Agreed. I’d be gutted if my employer reduced their contributions by so much

Up to a max of 85k the employer must pay a minimum % into the pension, they must match your personal contribution. After 85k gross earnings this is a bit grey and is a kind of bonus if you get pension payment on that.

6k a month is less than the 85k max limit

35-44 years old is 7% therefore 3.5% each
45-54 is 15% so 7.5% each
55-65 is 18% so 9% each

Which yes ok is a 7.5% average. But its unlikely unless you are contracting/consulting you would only get 3.5% from the employer

The bare minimum contributions (covered 50/50 employee/employer)

Coordinated pay check is: Annual_Net_Income - CHF 24675 but not more than CHF 59925.–

At the age 35-44, can I pay like 10% and the employer pay their 3.5% ?

Thank you.

Not on the full 85K either. Many companies pay min required by law .

Within the first 5 years of moving to Switzerland you can contribute up to an additional 20%. After that you can contribute as much as you like.

But in both cases you can not add more than a hypothetical person would have in the pot if they had contributed the maximum permitted by the current pension plan, and current pay check.

If you look at an employer and its pension plan:
-check how much the coordination deduction is (permitted is up to 7∕8 of a full AHV pension).
- check if the there is a cap on the insured pay check (it can be as low as 3 times a full AHV pension)
- check how much more employee and employer contribute over the bare minimum.
- check past performance and interest payouts
- check pension conversion rate for the non-mandatory part (in the worst you could still opt for the lump sum)

__________________
“That’s the second biggest monkey head I’ve ever seen!”

1st 5 years, 20% catchup (based upon elegible salary net of 28k)
After 5 years, 50% catchup (same basis as above)

The catchups are separate from your mandatory contributions to the Pillar 2 (currently 10% for me) and separate from your employer contributions (currently 15% for me), and separate from your contributions to Pillar 1 ("basic" social security) and Pillar 3 (6800 chf annual limit)

Taxes on withdrawals when you retire or leave the country are very low. If you withdraw a lump sum, you pay basically 5%. If you withdraw as a lifetime annuity you pay basically 40% of regular income tax rates.

The downside is that the investment "returns" on your balance are low. If you are close to retirement (in your 40's or 50's) the tax savings more than make up for the lost investment income. If you are younger (30's) better to wait until your 40's or 50's before you make catchup contributions.

Long story short, the Swiss pension system provides excellent flexibility for late career expats to minimize income taxes.

regards
fj

Your pension with 25 years work would probably not be enough to live from

Full disclosure I paid 38,000 into a 2nd pillar 10 years before leaving CH. Basically zero growth it was a waste of time, S&P500 would have been better, Fundsmith did not exist at the time.
I worked in CH for 19 years & 11 months, my pension taken as cash is about 2-3 years average expenditure since living in Malta for the last 5 years. OK I got married so my costs went up astronomically

Why the groan. After 25 years work and at 72000 a year brutto he would not be getting more than 2000 a month pension ( at the most )

This may or not be correct, nor relevant, but here goes.


I believe, if you overpay your Pillar 2 (catch up) you cannot liberate it so quickly when you leave CH.



I thought it was locked in for X amount of years, or needs to have been in the fund for X amount of years before you can get it.



So eg. FMF, a lump sum 10 years ago could be taken out on emmigration.

A lump sum last year cannot.

Thanks for this. I just used the calculator and got the bad news after filling in details for myself and my wife. It's given me estimates for:

• First pension: commences the month after my 65th birthday and continues until the month of my wife's 64th birthday, when it is replaced by:
  
• Second pension: commences the month after my wife's 64th birthday, with one pension for me and one for her, but both pensions are capped because "the sum of two individual pensions of a couple may not exceed 150% of the maximum individual pension". WTF??!?! I mean, I knew about the income tax discrimination with regard to married couples, but pensions, as well? I don't see our pension contributions being capped...!

Does this mean that two people who do not marry, but live together, would receive their full, individual pensions for the rest of their lives while the married couple next door gets screwed?

__________________
Windmill cancer survivor (thanks, George!)

Oh goody.... no changes in pension entitlement / accrual / payout rates / retirement age over the next 25 years then? Can I have that in writing with a binding guarantee?

For married its a slight reduction of the unmarried pension. In your case not very much.

this might help

https://www.ch.ch/en/retirement-provision-system/

I got my annual statement in today for my pension..

Lots of numbers but something which confused me more than the rest..

Retirement capital : ok the amount I have in the pot.
Amount available for encouragement of home ownership : ok same as above
Maximum amount for purchase : ?? 3.3 x the amount amount above

So what's that maximum amount number? The max price of a house i could buy? Or some theoretical other amount available to me?

If it is Pillar 2, it is the amount you can still put in the retirement pot

Ahh of course, that makes sense.. Thanks..

Maybe I try to fill my pot a little more with my UK pensions..
Now where's that number for devere..

If an average 25% reduction is a mere scintilla to you, then yeah, it's "not very much".