Seeking out the benefits of education in Switzerland

Share your story
1

Hi all!

I would like to share my story and current financial status. Looking for perspectives to contribute to my own views.

Background:
I live in a Nordic country where gaining financial advantage from higher edutation feels like a struggle. We have great social benefits, WLB and lots of public holidays, but low salaries and ridiculously high taxes. I have an masters degree in Economics (IT, consulting) and my salary after 2 yoe is 3800€ gross/month (45 600€/y), making it around 2800€ net (33 600€/y). I’m really close to a 50% margin tax, even though I only earn about 450€ more than the median.

I recently got an job offer in Basel. I am currently 29, single, and would be moving to Switzerland to start my job in the summer. Professionally, I would get a title promotion and my responsibilities will grow, and the company offers great growth opportunities.

Current situation:

Net Worth: ~42k€
Investments (ETF): ~42k€
Low-interest home loan savings and other cash: 12k€
Student loan: 12k€

Current Savings Rate: ~35%, on average.

Swiss Situation:

Annual Salary: 84k CHF (Paid over 12 months, 7000 CHF monthly)
Pension: 50:50
Target bonus: 1 month's salary
No other monetary benefits.

Calculations:

Net salary: 5 400 CHF
Apartment: 1 700 CHF
Food: 400 CHF
Insurance: 400 CHF
Transportation: 106 CHF
Electricity / phone / TV: 100 CHF
Freetime / risk adjustment: 500 CHF

   Total costs: 3 206 CHF
   Total left over: 2 194 CHF

By my calculations I should be able to save around ~40% of my net, around 2350€/month. This would be 2,35 times more than I currently could. And although my starting salary is apparently small(?), the potential for growth here is quite different from that in my home country. Plus, I’m nowhere near the 50% marginal tax rate.

How do you see it, would you take the plunge or stay in the Nordics and maybe look for a better exit later, since consulting will grant those eventually?

2

what is meaningful is the %age of employer contribution, the ratio of employee/employer contribution isn’t very useful.

3

Where are taxes in your calculation?

Net salary, if it follows the usual Swiss naming conventions, should be gross salary minus payroll taxes and mandatory pension contributions. Yours seems to me to be either low if it doesn’t include taxes or pretty high if it does include taxes for the Basel area.

1 Like
4

It’s really up to you, financially it’s usually the case that your take home pay will be higher as you estimate (that said 1.7k for rent seems kinda low, didn’t think Basel was much cheaper than e.g. Zurich, as a young single you might prefer living in the city rather than cheaper/further away).

Did you go and visit Switzerland already, see if you’d like the culture/feel like you’d be able to integrate easily? (that’s probably what matters the most, you’ll be restarting all your social circles from scratch, it’s still a somewhat big change)

2 Likes
5

I’d go for it just for the change in scenery and different experience.

7 Likes
6

The net was calculated with swisstaxcalculator. There I put my yearly gross, took the “Net income 76’274” and deducted “Total tax 11’175” = 5424 CHF/month.

7

Seems about right, it seems that it was my guesstimate that was wrong. Thanks for the details provided.

8

That rent is an estimate and based on researching multiple different sites, I would expect around 1,5k to 2k max. And yes, I have visited Switzerland (also Germany) and love the area and feel. One of my motivations is to learn better german. I’m quite outgoing, so I’ll definately feel lonely, but I believe it also allows me to form new relationships.

9

Tervetuloa foorumille!

I agree with others: even if you won’t profit financially, it is still a good idea to experience other countries and other people.

P.S. sorry I am a bit slow. In fact, I don’t see how you can manage to NOT profit financially, you have to try hard to do it.

3 Likes
10

You should be able to find an apartment (for one) for significantly less than 1700CHF. [1]
The rest sounds about right.

Do it!
And good luck. :slight_smile:

[1] Edit: Example - great location (I lived in the vicinity) and looks renovated

3 Likes
11

It is much cheaper.

2 Likes
12

You made an accurate comparison at your current salary.
After few years in Switzerland, you may be able to find better offers. So in my opinion this relocation will benefit you even more in the long run.

Regarding your 2nd pillar contribution, it seems the minimum for your âge. 7% from your pay and your employer is required to match the minimum.
Other Swiss companies may provide greater contribution to 2nd pillar. E.g. Check the UBS thread.

2 Likes
13

Yeah I also believe that the pay gap will only increase during the years. So I guess this salary is more than ok to get my foot in the Swiss job market, altough some say I’m selling myself too cheaply.

Thanks for the pillar -info. The HR only told me that “it’s the basic and we’ll mach 50:50” :smiley: Didn’t have enough knowledge to ask for more details. I’m not sure if I want to retire in Switzerland, so I’ll propably continue investing heavily from my income as I’ve done now. I need to read more about 3rd pillar vs. investing :slight_smile:

14

If you go for it, you can always return if you don’t like it. If you don’t go, you might regret it for the rest of your life.

4 Likes