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A full review of Selma Finance: what it costs at every level, who it suits, how it compares with True Wealth, and where it is genuinely different from a standard robo-advisor. Every fee below was read off Selma’s own pricing page on 8 August 2026.
The robo-advisor I recommend when someone wants to be walked through it rather than left alone with a dashboard. Budgeting, pension and portfolio sit in one place, and entry is CHF 2’000 against True Wealth’s CHF 8’500. The catch is cost: you pay a premium for the guidance.
Who Selma is and is not for
It suits you if you want the decisions made for you, you would rather be guided than presented with options, you are starting with a few thousand francs, and you want your pillar 3a handled in the same place as your other investing.
It does not suit you if cost is the only thing you care about, or if you want to choose the individual funds yourself. There are cheaper Swiss options, and a broker is cheaper still if you are happy buying a global ETF and leaving it alone.
Selma Finance: pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
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Fees and charges
Selma charges one management fee that falls in four steps as your total grows, plus the cost of the funds it buys for you. Two things make the tiers more generous than they look: the figure counts your deposits and your earnings together, and it includes your pillar 3a.
| Total invested | Management fee | Plus product costs | All in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under CHF 50’000 | 0.68% | ~0.22% | ~0.90% |
| CHF 50’000 to 150’000 | 0.55% | ~0.22% | ~0.77% |
| CHF 150’000 to 500’000 | 0.47% | ~0.22% | ~0.69% |
| Over CHF 500’000 | 0.42% | ~0.22% | ~0.64% |
Two costs sit outside that: Swiss stamp duty of 0.075 to 0.15% per transaction, which every Swiss provider pays, and currency exchange of about 0.25% per transaction when buying something not priced in francs. Selma publishes both, which is more than many do.
What it actually costs on CHF 50’000
At exactly CHF 50’000 you are in the second tier, so 0.55% management plus about 0.22% product costs. That is roughly CHF 385 a year.
The same money at True Wealth costs about CHF 310. So Selma is around CHF 75 a year more, not the multiple it is sometimes described as.
Whether CHF 75 is worth it depends entirely on whether the guidance gets you invested. For a lot of people it does, and an account that exists beats a cheaper one that never got opened.
How Selma works
You start with a conversation rather than a form. Selma asks about your income, debts, existing assets, timeframe and how you would react to a market fall, and builds a plan from the answers. The portfolio it produces is the last step, not the first.
- Answer the questions. No PDFs to print or scan. Email verification comes later, so nothing blocks you halfway.
- Get a plan, not just a portfolio. Selma tells you how much to keep as a cash buffer and how much to invest, which most robo-advisors skip entirely.
- See the downside before you commit. It shows what your allocation would have done in a bad year, including 2008. Worth sitting with rather than clicking past.
- Fund it and leave it. Minimum CHF 2’000, by transfer to the custodian bank. Rebalancing, dividend reinvestment and tax statements are handled for you.
You can also turn on sustainable investing from your settings, which screens out weapons, tobacco, alcohol, gambling, adult content, GMOs and thermal coal, along with companies caught in environmental, human rights or fraud scandals.
Safety and who holds your money
Selma Finance AG is an independent portfolio manager authorised by FINMA, supervised through OSFIN, with FINOS as its ombudsman. It does not hold your money itself.
Your investment account is opened in your own name at Selma’s partner banks, Saxo Bank (Switzerland) AG and VZ VermögensZentrum. That separation is the point: if Selma stopped trading, the assets are yours and can be moved elsewhere. Two-factor authentication is available and worth switching on.
Selma vs True Wealth
These are the two I recommend most often, and they are aimed at different people. The full True Wealth review goes deeper, and both sit side by side in the robo-advisor comparison.
| Selma | True Wealth | |
|---|---|---|
| My rating | 4.7 | 4.8 |
| Management fee | 0.42 to 0.68%, four tiers | 0.25 to 0.50%, degressive |
| Product costs | ~0.22% | 0.12% global, 0.21% sustainable |
| All in | ~0.64 to 0.90% | 0.37 to 0.62% |
| Minimum | CHF 2’000 | CHF 8’500 |
| Pillar 3a | Yes, from CHF 500, and it counts towards your fee tier | Yes |
| Control over holdings | Limited by design | The most of any Swiss robo |
| Budget and pension planning | Yes | No |
| Reader offer | Free management for a full year via this link | CHF 100 fee credit with code INVEHERO |
Short version: True Wealth if cost and control matter most, Selma if being guided is what gets you started. The gap on CHF 50’000 is about CHF 75 a year.
Selma pillar 3a
Selma also runs a pillar 3a, and it is easy to miss because most of this review is about the taxable account. The minimum is CHF 500, well below the investing minimum, so it is often the cheapest way to try the platform.
It carries the same fee structure as everything else, so roughly 0.90% all in at smaller balances. That is not cheap against the market leaders in this category, and my rating for the 3a specifically is 4.0 rather than the 4.7 the taxable product earns.
The bit that actually pays
Your 3a balance counts towards the total that sets your fee tier. A 3a and a taxable account together can push you into a cheaper band than either would reach alone, and Selma Family pools assets across a household to get there faster. If you are going to use Selma at all, holding both is the cheaper way to do it.
Whether Selma is the right home for your 3a is a different question from whether it is the right home for your investing. There are markedly cheaper 3a providers, and I put every Swiss one side by side on total cost in the pillar 3a comparison.
Background and the people behind it
Selma Finance was founded in 2016 by Patrik Schär, Kevin Linser, Mikael Roos and Valeria Gasik, with Swiss and Finnish roots. Patrik, a former banker, is CEO. I interviewed him about why he left banking to build it: the full interview is here.
If cost is your first priority rather than guidance, True Wealth is cheaper and I rate it higher overall. If you are choosing where your pillar 3a goes, the pillar 3a comparison puts every Swiss provider side by side on total cost, Selma included.
Selma builds you a full plan and shows the portfolio, the fees and the downside scenarios before you transfer a franc. No card details, no commitment. If you are unsure whether the guidance is worth the premium, the free plan is the honest way to find out.
Selma Finance FAQs
What does Selma Finance cost?
A management fee of 0.68% under CHF 50’000, 0.55% to CHF 150’000, 0.47% to CHF 500’000 and 0.42% above that, plus product costs averaging 0.22% a year. Stamp duty of 0.075 to 0.15% and currency exchange of about 0.25% apply per transaction on top. On CHF 50’000 that works out at roughly CHF 385 a year.
What is the minimum to open a Selma account?
CHF 2’000 to invest, or CHF 500 if you are only setting up a pillar 3a. Both are low by Swiss standards, and well below True Wealth’s CHF 8’500.
Does the fee include my pillar 3a?
Yes, and this matters more than it sounds. Your 3a balance counts towards the total that sets your fee tier, so a 3a and a taxable account together can move you into a cheaper band than either would on its own. Selma Family goes further and pools assets across a household.
Is Selma Finance safe?
Selma Finance AG is authorised by FINMA as an independent portfolio manager, supervised through OSFIN with FINOS as ombudsman. It does not hold your money: your account is opened in your own name at Saxo Bank (Switzerland) AG or VZ VermögensZentrum, so if Selma stopped trading the assets remain yours and can be transferred.
Is Selma or True Wealth better?
True Wealth is cheaper and gives you more control, and I rate it 4.8 against Selma’s 4.7. Selma is better if you want to be guided, if you are starting with less than CHF 8’500, or if you want budgeting and pension planning in the same place. The cost gap on CHF 50’000 is about CHF 75 a year.
Can I withdraw or close the account at any time?
Yes, at no extra cost. Selling the investments and moving the money to another bank can take up to a week.
Is there a Selma app?
Yes, on both iOS and Android. Selma links to the App Store and Google Play from its own site.
Do I need to be a Swiss resident?
Yes. Selma is for people domiciled in Switzerland.
Compare & choose
The other comparisons on Investing Hero, each built the same way: every fee read from the provider’s own pricing page.
How this review is kept current. Every Selma fee, minimum and regulatory detail on this page was read from Selma’s own pricing and legal pages on 8 August 2026, not from a comparison site. Competitor figures come from my own provider data files, each checked at source and dated. Ratings are mine and are kept consistent across the reviews and the comparison hubs. Educational content, not financial advice.
Thanks for the great review!
Thanks Niklas! Glad you liked it 👊
Hey very nice blog!
Any cost if withdrawing balances from the investment account in Selma?
No – no costs there.