I have two 3a accounts with Finpension, both slightly above the 50k threshold by, doomed to grow yet another 15+ years (). My partner has a 3a account with PostFinance in one big chunk of over 80k by now. I’m looking to relocate that money to Finpension and I’m stumbling upon this old saying that says “it’s advisable to keep 3a accounts under 50k each”.
ChatGPT says it’s taxed better when withdrawn and I can have as many 3a accounts as possible, but I’d love to have confirmation on these.
If I project until early pension years with a yearly 4% growth, we end up around 400+300k total wealth in our 3a accounts, so that would be about 15 separate 3a accounts, which sounds like a bit of nonsense tbh. Target is to cash out the 3a at one point, either for property or for self-management.
Is there any way to “optimize” our situation from this point? If it’s indeed advisable to keep chunks under 50k, can I keep “splitting” my accounts as they grow over the limit in finpension (or other providers)?
You cannot split 3a accounts, that’s why it is important to start separate ones early that grow over time.
The main advantages are:
Flexibility - you normally have to withdraw 3A in full pots, so if you only want to take part of it, then having multiple pots gives you flexibility
Taxes - depending on the canton, it can be much cheaper to withdraw smaller pots over many years rather than a single large pot in one year. This tax tactic could be closed in the future.
Buying property is one case where you have flexibility on how much you withdraw, so you might be able to trim a large pot in the future.
You can also spread over years e.g. withdraw on year for deposit and later on in another year to pay off a tranche of the mortgage. That way you lower your taxes.
So the smart idea would’ve been (in our twenties) to open a separate 3a pot every year, for like 15 years, and let them grow separately into 49k each? Well well… it sounds like a financial hack that should be “resolved” by law, eventually.
Good to know on the “RE purchase” trimming option though. Thanks! Seems as long as I want to purchase property, I can plan around bigger chunks with proper financial planning and a relatively low risk.
No, it usually doesn’t make sense to open more than 5 3a accounts per person. Outside of real estate and similar exceptional withdrawal options, you only have 6 calendar years to withdraw capital (60-65, unless you keep working after 65) and that includes withdrawals from pillar 2. Withdrawals in a single calendar/tax year are taxed together, so there is no tax benefit in withdrawing multiple accounts in a single year.
The 50k guideline is about contributions, not the account’s value at retirement age. When starting out, I recommend simply opening 5 accounts right away and contributing 1/5 of the maximum to each account each year. Contributing to a single account per year and rotating the account each year is perfectly fine as well.
Finpension recommends five 3a accounts per person. More than that is not really going to add any value because you only have certain years to withdraw.
You don’t really lose anything by having more than 5. I guess you have 5 standard years to withdraw and maybe you want 1 or 2 extra if you want to make additional withdrawals for home buying.
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). My partner has a 3a account with PostFinance in one big chunk of over 80k by now. I’m looking to relocate that money to Finpension and I’m stumbling upon this old saying that says “it’s advisable to keep 3a accounts under 50k each”.
Target is to cash out the 3a at one point, either for property or for self-management.