My introduction - Glina

I wasted way too much time waiting for the next “inevitable” crash, before investing, but now I’m here.

This is my first post so first of all - Hello and thank you for the wealth of information posted.

I’m 35, polish, have a polish wife and a kindergarten aged son born here. We are both working parents, have a mortgaged flat and are more or less on the same page as in wanting to invest. Our situation is stable and we plan to be here for the long term, although not sure about the retirement yet.

I also have some “experience” investing, but have previously made all the beginners mistakes, namely using expensive products, trying to time the market or just thinking I know better. This resulted in very little profit and a lot of lost time, but at least left me with some knowledge.

Earlier this year I opened an account with Corner (I know, IB would be cheaper, but I want to avoid having anything to do with the US) and currently have 100% in VWRL (CHF denominated). I intend to top up the account monthly, and buy shares every quarter.

I’m itching to diversify further with global Small Cap stocks, as the VWRL has none of those, but my fund of choice is as of now not registered in Switzerland: WSML (iShares MSCI World Small Cap UCITS ETF). I’m hoping this will eventually get listed on SIX and denominated in CHF.
https://www.ishares.com/uk/individual/en/products/296576/

I’m also thinking about getting a small portion of iShares Gold CHF (either CHF hedged or non hedged). I have a gut feeling this could come in handy in volatile markets although I’ve never been hot on gold.

Last but not least, the SPI Mid and SMIM have shown to outperform VWRL in last years, so perhaps I should also get some of those. I’d appreciate some feedback.

My cash/bond part consists of my checking account, 2nd and 3rd Pillar contributions.

My 3rd Pillar serves as indirect amortization for the mortgage. My intention is to liquidate 3rd Pillar (multiple accounts) to fully pay off my amortization in 3 equal tranches after 6/9/12 years. I’m still not sure if this is the optimal way to do it considering how cheap the mortgage rates are, but my goal is to have a freedom of choice and a strong negotiating position on financing the remaining 65% of my mortgage. Do I actually have to pay more tax if I liquidate two 3a accounts at the same time, or is this a fixed amount? I’m not sure how this works.

So I guess that’s it. For now, my FI/RE plan is not overly ambitious as I’m still looking at a retirement age of 55/60 considering my current saving rate, but hopefully this will improve!

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Welcome! Are you a cop? :wink:

I don’t think iShares offers ETFs in CHF, only Vanguard does, so you might wait a long time.
I had a look and found WOSC (SPDR MSCI World Small Cap UCITS ETF, traded in USD). Don’t know anything about it, just that SPDR is the oldest ETF provider in the World.

I don’t think it matters how it performed. If anything, this could mean everybody who was gonna buy it, already did and it’s overpriced. If you looked at past performance, then NASDAQ 100 would be a better choice than S&P 500, for example.

There is a federal and cantonal part to the taxation.
Extractions from the 2nd and 3rd pillar in the same year both from you and your wife are counted together, according to the applicable rules. This can and probably will result in a higher tax load, yes.

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Haha, No, I’m not. But I share a family name with our Deputy Prime Minister ;-).

You are right, my bad. Still, this iShares fund is not registered in Switzerland. May this cause an issue if I chose to invest in it?

I don’t think it would be an issue. Just think about all the people who live in Poland. There are almost no serious ETFs domiciled there, yet I’m sure people in Poland are also investing.

The WSML is accumulating, so might be a pain at tax declaration as it is not ESTV listed. I think I’ll hold on for now.

I’m just starting out, and wondering if that actually matters… To me the trading currency seems more like an accounting difference. The value of the underlying stocks and funds doesn’t depend on that, right?

Correct. It does matter only if your broker has high fees for currency exchange, which is the case for most Swiss brokers.

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Mr. @glina, I see you recently making some interesting purchases, with region-specific ETFs. :slight_smile:
Approach which I haven’t read about in your intro posts here.
Care to share a bit more about your approach and portfolio/strategy? :slight_smile:
Would be curious to hear your current stance.

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@dbu , I did explain my tilt towards equal weight for EM countries, look here:

Most EM countries touched the 2016 crisis levels yesterday while some are as low as 2008 financial crisis (Chile, Malaysia). Can’t imagine there could be a better moment to load up on EMs.

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