I keep struggling with a moral dilemma regarding Swiss real estate.

Even with high transaction fees and Grundstückgewinnsteuer, housing remains out of reach for most families. Personally, it feels ethically wrong to treat a basic human necessity as a yield machine and profit off people who just want a stable place to live.

The paradox, of course, is that our own Pensionskassen rely heavily on residential property yields to fund our retirements.

Should the state restrict buy-to-let investments further, or is this just fair game? Do ethics play any role in your asset allocation, or is it strictly numbers for you?

Hey everyone,

I’ve been brainstorming a real estate idea in Switzerland and wanted to get a reality check from people who know the market or have done this themselves.

Here is the basic scenario I have in mind:

Property price: CHF 600,000

Down payment: CHF 150,000 (25% equity)

Mortgage: CHF 450,000

My initial thought is that I put down the 150k, secure a mortgage for the rest, and then use the monthly rental income to pay off the mortgage. In theory, the apartment basically pays for itself over time while building equity.

However, this sounds almost too easy and too good to be true.

I’m wondering what I am missing. For those of you with experience in Swiss real estate, what are the hidden traps, risks, or overlooked costs in this strategy?

How do Swiss taxes (like income tax on rent, wealth tax, and imputed rental value / Eigenmietwert if applicable to investment properties) affect the math?

What about mandatory amortization, maintenance funds (Erneuerungsfonds), and management fees if you rent it out?

What happens if interest rates rise or the property sits empty for a few months?

Do you think this is a viable investment strategy in Switzerland, or is it far more complicated (and less profitable) than it looks on paper?

Would love to hear your thoughts, experiences, or warnings!

Hallo zusammen, Ich teile hier mein aktuelles Budget-Setup – bin gespannt, was ihr dazu sagt.

Ich bin 18 Jahre alt, wohne zu Hause bei meinen Eltern. Arbeite derzeit 80%.

Kurzer Kontext zu ein paar Posten, die aus der Grafik vielleicht nicht sofort ersichtlich sind:

Bitcoin (1.000/Monat, ca. 25% des Gehalts) wird bewusst getrennt von meinem Aktienportfolio (VWCE-Kern + Satelliten) erfasst. Ich möchte, dass beide unabhängig voneinander performen, anstatt sie in einem „Investment“-Topf zu vermischen.

3. Säule ist monatlich voll ausgereizt, anstatt als Einmalzahlung am Jahresende.

Fixkosten sind für Schweizer Verhältnisse eher niedrig, hauptsächlich weil die Miete hier noch nicht enthalten ist – wohne ja noch zu Hause.

Ich arbeite als Privatkundenberater bei einer Bank, daher predige ich auch beruflich Disziplin beim Budgetieren/Sparen – gut, dass ich das auch wirklich lebe.

Was meint ihr dazu? (Grafik erstellt mit finanzfluss.de/rechner/flussdiagramm)

Edit: Everything in CHF

A couple of 2 in their mid-30s without children.

Hi all,

My wife and I are currently using the Certo! Mastercard World credit card. We are now wondering if it makes sense to switch to one of the different Gold or Platinum card offers given that we are anyways paying for travel insurance and are renting cars abroad (+ paying for the full coverage insurance).

Does it make sense to consolidate and get a Platinum card instead? If so, which one?

Some potentially relevant information:

• Groceries mainly at Migros but also here and there at Coop, Aldi and Lidl (in that order).
• Online purchases within Switzerland as well as abroad (e.g., Amazon Kindle eBooks, etc.)
• Currently have travel insurance from Allianz (~300.- p.a.)
• Flying a couple of times every year
• Renting cars abroad 1+ times per year (+ paying for the full coverage insurance)
• Using credit card also abroad while traveling if not paying in cash

Full honest roast please, I feel like im wasting money honestly.

In 2026 I got a job in IT 2h away from the family home, after 8 months I decided to move to the same city so that I could get more sleep and my first taste of "living as an adult".

I decided to find a WG so I'd make some friends and invest the money I don't pay for the rest of the rest. This diagram is a rough mix/representation of my first month here + what I expect to use on "normal" months for the next coming times.

I'd like to know what you guys think of it, if there are any improvements or if I missed anything.

A few notes:

• I invest all I have left in VT. This month everything went instead to my VIAC Global 100 portfolio, which I just set up for the first. In the future though, distribution should be more similar to the diagram.
• There's no "transports" category because I already paid for a GA for this year and now mostly travel by bike, so I won't buy a GA next year and hence don't need to put money aside for that.
• Vacations is: the only (non-family, meaning I pay) vacations I did this year, x3 (the amount I expect to start doing now that I live by myself) /12.
• Housing should normally be way lower than 50CHF, but I had to buy some tools since I just moved in. Some rare times I'll need to buy some furniture, in which case it'll be way higher than 50CHF.. all in all, 50CHF felt like a good average between normal/anormal months.
• I just noticed "Entertainment" appears twice, "Other" here accounts for administrative papers I had to pay to get to move cantons. Other is hence more for "unexpected" expenses.

Hi All, following up on my recent post about wanting to go self-employed, and wanted to find out from others who have done so (in any sphere) how difficult it is to accomplish? You need at least 3 clients, a website, some business cards...is that it? What else will the authorities ask for? How long does the process take? Is there a minimum you need to earn or hours worked? Then you can pull out your 2me pilier, correct?

My goal is to pull out my 2nd pillier to buy a couple extra rental properties (I already have a couple that work well) to provide some basic income, and then just work part-time to top it up.

Investment advisory would be a natural self employment given my career, though I am worried that the compliance & regulatory costs might be too high for a small side gig of a few hours here and there.

Another option could be property management given I do it for myself and there are a lot of holiday properties in my home town, which might be less onerous in terms of regulation. I'm even wondering about being a hiking guide, as it is what I do in my spare time anyway! Just looking for a bit of extra income on top of the rentals. Any advice welcome thanks