For staggered withdrawals, please check with your canton to find out how many 3a accounts you are allowed to have. From one canton to another, having several 3a accounts can be considered as tax evasion.
For example, the canton of Vaud only accepts the creation of a maximum of two 3rd pillar accounts, otherwise they consider that there is a desire for tax optimisation and therefore tax evasion 
@florians : you can use my code if you want 
qCyeRRF
Very good to know indeed 
While understanding that timing the market is not a strategy one should stick to, I see it as a cautionary move to get out of the equity exposure during jumpy times and get back it when (hopefully) the situation has calmed down.
Given no rebalancing costs apply with VIAC and the investments are in indices only, I have troubles to see what‘s bad to „pause“ the investment for n months. Especially when looking at the 3a investment horizon (somewhat less than 30yrs left for me).
And for going into global 60 or 80: why should I do that, irrespective of what my financial situation looks like when taking into consideration the long 3a investment horizon? For those that have spare money to invest in 3a and start in their 20, 30ies, chosing global 60 or 80 is less earnings while still have a high risk exposure. I‘d compare it to the KK franchise. Either go lowest or highest. Obviously this applies only to 3a investments and not investments where you have freedom of choice regarding the timespan.
Thanks for the warning! I did not know this and I’m surprised VIAC doesn’t mention it in their article. The following article from Credit Suisse actually explicitly stated that:
“There are no restrictions on the maximum number of Pillar 3a accounts permitted.”
https://www.credit-suisse.com/ch/en/articles/private-banking/ist-es-sinnvoll-mehrere-3a-konten-zu-fuehren-wenn-ja-wie-viel-201904.html
I live in Zürich so hopefully I can find some information on this at the Zürich tax office site.
Yes, indirectly. When you sell Global 100 to go down to 40, the sale proceeds (chf, usd, yen, eur) will be exchanged to chf, losing u about 0.5 to 0.75%.
When you buy back into Global 100, the foreign currencies will be bought again, again at a cost of about 0.5%. So for your example, you’d lose 1 to 1.5% to these foreign exchange spreads for the part of Global 100 which is in a foreign currency.
Here for your information :
Le retrait échelonné fonctionne-t-il de la même façon dans tous les cantons ?
Non, et c’est bien là que le bât blesse. Certains cantons considèrent le retrait échelonné comme de l’évasion fiscale et imposent une limite quant au nombre de comptes 3ème pilier que l’on peut ouvrir. Par exemple, dans le canton de Vaud, on ne peut pas ouvrir plus de deux comptes 3ème pilier.
Does staggered withdrawal work the same in all cantons?
No, and that’s where the problem lies. Some cantons consider staggered withdrawals to be tax evasion and impose a limit on the number of 3rd pillar accounts that can be opened. For example, in the canton of Vaud, you cannot open more than two 3rd pillar accounts.
You can ask at the fiscal administration of Vaud for more detail on this topics. Each Canton has its specifity for 3rd Pilar and for tax in general.
It is not true (anymore?) for Vaud. If it changed, it was years ago. Just don’t take one on the 30th december and an other one on the 3rd january.
Hello!
I need an additional 3rd pillar 
Are referrals still possible? The dedicated topic seems to be closed.
Thank you!
Edit: A lovely fellow member just sent me a referral code. All good then
Hi guys,
I started my transfer on VIAC beginning of May and got completed from BCGE this week.
It’s taken only 7 weeks to complete with Covid19. I help the transfer by stopping the monthly BCGE contribution a month before.
It depends on your bank of course but I’m pretty happy about it. They will rebalance the cash based on my allocation next month.
I wrote VIAC support twice and they were very reactive.
Doing the move was fairly easy with only 1 letter to send to your bank.
All your messages on this topic help me to make the decision and I’d like to say Thanks !
EDIT BY MODERATION:
Referral codes are not allowed anymore on this forum. This is not VIAC marketplace.
So what’s the smartest strategy for VIAC for an investment horizon of 30 years: use one of their strategies like Global 100? Customize with gold and real estate? What is your asset allocation? Capital gains are tax free in Switzerland so there is no advantage in a tax advantaged account, so does a dividend strategy make sense? How about reducing the Switzerland focus by investing in a hedged MSCI World fund in CHF?
Don’t hold your gold and your swiss real estate in your 3rd pillar for tax reasons. Gold is capital gains only by definition and the swiss real estate is usually partially/fully tax-free in term of wealth tax and in term of dividends.
Please point me to the right post if this has already been asked:
VIAC allows to open 5 subaccounts to split the 3a investment, allowing for staggered withdrawal starting at 60 (lets omit cantonal differences).
I have 5 subaccounts with VIAC (split: 45/25/10/10/10%) and will have in a few years the opportunity to buy owner-occupied real estate.
At that time i’ll likey apply for a morgage with direct/indirect amortization. Does this actually work with VIAC? I believe I’ll have to transfer away my 3a savings to the Bank giving me the morgage.
Do Banks calculate mortgages based on the aggregated 3a investment with them or do I face issues because my 3a investment is split over 5 accounts (with the same bank)?
Brings me to the final question: does it make sense when looking at an upcoming mortgage to focus the 3a investment to 1 of the 5 subaccounts? And by that working against the tax optimization effect. Or is the suggestion to split the 3a investment evenly over the 5 subaccounts because the Banks anyways look at the aggregate?
Thanks!
If you transfer your 3a funds to a 3a account with the mortgaging bank, they can be consolidated into one account. Maybe they’ll make you do it, maybe they’ll let you have multiple accounts. I’d assume you’d have to ask the bank.
In any case, it’s no problem consolidating your funds back into one account (though this might have an adverse on the amount of tax at payout), so why shouldn’t be able to look at the aggregated amount?
Thanks.
Looking at the aggregate amount makes only sense when keeping the 5 subaccounts. If I have to consolidate them anyways, then there is no aggregated view.
Is it really in the Banks discretion to have me consolidate the accounts? Since splitting an existing 3a is not permitted, why should it be the other way round? Obviously the bank can just decline giving a mortgage if I insist on having the aggregated view (i.e. keeping the 5 subaccounts), but as long as the funds are with the same bank, what is the benefit for them to (force-)consolidate them?
They will implement a new feature by end of October. Performance report by custom date.
Finally! Makes tracking everything way easier.
Could you please go into more details?
Too complicated.
It might be an interest investment - but really seems out of a place for a tax-privileged investment vehicle for the average Swiss consumer.
Thanks @TeaCup for your explanations, but I don’t understand why you mention BVV2 here? What Viac offers is already way beyond those limits (like max 50% stocks, not even talking about max 5% per company). It seems to me that in the last 2-3 years, the Swiss government has allowed 3rd pillar providers to override BVV2, no?
Interesting. Is it possible to obtain an aggregated assets view of the institution? Where did you find that more people have their 3a in cash than in securities?