Poll: how many pillar 3a accounts do you have?

Ok thanks, I was thinking the him,her,him,her,…but I still have enough time for things to change and rechange. As you advised me in a different post, we can also amortise again later, merge accounts etc etc…lots of options if we go the 5 accounts each with standing orders. Thanks :beers:

Reading about 3a , i get to realise that i need to make the withdrawals
between age 60 and 65. ie 5 years prior entering into pension for men (a year earlier for women)

that is the reason for having 5 accounts, and not more.
is not that i get to choose when to get these money out , ie in my 68 or 72 if i needed them then

nothing new here, i just get to realise and wanted to share / check my understanding is correct

This is correct, unless you keep working (and contributing to AHV) beyond 65, in which case you can defer withdrawal of 3a until you stop working. The maximum deferral is 5 years, i.e. you have to withdraw all 3a accounts by age 70 even if you work beyond 70.

Also keep in mind that money withdrawn from pillars 2 and 3a in the same year will be added together for tax purposes. To reduce the tax rate, you should withdraw money from pillar 2 in different year(s) than pillar 3a, if you choose to withdraw pillar 2 as capital.

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you just have some rules to respect, since its not meant to be a bank account given that its tax advantaged. you can take it out earlier too (every 5 years) to make a downpayment for a mortgage…

… or in addition to @jay 's advice (100% correct), you can also use it to buy back (significantly) into 2ieme before your retirement. I’m not an expert on this though and tax advantages vs gain potential etc to be evaluated based at the time leading up to your retirement. I like this option as I have a good/healthy pension (for now) and if this buy back is a minimum 3 years before retirement I could get a boost on tax advantage and not restrict taking part of my pension as capital (i.e. use 3a (100% equity) to buy into 2ieme (considered “bonds”) as I evolve portfolio allocation closer to retirement and gain the tax boost as a bonus)

In the end you are “only” putting 6-7k CHF per year so I like to think that this is the money that I commit to not touching and ensuring each account has a specific objective…for anything other than what i describe above I would invest on the side and have it without limitations if I needed it sooner/more flexibility.

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