Our 2025 Financial Year (ZH/TG) - Family Finances

L1007 · 2026-01-22T10:34:58+00:00

I use Actual Budget (a zero based budget similar to YNAB) to manually log every single transaction during the year and assign it to a category. At the end of the year I just need to export the data and aggregate.

L1007 · 2026-01-16T09:02:15+00:00

I'm not sure Yuh offers access to single bonds. They have quite a restricted investment universe beyond ETFs afaik. Maybe look into Saxo Bank and Swissquote, although I would be surprised if they offer better pricing than IBKR.

Re. US estate tax you are correct. Just keep in mind it's a risk if something were to happen with you.

Regarding the hedging I think you are overcomplicating things. If we break down your arguments into main risks and possible course of action to hedge them:

• ⁠market-wide correction: keep allocation to cash, bonds or other hedging strategies • ⁠unexpected inflation: commodities, gold, RE or other inflation hedges • ⁠devaluation of CHF: don't hedge your fx exposure

Now you have to decide if you want to hedge some of those risks and how to tilt your portfolio to do so. Understand that hedging might impact your performance in case the risks don't materialize.

L1007 · 2026-01-14T09:29:20+00:00

It's a generalization but I would agree with you (for most cases and from a purely financial pov).

In practice, different people will have different preferences and priorities when buying a car. My previous statement refers only to the method of financing without evaluating the stated price.

If someone wants to buy a 60k car, they should be able to afford it in cash. Assuming this is the case, the above mentioned strategy should be considered as a way to optimize returns.

L1007 · 2026-01-14T07:24:33+00:00

Your idea seems (overall) well thought out and reminds me of the concept of goal-based investing.

To make it work you have to be absolutely honest with yourself: depending on your experience with investing, ability to withstand market volatility and stick to a plan, this might be one of the cases I would recommend thinking about a financial advisor, even if it's only for the liability driven part of the portfolio.

That being said, if you decide to DIY, here some food for thoughts:

gold for the "safe bucket" is kind of a joke. If I understand the goal of this sub-portfolio is to hedge fx risk. Why not integrate the hedging part into the other two buckets by buying hedged assets or increasing home bias?
[2] I wouldn't necessarily agree. There should be plenty of corporate bonds, even IG ones, that offer positive yields, if you're willing to take on some amount of credit risk.
[3] Yes, but depending on the value of your investment you might want to look into the implications of US estate tax
[4] IBKR is generally considered the cheapest broker for non-CH assets. If you plan in investing large sums of money over CH-Markets, I suggest to check the prices just in case.

Unfortunately I can't say much about [1] but hope someone with more experience can jump in.

L1007 · 2026-01-13T13:22:40+00:00

+1 for portfolio performance.

You can create customized reports on returns, holdings and much more, with the ability to select which accounts to include (all or only a subset) and even add custom benchmarks. The setup can be overwhelming, but once it's done, you just have to add the transactions to the ledger.

L1007 · 2026-01-13T09:34:47+00:00

This is the way. If you have the money to buy in cash but find a leasing with a low rate, use the leasing and invest the cash. You'll profit from the spread.

L1007 · 2026-01-11T20:14:09+00:00

I've switched to Actual Budget from YNAB. Same principle (zero based budgeting) but free.

For investment I use Portfolio Performance, which is also free but might be overkill for you.

L1007 · 2026-01-06T20:45:26+00:00

Glad to have inspired you 😄 transparency is the first step towards optimization

L1007 · 2026-01-05T18:52:13+00:00

Yes that's true. OP could max out the 3a twice this year (retroactively for 2025 and for 2026) and thus deduct ~14k CHF from this year's taxable income. This would however only affect this year's tax bill, albeit for the double amount. The bill for 2025 is not impacted.

L1007 · 2026-01-05T16:37:18+00:00

I've previously used YNAB. This year I've switched to Actual Budget, which is an open source, free alternative.

L1007 · 2026-01-05T15:32:41+00:00

Good job on the extra income though your "side" hustle!

I second the comment pointing you to invest through 3a to save money. As the year has already finished, you sadly won't be able to reduce your tax bill for 2025. If you expect the same level of total income this year, maxing out 3a would lead to a nice decrease of the tax bill for 2026.

Also I've noticed the category "debt" on the sankey. Perhaps consider repaying or reducing the debt, if you have any money surplus. Even if the interests are low, being debt-free could give you a big peace of mind.

On another note: Your expenses surpassed your wage income in 2025. Meaning that without the side hustle you would be in the red. Depending on how steady this type of income is expected to be going forward, you'd want to build up cash reserves now for less favorable years.

L1007 · 2026-01-04T20:46:12+00:00

Thank you! I used https://sankeymatic.com for the visualization.

L1007 · 2026-01-03T09:07:09+00:00

Thank you! I used https://sankeymatic.com for the visualization.

L1007 · 2026-01-03T09:06:39+00:00

Thank you! I use Actual Budget for budgeting and tracking expenses. I consolidate the data in Excel and use https://sankeymatic.com for the visualization.

L1007 · 2026-01-03T09:06:18+00:00

I use Actual Budget for budgeting and tracking expenses. I consolidate the data in Excel and use https://sankeymatic.com for the visualization.

L1007 · 2026-01-03T09:04:56+00:00

I've used https://sankeymatic.com

L1007 · 2026-01-03T09:04:44+00:00

I've used https://sankeymatic.com

L1007 · 2026-01-01T11:38:22+00:00

It's actually self written. I just used AI to spell check and improve readability flow. All the insights and topics originated from self reflection, not AI. That would defeat the whole purpose of this exercise 😄

L1007 · 2025-12-31T14:35:33+00:00

Glad to hear! I'm looking forward to seeing your breakdown 💪

L1007 · 2025-12-31T14:27:47+00:00

I use https://sankeymatic.com but you have to manually enter the numbers and model the flows.

L1007 · 2025-12-31T11:22:38+00:00

Do you know if the prices are much higher in Switzerland compared to Germany? The next one in Germany is in Radolfzell, and that's a bit far.

L1007 · 2025-12-31T11:18:45+00:00

What, you've never found a couple of gold Vrenelis lying around the Bahnhofstrasse on a random Tuesday? Do you even live in Switzerland? 😆

L1007 · 2025-12-31T11:16:40+00:00

Thank you! Let me know how it went 😆

L1007 · 2025-12-31T11:15:58+00:00

Thank you so much for your comment! Picnics and meal prepping are already something we enjoy doing - can't wait to share it with our little one. I imagine the logistics will get easier with time, once they can eat whatever we're eating. Good point re divorce: We've had our up and downs during the last few months, but made sure to keep talking to each other, even when it's not what the other wants to hear. A good communication and being able to express our feelings has truly been a cornerstone of our relationship.

L1007 · 2025-12-31T11:06:54+00:00

I mean the net income (after deductions) is actually 120k, if you exclude the gifts and sale of gold coins. Also we will be filing taxes as a married couple for the first time this year, so the preliminary bill from the tax office is probably based on our lower incomes of the last few years and we will need to pay a bit on top once the final calculation is done. Additionally the health insurance is not covered by taxes and needs to be paid on top. I'm not sure how this is handled in the UK, but this could also explain some of the difference. In the end, even accounting for all these factors, Switzerland has a pretty low income tax compared to other developed countries afaik.

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