My name is Demian, 27 years old, and I recently started to get more financially literate. I got my inspiration by reading “Rich dad, poor dad”, “Money - Master the game”, “The Intelligent Investor”. So I committed myself to start my journey towards financial independence. I am very excited to have found this community, as most of the resources we find are localized for the US market and not so much information is available for Swiss residents.
Therefore a big THANK YOU to MP for all the work you have put into this platform. I just used your referral to sign up for IB and will get started on reading all the knowledge you put over the years inside this blog/forum.
I live near to Zurich and would be more than happy to get to meet some of you in person. Any chances to organize meetups?
Ha, that’s such a funny coincidence! In my first attempt to learn about investing I also read Rich Dad Poor Dad (recommended by a friend). I was however not impressed by the book, felt it was too obvious, too little content. I’m not convinced by Kiyosaki.
So then another friend recommended me… Money Master The Game by Tim Robbins. This book was way too big for my reading habits, so I started looking for some summary videos on YouTube. There I found a recommendation of the Stock Series by JLCollins and this was a gold mine. This blog alone convinced me to buy ETFs.
Hey @Bojack - totally agree “Money - Master the game” is a big brick of a book. I am passively listening to it as an Audiobook, since I am also not really good at reading it at once…
I think Rich Dad serves a great purpose when it comes to start looking at the “rich mindset”. But I agree it’s just a path opener.
Saying hello. We are German-Canadians living over on the east side part way through our FI journey. We became home owners here 1.5 years ago and now are in the process of moving what money we can to Switzerland now that we decided to settle.
A bit of a late-boomer when it comes to managing my finances.
I did some things wrong in the last 20 years - but those mistakes were self-limiting in the sense that I didn’t have too much money to invest. Since 2014, I’ve read a lot, like
Ramit Sethi: I Will teach you to be rich (super-cheesy title and quirky humor, but actually useful and actionable)
Stanley&Danko’s “The Millionaire Next door”
Vicki Robin’s “Your Money or Your Life”
Carl Richards (The One-page Financial plan, The Behavior Gap)
a lot from “Finanztest” in Germany (no page-turners, but really useful, also for Swiss residents)
and of course a ton of blogs (discovered MP quite late, to be honest)
Within 1 year, I had overhauled my finances and actually managed to align with my partner on this.
I live in beautiful Berne, and I noticed from some posts that some members seem to be located here, as well. (@nugget, @Grog, @MiriKi, @iamaneye, @mrs_oberland, @Josh, @glina, @delu). I’ll initiate a thread for a meeting in Berne in the “Meetup” forum (edit: done, s. here). I’ve met the legendary Finanzwesir (http://finanzwesir.de) at this year’s “Fincamp” - he’ll advertise a meetup in Berne on his blog. We should be able to find at least a few people!
I’ve been a member (and leisure follower) of the forum for a while now, but only now introducing myself properly, and actually acting upon my investments.
30 y/o single originally from Croatia, past has seen me at Vienna and Brussels; and for the last 4 years working in Basel.
My “investment” experiences so far have been
savings accounts during my study days, when the interest rates were still good back home (4-5% fixed guaranteed returns - I considered that great back then; and wouldn’t mind if it was the case today as well)
some telecom stocks I bought and forgot 10 years ago
since I came to CH:
3rd pillar (just switching it to VIAC; was at UBS, put into an expensive managed investment fund)
company stocks through the bonus scheme (50% extra if untouched for 3 years - seems like a good return rate; IF I do stay at the company for that long )
Currently I am throwing everything at ETFs through an IB account
My choice thus far is VTI+VEA+VWO combo
Starting with cca. 30k
My monthly savings rate (after netto - health insurance) being roughly 30% should see me adding 2-3k every 2 months or so (and keep some cash in stash)
I enjoy the mountains and cars.
Therefore I do still like to practice the luxury of owning (actually leasing) a nice, but affordable car (2015 Mazda3) - as I do like my freedom on weekends, to go hiking and road tripping.
(I know that might not be the true mustachian approach to CH life )
This community has been the source of vast knowledge so far!
And I am looking forward to, with the help of you guys, reaching my midlife without crysis.
P.S. If there are any Mustachians in Basel - I would be happy to meetup and chat over a coffee.
Exactly. It was the same in Poland. When I started working and had enough money to start thinking where to put it, a 12m time deposit in PLN would also yield 5%. And I thought it was great. But I didn’t consider inflation. Right now you won’t get higher than 3%. time deposit usually barely covers inflation, essentially allowing you not to lose any value, but not making any. Here the Polish inflation chart:
Absolutely agreed.
But at that time I had neither knowledge nor guts to move away from “guaranteed”.
Hopefully today I am wiser, thanks to MP forum too.
Haha true again!
At the moment of getting one, I figured I didn’t want to be bothered with paperwork, seeking buyers etc. at the end of it, as I wasn’t sure if I would prefer another car at the end of the lease or keep/purchase that same one…
So it was more of a decision based on avoiding “paralysis by overanalysis” rather than an economic one.
Thus far I don’t see it affecting my budget too much, and (according to some numbers) I would lose perhaps 1000CHF versus having bought it straight ahead.
Might be wrong though.
Hello everybody,
So I have been reading the blog and forum for a couple of months now. But since I plan to start investing in the new year I decided to try to be more active.
A bit about me, I am a 24-year-old guy originally from Macedonia. I have been living in Switzerland for the past 2 and a half years. For most of my time here I was a student so I am very used to living frugally. Since September I am employed in a large Swiss company that shall remain nameless. Right now I am in the process of building my Emergency fund (15-20K CHF) and my goal for next year is to save at least 45% of my take-home pay.
That 45% will at first be split between my 3rd pillar and my Emergency fund for the first 3 months and afterward my 3rd pillar and investments.
For 3rd pillar, I plan to open a VIAC account as this is how I actually found out about this blog and forum. For now, I think I will start with global 100 strategy.
Banking with UBS for now since it’s free (Student account), but I might need to switch soon.
For my investments, I still have to do some research whether I should go for US-based broker and Fund or if I should go, Swiss-based broker and Ireland Fund.
Since I just started working I am a bit far from the 120K so I am taxed at source in canton Vaud.
Finally, my goal is to retire by the time I am 45 so in about 20 years.
Hi all,
here my figures (and the ones of my wife),
age: early 50
Family of 4 (2 teenagers),
House (new, paid 860k in 2003, mortgage left 300k, (split fixed 150k term 2019, 150k term 2025)
Income 250k
Cash 450k
Shares 150k
2nd pillar 810k
3rd pillar 250k
We are considering FIRE as an option as soon as the two kids are on their own…
Any comment? Do not ask me about the savings rate… I guess it is more than 40%
we have a rather basic life-style
And for indexers the question is not when and at what price - indeed, there’s no question, you choose your allocation, you buy, hold, rebalance and stay the course for long-term.
It you don’t know your savings rate you don’t know your spending which makes it a bit difficult to calculate the monies you need. But I would be more worried about the 450 k cash as it needs to be put to work
I see Market are irrational but I would also not invest in high street investments. All this products from bankers, there is a high margin on it. I would seek alternative investments, and yes you need to invest some time to understand. But see fintech, small hedge funds, real estate (no not reits only direct investments or JVs).
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by Tim Robbins. This book was way too big for my reading habits, so I started looking for some summary videos on YouTube. There I found a recommendation of the Stock Series by JLCollins and this was a gold mine. This blog alone convinced me to buy ETFs.
