for contributions, investment and eventual withdrawal, with the trade-offs quantified rather than assumed.
What it costs
Dimension10% of the gain
There is no separate charge for this piece of work. Nothing. The share of the gain is the whole of it.
The full scale, the minimum, a worked total including broker or platform costs, and our written policy on retrocessions all sit on one page.
See the fee scaleQuestions
Should pillar 3a be invested or left in cash?
It depends almost entirely on how many years remain before you need it, and on whether you would sell in a bad year. Both are specific to you, and neither is settled by a general rule.
Is a pension buy-in always worth it?
No. It is attractive at a high marginal rate with a long enough runway, and wrong if you may need the capital, may leave Switzerland, or if the fund itself makes it unattractive.
Are you a pension adviser or an investment adviser?
We advise on investing, including money sitting inside pension structures. Legal and tax opinions come from qualified specialists, and we say clearly where that line falls.
Related work
- 01Investment adviceWhat to buy, in what proportion, and when to leave it alone. We research and recommend; you place every trade yourself, from your own account.
- 06Tax-aware investingSwiss investors are taxed on wealth and on income, not usually on capital gains. Build a portfolio that ignores this and you hand over returns you never had to.
- 02Portfolio reviewA second opinion on what you already hold: what it actually costs you, what it is really exposed to, and what you would not buy again today.