Dear Mustachians,
I have been reading the blog and the forum posts on and off for some time but I am now married, with an 11 month old boy and feel I should start to make smart financial decisions. I have a couple of questions to ask and hopefully one of you brave souls won’t mind giving me some advice.
Employment info : I am 36 years old, working full time and yearly I get: 115K salary + 18K bonus + 10-15K stock (fully exercisable after 4 years ) + company pays for 100% health insurance for me and 80% for my wife and kid. My wife and I decided she would stay at home to raise our child likely until he goes to kindergarten so my income is the only one.
Current savings and placements : 40K savings account + 21K third pillar + 18K exercisable stock (company stocks) + another 56K (company stocks) which will be released over the next 4 years
Main Expenses : 2.6K flat rent per month, 2 cars (one being paid off) for a total of 450chf per month plus 3.5K year insurance and license plates
Questions:
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I have 20K in a basic PostFinance 3a third pillar which I was going to use to purchase a home at some point in the future. After reading many of your posts, I am now thinking about investing long-term instead of buying a property and to continue renting. What should I do with the 20K I have in this 3rd Pillar? Should I move everything to VIAC, let those 20K work over the next 30 years and just stop funding it? Or should I move everything to VIAC and continue funding this 3rd Pillar if I don’t plan on buying a home?
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Looking to open a new bank account, N26 is meant to be available in Switzerland this year. Should I wait for N26 or do you recommend another online bank as an alternative? I’m looking for zero or low exchange rate fees, free ATM withdrawals (can be limited), sub accounts, e-billing, no maintenance fees…
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We receive 300 CHF per month for my son (allocation familiales) and would like to invest those for him, so that he has money for passing his driving license, for studying abroad or travelling later on. Do you have any recommendations? I’d like a safe investment product, where my wife and I both manage the account and neither can withdraw without approval from the other one and more importantly, our son cannot withdraw money until we allow him to do so in the future. Ideally, if he is not responsible by the time he is 18-20 years of age (we’re going to raise him to be but who knows), that we can still keep control of the account.
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Any suggestions in terms of portfolio strategy based on my current situation? I am not a huge risk taken to be honest and am only just starting to take my financial health and freedom more seriously.
Thanks in advance for your wisdom!