Investing in Switzerland
Investing sits at the core of personal finance. A solid investing strategy will lead to most of your net worth build-up over time. If you invest early, likely more than your job.
Swiss residents are in a privileged position when it comes to investing. Why? Because, generally speaking, salaries in Switzerland are generous enough to allow for a high savings rate [1]. And high savings rates make it possible to invest. In the Swiss market, this holds even if you’re just getting started in your professional career. Which is great, because investing early in life is one of the best personal finance decisions you can possibly make.
Start investing now, but with caveats
There’s a weak spot in your personal finances if you’re not investing already. Doesn’t matter how much money you make. Putting your money to work for you is not only satisfying, but also a rational choice. If you’re new to investing, however, there’s some stuff you have to clarify first.
Many people decide one day that they want to invest some money. They embark on a search for investing advice. ‘Good time to invest in stocks now’. ‘Best companies of 202x’. ‘Which crypto to buy’. Google delivers. And people act on what Google delivers. Which unfortunately many times is a collection of random, biased views from investing pundits. Even worse, other people decide to follow the advice from a friend/colleague/uncle and buy something. This is the wrong approach.
If you’re serious about investing, your first concern shouldn’t be about what’s out there. It should be about yourself. It should be about your investing time horizon. About your risk tolerance. About your financial and psychological capacity to stick to a pre-defined investment strategy. Even in difficult times. This is the right approach.
Here’s a quick sanity check. If you had never invested any money, but thought about jumping (or jumped) on the bitcoin wagon in 2017, then you’re following the wrong approach. You’re not approaching investing seriously. You’re approaching investing as a gambler. And that’s dangerous. The same applies if you had never invested any money but thought about buying stocks during the 2020 coronavirus outbreak. Luckily, it’s never too late to change the course.
Investing and mypersonalfinance.ch
mypersonanfinance.ch revolves exclusively around long-term investing. To benefit from this site, you should first make sure that you’re a long-term investor as well. This means that you need to answer questions about yourself first. Building introspective on your capacity to invest, time horizon and risk tolerance are good starting points.
If you’re new to investing, don’t despair. You don’t have to walk alone. Luckily, there’s plenty of material out there for you to get started. I recommend to start by reading this investing 101 entry. It will help you understand the basics of long term investing. From diversification and risk tolerance to psychological aspects.
The investing content on mypersonanfinance.ch focuses mostly on ETF investing. It also covers specific topics you should keep an eye on as a Swiss resident. Examples are Swiss taxes or currency risks.
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