
December is full of presents. Whether in the Advent calendar or under the Christmas tree. And then it’s all over on the 25th. Nonsense, it will continue next year and you can use the time between Christmas and New Year to optimize your finances, make more of your money and get a grip on your pension provision.
Tip 1: Do a cash check
Optimizing your finances requires you to know how much you have. Therefore, get an overview of how much you have in financial assets and calculate your savings ratio. This is how you proceed:
Let’s take a look at Nicole’s checkout as an example
Nicole has an annual salary of 113,000 francs and a net salary of around 100,000 francs. She pays taxes of CHF 20,000 on her net salary. So in 2022 she had room for maneuver of around 80,000 francs. She put CHF 5,000 of this into pillar 3a and also bought an ETF for CHF 8,000. This means she saved a total of CHF 13,000. Her savings ratio is therefore 12 % (= CHF 13, 000/ CHF 113,000 x 100). Nicole has used the rest of her room for maneuver (80,000 – 13,000 = 67,000 francs) for insurance, living expenses and other consumer spending.
Assets (in Swiss francs) | Value at the end of 2022 | Value at the end of 2023 |
---|---|---|
Pension fund | 100’000 | 108’500 |
Pillar 3a | 20’000 | 25’000 |
Securities (ETF, funds, shares, bonds) | 30’000 | 35’000 |
Bank account | 10’000 | 10’000 |
Total assets | 160’000 | 178’500 |
Difference | +16’500 |
In the statement of assets, Nicole sees that the price changes on the stock markets have had a negative impact on her securities. Despite her ETF purchase (worth CHF 8,000), these are only worth CHF 5,000 more net. Her assets have nevertheless increased by CHF 16,500, as she and her employer have as contributions to the pension fund.
Tip 2: Sharpen your financial awareness
Once you have implemented the first tip, you will know how high your savings rate is and how your assets have changed over the past year. Optimizing your finances also requires you to raise your financial awareness. To raise your awareness, you should pause for a moment and reflect.
Look back over the past year and think: What went well financially? What did I do really well? What didn’t go so well? Why didn’t it go well? And what would I like to do differently next year? If you have a partner, do the exercise together. First record your impressions individually and then discuss with each other how the year went financially. You can use a simple technique, something with post-its, to first write down the topics, then sort them and agree on improvements for next year.
Tip 3: Pay yourself first
“The Richest Man in Babylon” is a financial classic from the 1920s. It describes a sensible approach to money in ten entertaining parables. One of the most important lessons from this financial classic is: pay yourself first. In In our consumer economy, advertising constantly drives us to consume. However, this is at the expense of our savings rate. For many, there is simply too much money left over at the end of the month. For them, the following applies: income – expenditure = 0.
Paying yourself first means set aside at least 10 percent of your salary at the beginning of the month. This money is only for yourself. This money goes into your “future account”. You use the other 90 percent to pay everyone else: the state, your landlord or bank, traders who sell you things, leisure providers, etc.
The following applies to you: income – savings rate = possible expenditure. The amount of the savings rate therefore determines the possible expenditure for the rest of the month.
That’s why you should plan your savings now and set up a standing order to ensure that the money is really there for you. Go to e-banking and set up a standing order for CHF 588 for 2024. This is the maximum pillar 3a amount for 2024 divided by 12 months, which you pay into your 3a account every month. You can also secure the rest of your 10% savings quota by setting up another standing order to your savings account.
And while you’re at it, take a look at your tax bill from the previous year and divide the total amount by twelve. This will give you an idea of the minimum amount you need to set aside for taxes each month. It’s also best to set up a standing order for this.
Let’s take a look at how Nicole pays herself first
Nicole’s gross income is 113,000 francs, on which she paid taxes of 20,000 francs last year. She plans to save 15% of her annual salary next year. This corresponds to a savings rate of 17 % of her net salary. She therefore sets up the following standing orders on her current account for the beginning of the month:
What for | How much |
---|---|
to “Pillar 3a” account (3a maximum amount 2024 / 12) | 588 francs |
to the “Taxes” account ( CHF 20,000 taxes previous year) | 1’667 francs |
to the “unrestricted pension provision” account ([113’000 × 10 % minus 7’056 Franken] /12) | 354 francs |
This leaves Nicole with around CHF 6,024 per month per month to live, eat, take out the necessary insurance and have fun.
Tip 4: Control your spending
If you want to optimize your finances, a household budget is a great help. It ensures that you make conscious decisions about what you want to spend your money on. Before you wave goodbye now and say “naaai, that’s too much effort for me” – realize that a household budget and a budget book are two pairs of shoes with different levels of effort.
A household budget is the PLAN of what you want to spend money on. In a budget book, you write down all your actual expenses as soon as possible. The first step here is to create a household budget, the light version, so to speak, which is much less time-consuming. Believe us, this alone will help you to understand where your money is going.
Because spending money should be fun and help you achieve your goals. The same applies here: talk to your partner about it. If you want to save money and he or she wants to consume, but going to a restaurant is more important to you than the 3rd pillar: talk about it. Otherwise you’ll be stressed throughout the year. You can find out how to create your household budget with a fun ratio in this knowledge article.

Tip 5: Take care of your pension gaps
If you want to optimize your finances for old age today, you should get an overview of how much you will receive one day. The pension check will help you do this.

Mach den ersten Schritt zur finanziellen Unabhängigkeit
In einer Minute siehst du deine Vermögensentwicklung und dein Einkommen während der Rente.
You will only receive a full pension in the 1st pillar if, firstly, you have paid in the full contribution period and, secondly, you have always been insured for at least the average AHV salary. You can close contribution gaps retroactively for up to 5 years. Gaps in contributions (so-called AHV shortfall years) occur if you or your employer have not paid any AHV contributions for a period of time in the years after your 21st birthday. This could be the case for unmarried mothers who are not gainfully employed, if you were studying and not earning, were abroad for a longer period of time or only moved to Switzerland later. If one of these cases applies to you, contact the AHV compensation fund responsible for you. Order your individual AHV account statement there and find out whether you can still pay the minimum contribution. This will help you avoid a lifelong pension reduction of around 2.3 % per AHV shortfall year when you retire.
You may also be able to increase your income in the 2nd pillar by making voluntary contributions. To do this, ask your pension fund whether you have so-called purchase potential. You can find out more about buying into your pension fund in this blog post.
Tip 6: Get more in instead of spending more
The year is almost over, a new year, new projects, a new budget are on the horizon, your year-end financial statement is done. Be aware that you can optimize your finances in two ways: bring in more AND spend less.
Let’s start with “bringing in more”: look at ways to increase your income. You don’t have to change jobs straight away, although this often brings the biggest pay increases for employees. You can take the first step by getting an idea of your salary compared to others. Then you can think about what you have done particularly well in your job over the last year and how this has benefited your company. The final step is to make an appointment with your boss for a salary discussion and to justify your salary increase.
Let’s move on to “spending less”: don’t fall into the “New Year’s resolution trap”. You know the one? Next year everything will be better, I’ll drink less alcohol, do more sport, live healthier. I’ll start with fitness in January.
Our tip: Save yourself the expensive annual fee for the fitness subscription and start with the monthly subscription. See if you stick with it first. Experience shows that the gym is much emptier at the end of February. And that’s not because the weather is good. That’s why the subscriptions are completely cashed in right at the beginning 😉 This applies to most subscriptions – and to most resolutions. So be smart and work with monthly subscriptions. If you stick with it, you can renew or pay for single admissions. It hurts every time. But maybe you don’t even need a gym in the summer, but just want to go jogging or cycling outside for free?
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Tip 7: Keep an eye on your financial goals every day
This is our last life hack to optimize your finances. Set yourself a monthly savings target. You know how high your savings rate was last year (see tip 1) and can resolve to increase it this year. What does this mean for you in francs per month? Write your savings target on a piece of paper and put it in your wallet or cell phone case. This will remind you to keep your savings target in mind for all your spending.
Make it a habit to think about your spending for the day once a day, perhaps on the way home. Were they necessary and okay? Do I really want to spend money on it? Apps like Habitbull can help you change your habits. If you deal with your spending behavior, this will lead to a change in your spending. This is because the Hawthorne effect describes the fact that behavior changes simply by being observed. Take advantage of this and take a close look at what you do!
Summary: Optimizing your finances is not that difficult
With our 7 life hacks, you can optimize your finances and get a grip on your pension provision. First get an idea of your financial situation and realize what you are already doing well. From now on, you should pay yourself first and then everyone else. Because you are your own boss: if you take care of yourself, you are taken care of! Control your expenses and check how you can generate more income. Take care of your pension situation by closing existing gaps. And finally: take a look at your finances, because if you observe yourself, your behavior will change for the better.
We wish you every success with these tips in 2024!

Mach den ersten Schritt zur finanziellen Unabhängigkeit
In einer Minute siehst du deine Vermögensentwicklung und dein Einkommen während der Rente.
Last update: 01.12.2024 08:19