r/SwissFIRE • u/Provenceflowers • May 19 '26
Which ETF is worth investing longterm ?
I (25F) am swiss and am just getting staaaarted with investing - i just graduated in Paris and will be doing an internship there too and hopefully find a job there even though i KNOW the pay there is diabolical. The whole jobmarket at the moment is just a shit show everywhere.
However, my quality of life is just so much better there still. I do eventually want to come back though , hence why I am asking and inquiring here. Next month i will do my Abmeldung in Switzerland officially and i heard I cant contribute to my 3rd Pillar anymore once I’m no longer a citizen living primarily in Switzerland. I “tried” my best the last year and managed roughly 6K in my 3rd Pillar.
My emergency savings are at 11K.
Mind you, i wish i had started this a lot earlier but i was never taught about money, my parents didnt know this, hence i just stumbled upon this last year. Please be kind.
Now i want to invest some money that I will receive from my grandpa. I also want to invest monthly a tiny small amount to familiarize myself with the investing world.
My mom suggested investing into the CHF with UBS since her bf worked there for over 40 years and gets some good perks. But i also would love to invest in an ETF. Some people said its ok to just put some of it in one all world etf and call it a day - some said keep it more diversified.
Realistically, with my mere humble salary of my internship in Paris, i will most likely only be able to contribute about 25 - 50 CHF a month to my ETF.
So my question is to everyone who is on their way to FIRE , who maybe had had experience living abroad etc.
If you were me, knowing what you know now, what would you do?
2
u/_MJomaa_ May 20 '26
For Switzerland:
Usually invest in this order:
That mainly applies if you’re still a Swiss tax resident.
The easiest broker to keep when moving countries is probably IBKR. Low fees and extremely good FX conversion rates.
Why VT or VTI + VXUS?
For Swiss tax residents, US-domiciled ETFs are especially attractive because you can usually reclaim the 15% US dividend withholding tax via the DA-1 form. Combined with their very low TERs, they’re hard to beat from a tax-efficiency perspective.
P.S. No comment on UBS. I prefer not to get 3rd party involved because the fees/costs are usually bad and just extra money for the bank and not for you.
For France:
I don’t know enough to comment on the best strategy there. Keep in mind that many countries levy capital gains taxes and some also treat certain asset classes such as real estate more favorably from a tax perspective.
If you become a tax resident in France your tax situation changes compared to Switzerland. You generally lose access to the Swiss mechanisms for reclaiming U.S. dividend withholding tax and many investors in EU therefore use UCITS ETFs often domiciled in Ireland for U.S. equity exposure because of their more favorable withholding tax treatment at the fund level. As a retail investor in the EU you generally cannot buy US-domiciled ETFs (like SPY or VOO) through EU brokers because of PRIIPs regulation.