Vested benefits

Banks, Insurances & Third Pillar
1

Hello all,

I’ve left my employment and won’t be working for a company for at least a year (education) but I’ll be based in Switzerland.

I’ve been told to open a vested benefits account with a bank. Do you have any recommendations on where to go? I’ve looked at UBS but the cost looks a bit high for my liking.

Many thanks.

2

you can keep the money in cash with many banks and receive almost nothing, but also pay nothing.
or you can invest in funds

if you invest in funds in comparison with a BVG fund you don’t have the downside protection, but you might make more. my employer for example only credited the minimum required on BVG (now 1%…)

I’m not sure how much your employer was crediting you, but if it’s only for 1 year and it is not a lot of money you can go for cash. If you really wanted and if you have cash outside of the pension, you could even use futures to get efficient exposure to equity markets for this year, with the added benefit of being more or less hedged on CHF.

I don’t have a comparison of fees, in general they seem to be around 0.30% + the fees in the funds. yes, a rip off.

other important considerations are: how long you expect to keep the money parked / do you plan to emigrate / which funds are available and how much they cost

I don’t have recomendations, but check out http://www.freizügigkeitskontovergleich.ch.

all banks have a product, in addition check out Swisscanto, http://www.independent-stiftung.ch, http://pens-expert.ch, http://www.liberty-vorsorge.ch/. But for 1 year only, I’d personally go for the simplest solution.

1 Like
3

Thank you very much, Balmung. Sorry for not replying earlier but I was very busy and didn’t have time to check the forums.

4

I put it into PF and then bought the PF 75 fund. It was the simplest option for me since I already banked with them and the UBS offer was more expensive.

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5

Don’t forget to insure yourself against accidents! You are covered for accident for 31 days after your contract expires. You can extend this coverage quite cheap for as much as 6 months. You have to handle that with your ex-employer within the first 331 day after your contract expires. You want the “Abredeversicherung” which is part of the UVG. After the 6 Months you have to look for yourself and include accident it to your health insurance.

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6

Thanks for your reply! I think I may follow you and put the money in the PF 75 fund. Have your returns been satisfactory?

Are you also paying 5.- a month in fees?

7

They didn’t perform amazingly but more so then if you just left it sitting in a vested benefits account. The fund options are quite limited but better than nothing.

I had 7500 in various products with PF so everything was free of monthly charges but come January 1 they want 15000…

8

Many thanks! I’ve opened an account with them now. Can I invest in multiple funds or do I need to place my entire 2nd pillar in one single fund? Also, will I get access to an online platform through which I can invest in funds?

9

I did everything online but because it deals with your retirement, from my recollection, they sent forms for me to confirm.

I believe you could choose between the available funds they had. It was 2 years ago and since then I have transferred my funds to my new employers 2e.

10

Understood. Many thanks again!