I can recommend Rotkreuz, all the tax benefits from canton of Zug and very well connected (some 47mins to ZRH HB). Plus closer to Lucerne, which is the most beautiful city in the world.
EDIT: Or 23mins by car (Enge area)
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Well my girlfriend would pay for health insurance but you don’t really account for it in Germany as it’s not working like it is in Switzerland where you get your income and then pay your premiums. When you work and earn at least 451€ you have a mandatory health insurance. You are right it’s not really free for her, just mandatory and not included in the 1500€ net income we calculated with.
There are several ways it could be free for me. For example we marry and the portfolio is at the name of my wife. As I have no (or at least less than 455€) capital gains I have a free health insurance as a husband. This comes with an additional risk of divorce so you might go for other ways or simply pay the premium (might be fair).
Another way is that if you know the employer he can split her job to two jobs. I get 451€ per month (this means I get a health insurance) for checking “that the domain of the website doesn’t expire” or something like that. And my girlfriend gets the rest but she’s a good wage slave so she’s willing to work some unpaid overhours.
There are also other ways, a simple and pretty common is fraud. The insurance sends you a form where you put in your income and a lot people “don’t know” that you have to include capital gains. But that’s not something I advice.
I’m pretty sure I’d have a company for all my projects so in a realistic scenario for us I would have to pay health insurance anyway.
//Edit:
But basically, I have to admit you are right, it’s not really free at least for her and some ways to get it cheaper might not be illegal but at least shady. But I guess that’s the issue with a lot of tax optimization schemes.
That remind me of the story of the Greek guy in the ZRH meetup who reached FU money 8 years ago and then went to the boss and wanted to quit. They kept giving him large raises so he stayed another 4 years until US HR was concerned that some Directors or VPs could be jealous that one guy in Switzerland is making more than them.
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Maybe as a Zuger I can help with this one. There are (or were before corona) a few morning trains which are overcrowded. If you have a flexible schedule you could probably work around it. I don’t think there are many service disruptions.
I work in the canton so I only experince the morning rush if I need to go to Zürich on business. Trains within Zug are not too badly crowded - at least not when I was commuting.
I like living here but the selection and availability of services is nowhere near Zürich. Zug is pretty good for families but it might be boring for city dwellers. Depends on what you like; for example the nature here is great and the real mountains are much closer than in Zürich.
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47mins is not what I call well connected, that’s not even average. Add to it getting to and from the station, potential delays, and you’re looking at 2h travel time each day.
Yes, Luzern is nice, although I would say it’s like a smaller/cuter Zurich: there is a lake, river, view to the mountains. I find Zug in a better position: closer to Zurich but still not far from Luzern. Btw my gf’s parents have a chalet at the Rigi and you can see Luzern from there, I really enjoy that view 
I love such stories, but I guess unfortunately there are not many companies that work like that. For me that’s a part of the culture that defines a great company. At other places they might just let him go and don’t care for the consequences. But to be honest, you need deep pockets for that… Anyway, that’s awesome for him! Lucky Hooli guys. 
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That’s my feeling too. I guess not only would me and my gf go to Zurich every day to work, but also during the weekend go get some of that city life. The advantage would be having Luzern close by, but the disadvantage would be being further away from Bern, Basel, Konstanz, St Gallen & the airport.
Yeah, I’m aware of that. We often go to Arth-Goldau and take the Rigi Bahn. Or when we go skiing to Engelberg or Meiringen etc, you usually go near Zug, so the drive time would be reduced. Although I have to say, I prefer the lake panorama in Zurich over Zug.
Lol.
By what criteria?
my subjectivity 
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It really depends on which train you take, but a lot of trains are really crowded in the rush hour. But they are usually on time. It’s about 30 minutes to Zürich if I go by car and very early. Our rent is like 2200 CHF for a old but renovated 70m² flat with one parking space and one garage.
Yes I’ve seen a lot of calculations, but I’m really also not sure if they are correct. Especially as I don’t know how the tax treatments for all other countries are (might be way worse for VT than VWRL - who knows). Maybe we should ask Vanguard for their professional estimation.
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I’m with you on this one (at least locally, not necessarily globally). I really like Lucerne both aesthetically and n terms of the more relaxed atmosphere. Whenever we have guests we almost always take them to Lucerne instead of Zürich.
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Agreed. With baby boomers hitting retirement age, everyone born after 1965 will have to face financial uncertainties. Old age poverty becomes a relevant topic.
And yet many people completely ignore this topic.
A colleague of mine, in his 40s, can’t tell fhe difference between 1st, 2nd and 3rd pillar!
(I’m not joking. He doesn’t know the system at all.)
(And no, he’s not an expat who came here yesterday and can’t be expected to know everything already. He grew up here.)
Thanks y’all for your answers.
That is fair and that’s maybe part of my mistakes: I should lay things down more barely before signing the contract. I tend to consider that it’s the employer’s role to do that but, if it’s something important for me, then I should bring it to the table myself if it doesn’t get otherwise adressed. Thanks for your input.
That’s my belief. My experience is that some employers (the ones I’ve come accross) are just not willing to negociate and will take the big turnover over paying their employees at market rates. I shouldn’t have been able to easily find better paying jobs in the same field after my missed negociations, that, to me, was a clue that I wasn’t paid at market rates for my current skillset.
That’s also my thinking. My experience is that my bosses can afford to loose me, which isn’t a bad thing. My take on it is that the current market is too soft for already settled in small businesses’ CEOs in my field. Which also tells me that it is ripe for disruption and that it may be time to launch my own business. Time to toughen up and put in the work, I guess.
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That’s the right mindset. Just cut your project in small steps and be persistent. If it doesn’t work try the next thing. You always need luck to be successful, but you also need to bring yourself in a position where you can have luck. Just roll the dice all the time and you will win. I’m sure you can do it!
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I would recommend Freienbach SZ – right at the Zurich lake and Sbahn to HBF.
Also even lower taxes than Zug for most folks.
@Alvo congrats on the big step and the tenacity. Most folks will never achieve this.
Maybe I should post my own story eventually (fired from my tech job a few months ago, now effectively fully retired).
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Of course - please share!
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Freienbach SZ / Pfäffikon is known as the “cheapest” place in Switzerland, tax wise. The difference to Zug is small, though. And my subjective opinion about Pfäffikon is that it’s small and not very pretty although Rapperswil is not far away. And the train to HB takes 30 min, from Zug it’s 20 min.
Short version: fired @ 40 years. I use a SWR of just 2% (basically the dividend yield of VT) since I am a very risk averse person. Retiring at 40 was somehow always a lofty goal that I had in mind but somehow it took the mental stress of Corona and the pain of endless video calls to actually resign.
The main driver for me to FIRE was not so much my tech salary (which increased nicely but still) but the strongly appreciating equity grant. I worked for my last employer nearly 9 years and the company value went nearly vertical ever since.
On the spending side I was always extremely careful with my expenditures (especially recurring ones) and was always staying WAY BELOW a level that I could afford. So fairly old car, small apartment, etc. I actually almost forced myself this month to actually spend a few thousand bucks on “fun” items like a big new OLED tv, etc.
I am currently 80% invested and the rest is held in cash (mostly USD and CHF). I am selling put options (SPY; 20-50% below current prices; expiry 3-12 months out) using my spare cash as a guarantee. That allows me to generate roughly 2-4% interest per year on that portion of money (key is to sell those put options after a few day of market losses like the last two weeks – that ensures that VIX is high / put prices expensive). It will also force me to enter the market whenever there is a major market dip. So indirectly I follow this strategy / allocation: https://www.wertpapier-forum.de/topic/59377-ultrastabilität-nach-andreas-beck/
My biggest worry was that I will be bored with so much free time but reality is that there is always something to do/fix/visit/read/etc. Overall very happy with my decision 
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