I first began my experiment in December 2020, when I chose six retirement saving apps and placed lots of 500 francs into each of them. I deposited the same amounts of money again in December 2021, December 2022, and December 2023.
Online asset management services are breathing new life into the pillar 3a. Apps like Viac and Frankly have stirred up the market with their easy-to-use apps and low fees.
I have been contributing to the pillar 3a for many years now. I do this to save for retirement on the one hand, and to lower my taxes on the other.
How much savings do I have on November 1, 2024?
Over the past years, I have entrusted the following five pillar 3a asset management services with a total of 2000 francs each. With all of the retirement apps, I used the portfolio with the highest possible stock component – generally just short of 100 percent.
My account balances on November 1, 2024
| Service provider |
Balance |
Gains |
| Finpension |
CHF 2348 |
17.4% |
| Frankly |
CHF 2343 |
17.2% |
| Viac |
CHF 2321 |
16.0% |
| Selma |
CHF 2319 |
16.0% |
Descartes
(Minimum Risk ESG) |
CHF 2194 |
9.7% |
The balances shown in the table above are the amounts shown in the app. The fees charged by the investment funds used, the retirement foundation, and the asset management service are already accounted for in the account balance. It is possible that not all possible costs were accounted for in the account balance on November 1, 2024.
Nearly two years ago, at the start of 2023, my balances were negative across all of the service providers. Today the balances of all five retirement apps are well into the black zone.
Major value fluctuations
Some retirement apps offer visual graphs of performance developments. Viac offers a particularly interesting overview, offering you a diagram showing the gains and losses compared to the contributions you have paid in, for any selected timeframe. With the exception of January, which ended 10 francs in the red, my portfolio was consistently in the black throughout 2024.
Just to clarify, I do not track the performance on a daily basis. I simply looked up the historical performance for this blog post.
There was a deep dive at the start of August 2024, but my Viac balance at the time still averaged 121 francs more than the sum of what I paid in. Just three months later, the gains were already at 320 francs.
This clearly shows that stock investments are only suitable for people who can handle these kinds of fluctuations. If losses in the value of your assets cause you to lose sleep, then you are better off putting your money in a pillar 3a savings account.
I have to add that my experiment is not scientific comparison in any way, shape, or form. There are many different factors that could be responsible for the differences in performance. The intervals at which a service provider invests my money is one important variable. Another factor is that my experiment only began a few years ago. People who use the pillar 3a to save for retirement normally keep their investments for very long terms.
Past performance tells us nothing about future performance
An important end note: Past performance is not an indicator of future returns. Please do not draw any conclusions from the ongoing results of my experiment. Transferring all your pillar 3a assets to a different service provider just because they have delivered somewhat better performance in recent years is not a good idea, in my opinion.
There are more options
I chose the retirement apps that were most important at the end of 2020. Many new service providers have sprung up in the meantime. Because of that development, I have started a second experiment so that I can also mention the pillar 3a offers from Yuh and True Wealth in future blog posts.
You can find my corresponding blog posts for previous years here:
Retirement app performance blog post 2022
Retirement app performance blog post 2023
More on this topic:
Swiss online retirement asset management services compared
Compare pillar 3a savings accounts now
Compare pillar 3a retirement funds now
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