How to choose the best 3rd pillar A in Switzerland? In this article, we will examine, by elimination, the best 3a accounts to invest.
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The 3rd pillar in brief 🧐
I wrote an article to detail what the third pillar is, with my article ”investing in a 3rd pillar a”.
In broad terms, a 3a account is an individual pension plan via a savings account.
👉 Indeed, account 3a was created to compensate for low incomes from AVS and pension funds (first pillar and second pillar).
The goal of saving in a 3a account is to maintain the standard of living of the last salary, once retirement age is reached.
On the other hand, account 3a can be used for other projects, such as:
- Final departure abroad
- Buying a primary residence
- Create your business
However, these 3a withdrawals are subject to certain conditions!
The 3rd pillar and Swiss taxation🧐
Note that each year, regarding account 3a, it is permitted to pay in money up to the maximum ceiling permitted by the Swiss Confederation.
In 2025, the maximum annual amount to fill account 3a is CHF 7,258.
👉 Therefore, putting money into this precautionary retirement account allows Swiss taxpayers to benefit from a tax reduction when filing their tax return. That's great!
My choice regarding account 3a 😊
⚠️ Investing involves a risk of losing money. This article is only a personal opinion and not investment advice.
👉 Regarding the financial investments in my 3a account. I want my 3a account to have an aggressive stock market strategy, investing mainly in index funds or ETFs.
Therefore, I want the monthly transfers I make to my 3a account to only keep a small percentage in cash.
Minimalism when you have to choose 😊
▶ As minimalism has taught us, when we want to choose an important aspect in life, we must first discard what we don't want.
Important criteria 🧐
In my opinion, to choose a good 3a account, There are 8 important parameters to analyze 🧐
- The annual commission
- Indirect or hidden costs
- The percentage invested in the stock market
- The evolution of the return on the stock portfolio over the last 5 years (or more).
- The percentage invested in index funds or ETFs
- The percentage of investment abroad & in Switzerland
- The quality of customer service
- 3a account security
Let's analyze each aspect individually 😊
Annual commission 💲
To begin, I will analyze the 3a accounts with acceptable annual commission.
👉 Therefore, I will only take into account Consideration of 3a accounts which have a annual commission less than 0.44%.
Here are the results for accounts 3a that require less than 0.44%:
| Name of 3a | Annual commission |
|---|---|
| Finpension | 0.39-0.41% |
| Viac | 0 – 0.43% |
| Yapeal | 0.42 – 0.47% |
| True Wealth | 0 – 0.15% |
| Neon | 0.39 – 0.45% |
Indirect costs
It is very rare for a retirement savings account to have no indirect fees. For example, there may be transaction fees, TER fees, or withdrawal fees.
Regarding the five 3a accounts mentioned earlier, four do not have excessive indirect charges. However, each 3a account does have exceptional charges related to certain services.
I estimated an average of the indirect costs, the indirect commissions of each account:
| Name of 3a | % on average of indirect costs | % annual management fee commission | % Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finpension | 0.05% | 0.39% | 0.44% |
| Viac | 0.05% | 0 – 0.40% | 0- 0.45% |
| True Wealth | 0.20% | 0.25% | 0.45% |
| Neon 3a | 0.07% | 0.39-0.45% | 0.397-0.457% |
| Yapeak | 0.05% | 0.42-0.47 | 0.425%-0.475% |
👉 Note that in the end, the 5 3a accounts have very similar final commissions.
Percentage invested in the stock market
Next, we will analyze the percentage invested in the stock market via ETFs or index funds.
👉 In my opinion, LThe minimum percentage must be 99% for a global strategy
Here is the table with the 3a's that I selected previously:
| Name of 3a | Maximum percentage invested in the stock market |
|---|---|
| Finpension | 99% |
| Viac | 99% (since January 2023) |
| Yepeal | 50% |
| True Wealth | 99% |
| Neon 3a | 99% |
As we can see, Yapeal does not meet my criteria.
I repeat once again, in my opinion, a 3a account must make at least 99% of stock market investments!
👉 In that case, we are left with only four interesting 3a accounts.
| Name of 3a | Maximum percentage invested in the stock market | % final commission |
|---|---|---|
| Finpension | 99% | 0.44% |
| Viac | 99% | 0 – 0.45% |
| True Wealth | 99% | 0.45% |
| Neon 3a | 99% | 0.39-0.457% |
The evolution of the stock market portfolio over the last 5 years 📊
⚠ It is important to understand that past stock market performance does not guarantee future performance.
Indeed, for the client, one of the most important aspects of their 3a account is the long-term stock market returns of the 3a account 😉
I have always preferred a 100% overall strategy. Based on my research, this is consistently the most profitable strategy over the long term.
👉 Here are the annualized stock market gains over 5 years for each 3a account:
| Period | Annualized return over 5 years | |
|---|---|---|
| Viac | From November 2020 to November 2025 | +9.4% |
| Findpension | From November 2020 to November 2025 | +9.25% |
During this period, Viac earned 0.15%.
However, I have found that, within 0.15%, Viac 100 and Finpension global 100 have a very similar performance over a long period.
Indeed, sometimes Viac has a slightly higher return than Finpension and at other times Finpension has a slightly higher return than Viac.
In reality, Finpension and Viac's stock market strategies have historically been very profitable and have shown a similar percentage return over a long period.
What is the return on investment for True Wealth and Neon 3a?
Regarding True Wealth and Neon 3a, I think their yield is unclear compared to the actual yield!
In reality, Viac or Findpension clearly show the actual annualized results, while True Wealth only gives a graph (at least, that's all I found) and Neon 3a is too young to show its actual result.
👉 Since there is no precise information regarding the actual annualized return, I am removing True Wealth and Neon 3a from the list.
THE Percentage invested in index funds and ETFs
3a accounts invest primarily in ETFs and index funds.
Index funds have an advantage over ETFs. That is, there are no TER fees to pay with an index fund, unlike with an ETF.
In Switzerland, in my opinion, the best index funds are those of Swisscanto, because they have low fees and are reliable.
Viac 3a and Finpension 3a invest primarily in 3a index funds and offer the option to invest via Swisscanto. Therefore, they are equivalent!
The percentage of investment abroad
In my opinion, with a global strategy of 100 (the most aggressive strategy), the investment percentage should be:
- A minimum of 60% outside of Switzerland
- A minimum of 30% in the USA
- A maximum of 40% in Switzerland
Viac 3a and Finpension 3a meet these criteria. That's perfect.
Client service
We're going to invest a significant portion of our savings in an account with a specific strategy. Therefore, I find it crucial that customer service responses are clear and relatively quick.
👉 I tested the customer service with both.
In my experience, both 3a accounts have very good customer service.
However, I found Viac's customer service to be the best and most responsive!
| Name of 3a | My opinion on the quality of customer service |
|---|---|
| Finpension | 8 / 10 |
| Viac | 10 / 10 |
Security 🔏
👉 From what I read on the Viac and Findpension websites, they claim that the invested securities are protected in the event of bankruptcy.
Indeed, in the event of Viac or Finpension bankruptcy, cash is protected up to CHF 100,000. Regarding securities, in the event of Viac or Finpension bankruptcy, the securities will be transferred to another 3a account.
Other important services 📃
Although both 3a accounts are very interesting. Each account offers additional services which are not negligible. Here is a summary of the important points.
Reduced annual commission
At the time of writing, regarding a Global 100 strategy with Swisscanto without bonds, Finpension has an annual fee of 0.39%, while Viac offers 0.40%.
At first glance, one might say that Finpension's management fees are cheaper.
👉 Except that Viac allows you to reduce this commission with promo codes. For example:
| Commission Viac | Commission Finpension | |
|---|---|---|
| CHF 10,000 off the 3a, no promo code required | 0.40% | 0.39% |
| CHF 5,500 in promo codes on CHF 10,000 3a | 0.10% | 0.39% |
| CHF 5,500 on the 3a, no promo code required | 0.40% | 0.39% |
| 5,500 CHF promo code on 5,500 CHF 3a | 0% | 0.39% |
🔲 To conclude, Viac is more interesting with promotional codes for “small” amounts.
Disability Insurance
👉 Viac allows you to add for free 2,500 CHF for every 10,000 CHF invested in a 3a Viac account.
For example, if you have 20,000 CHF on your 3a, Viac gives 5,000 CHF free of charge if one day you become disabled. It is not negligible.
🔲 Viac wins on this ground because Finpension does not offer this service.
Real estate mortgage
If you have a 3a account with Viac. You can finance the mortgage for your future property with an attractive mortgage rate.
Finpension does not offer this service.
🔲 Viac is the winner on this service.
Conclusion
➡ Concerning an aggressive strategy on the stock market. Viac and Finpension are, in my opinion, the 2 best options for opening a 3a account on the stock market ! In order to invest his money and grow his savings in his 3a account.
Here is a table with the main differences between the two:
| Viac | Finpension | |
|---|---|---|
| Percentage invested in the stock market | 99% | 99% |
| Account security 3a | Very Good | Very Good |
| Annual commission (global 100 strategy) | 0.0 – 0.40% | 0.39 % |
| Indirect costs | Low cost | Low cost |
| Past performance with a 99% equity strategy (global 100) | Very good | Very good |
| Opportunity to invest in Swisscanto index funds | Yes | Yes |
| Free disability insurance | 2,500 CHF for every 10,000 CHF invested | No disability insurance |
| Real estate mortgage with a good rate | Possible | Not possible |
| Customer service | Great | Very good |
| Possibility of creating several 3a accounts? | Yes | Yes |
➡ I think Viac and Finpension are neck and neck with account 3a !
Actually, I think both are excellent 3a accounts to hold. Well done to them!
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About me
I decided to create this blog to develop and help readers who are looking for a simpler and more economical life.
Compared to before, I was a person who consumed a lot until the day I realized that my consumption made me sadder and poorer 😑
Now I prefer the minimum of my needs to be happy and achieve my financial freedom.
Without realizingI started to focus on saving and investing to depend on a boss for as little time as possible and to speed up my personal projects.
For several years I have felt happy and I have become richer in a way that I would never have imagined given that I have an average salary in Switzerland.
It is for this purpose that I decided to create this blog. In order to share and learn with other people who seek freedom and simplicity 😉
Are you rather minimalist or frugal Jonny?
I am as minimalist as I am frugalist. However, there are situations where I lean more towards an art of life.
To conclude, I think the most important thing is to feel comfortable in your lifestyle 😊
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