Very worth while conversation. Thanks for your contributions Richard!

This just came up in conversation between my wife and I yesterday in fact. She is not the best at explaining financial details, so I will be checking in to get the scoop. We just got married and are in the process of establishing our mutual finances, so this is very interesting to me.

Is the 3rd Pillar essentially the same thing as a 401k or Roth IRA?

I'm a little confused (after my swiss wife's explanation) in regards to Swiss retirement funds. She seemed to think that the Confederation would come after your 3rd Pillar if it is needed to fund some kind of assisted living situation that you incur later in life. Do you know this to be true?

Could the 3rd Pillar be some kind of amalgamate of IRA/401K/Social Security funds the way they are set up in the US?

Cheers,
Matt