The Swiss investing book you can actually finish.
One short chapter a day for 90 days. What your money is for, how the three pillars really work, what each route into investing costs, and what to do first.
- Written for people living in Switzerland, in plain English
- 90 short chapters, not a 400 page textbook
- Every figure sourced, fact checked and dated
- No card, ever
- One email a month after that
- Unsubscribe in one click
Why this book exists
Generic advice doesn’t work in Switzerland
Most of the money advice online isn’t written for you. It’s written for someone with a 401k, an ISA or a Riester plan, and none of that maps onto three pillars, a 3a account and a Swiss tax return.
What’s left are forums, where every second post is an acronym nobody explains, and a handful of guides in German. So you guess, or you park the question for another year.
Paying someone starts in the hundreds, and plenty of the free advice comes attached to a product somebody earns commission on. This book is the thing I wish I’d had: Swiss from the first page, in plain English, and free.
Inside the book
What one day actually looks like
Every day is one page and follows the same shape. Here’s an example, day 25 from the book.
Day 25: Pillar 3a: cash or invested?
The question
Is my 3a money sitting in cash, and did I choose that?
The idea
A 3a account opened at a bank counter often defaults to cash. It earns a rate the bank sets, which has spent long periods close to nothing. An invested 3a holds funds instead, usually with a chosen share of equities, and its value moves with markets.
The reason this matters more in 3a than in an ordinary account is time. Money you can’t withdraw for twenty or thirty years is, by definition, long-term money. Cash is designed for short-term needs. Holding decades of contributions in an instrument built for next month is a decision, even when nobody made it deliberately.
Your notes
Find your 3a statement and write down whether the money is held as cash or invested. If it is invested, note the share held in equities. Then record how many years remain before you expect to touch it, and whether the answer you found matches that number.
Daily takeaway: cash in a thirty-year account is a decision, even if nobody made it.
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The outcome
What will you be able to do by the end?
A plan on one page
What your money is for, over what period, and the rules you’ll follow when markets move. Written down, so the next drop is something you planned for.
Your pillar 3a, understood
Whether it is held as cash or invested, what it costs you a year, and what the tax deduction is actually worth at your rate, in your canton.
The fee test
A way to read any Swiss provider page and come out with one number you can compare against another. The single most useful habit in the book.
The structure
90 days, 3 sections
Days 1 to 21
Understand your starting point
What the money is for, what risk actually means for you rather than in the abstract, and what you’re buying before you buy any of it.
Days 22 to 55
Compare the Swiss system
The three pillars, the three routes into investing from Switzerland, and what each one really costs once you add up every layer.
Days 56 to 90
Decide and prepare
Writing your own brief, using current information carefully, and building a system you can maintain without thinking about it.
My take
Who’s this for (and who isn’t it for)?
This is for you if…
- You live in Switzerland and read English more easily than German
- You have money sitting in an account and no plan for it
- You want the order, not another explainer
- You would rather be told what to check than what to buy
Give this a miss if…
- You already hold a diversified portfolio and can explain why you own each part
- You want stock picks, trading signals or crypto calls to get rich this year
- You want personalised advice. This is education, not financial advice
- You devote your evenings to trawling through forum threads
Why me?
I’m not a financial advisor, and that’s rather the point
I’m a British expat who has lived in Switzerland for over a decade and had to work all of this out the hard way, in a language I didn’t speak, while being sold products I didn’t need.
My own introduction to Swiss personal finance was an advisor quietly folding death and disability cover into my pillar 3a. It took a fifth of every contribution, on a contract meant to run for thirty five years.
I found it. I cancelled it. Then I started writing this site, and eventually this book, so it wouldn’t happen to you.
How I work
The rules this site runs on
- If it’s bad for you, I say so, even when it pays
- No CFDs. Nothing sold on commission
- Every review is a real, funded account
- Affiliates disclosed on the page, not the footer
- Every figure sourced, dated and rechecked
- I tell you when you don’t need it
Start tomorrow morning
The book is free and will stay free. Enter your email and it arrives in about a minute. Day 1 takes five minutes and needs nothing but a pen.
Before you sign up
Questions
Is it really free?
Yes. No card, no trial, no paywall later. You give me an email address, I send you the book, and you get about one email a month after that.
What else arrives by email?
The book straight away. After that, the monthly briefing, once a month. You can unsubscribe whenever you like.
Is this financial advice?
No, it’s education. I’m not a licensed financial advisor, and the book doesn’t recommend a product for your personal situation. It shows you how the Swiss system works and how I approach it.
Do I need to know anything about investing?
No. It starts from a bank account and a salary. If you already run a diversified portfolio and understand why you hold each part, much of it will be familiar.
Do I have to do it in ninety days?
No. The ninety days are an order, not a schedule. Plenty of people read it straight through and then go back to the days that apply to them.
Is there a German version?
Not yet. The English gap is the one worth filling first.
What happens to my email address?
I use it to send the book PDF link. It’s never sold or shared.
Last updated August 2026. This page is information, not financial advice. The figures inside the book are sourced and dated, and the book is rechecked when the underlying numbers change.