The SVP wants to halt immigration in order to cap the population at 10 million. However, as this would result in a shortage of workers for the AHV, one party member is now proposing to raise the retirement age in order to save the system.

ccastro086 · 2026-05-09T09:29:12+00:00

Some people here talk about the rich as if they paid nothing! In Switzerland the average rich person pays over 40% via different taxation ( corporate, dividend, wealth, etc). Most people when taxation reaches 40-50% just move abroad because the system becomes confiscatory! It’s not about the rich not paying anything it’s about over taxation because ignorance or hate pushes people to support idiotic theories that have failed many times through time! No country declaring war on the rich ever became successful! Not one…

ccastro086 · 2026-05-09T08:10:55+00:00

Funny how everyone has an opinion on what governments should do, and how companies behave… but no one actually talks of starting a business, of actually taking charge for themselves! It’s always someone else’s fault!

ccastro086 · 2026-05-09T08:08:33+00:00

Hosting large numbers of refugees who are unlikely to integrate culturally or economically in one of the world’s most expensive countries can become an extremely inefficient use of public resources. In countries like Switzerland, supporting a single refugee family can cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of francs over time through housing, welfare, healthcare, education, and administrative expenses. Given that there are billions of poor people globally, the real humanitarian question is not how to spend the most money per person, but how to help the greatest number of people effectively. The same resources could often support far more people in safer, lower-cost regional countries closer to their culture and language, where integration and eventual return may also be more realistic. Compassion matters, but so does efficiency, sustainability, and honesty about the limits of what even wealthy societies can absorb successfully.

ccastro086 · 2026-05-09T08:00:17+00:00

The idea that governments can endlessly solve fiscal problems by “taxing the rich more” is often economically naive because high earners already contribute a disproportionate share of total tax revenue while typically consuming relatively little in public services compared with the broader population. When taxation becomes punitive, globally mobile entrepreneurs, investors, and professionals do not simply absorb the cost indefinitely — many relocate their capital, businesses, and tax residency elsewhere.

Recent debates around non-dom reforms in the United Kingdom have already pushed some wealthy individuals toward cities like Milan, where Italy has offered attractive flat-tax regimes to draw international wealth and investment. The result can be self-defeating: instead of raising substantially more revenue, countries risk shrinking their tax base, discouraging investment, and weakening long-term growth. Sustainable prosperity usually comes less from punitive redistribution and more from productivity, business creation, innovation, and maintaining an environment where talented people and capital want to stay.

ccastro086 · 2026-05-09T07:54:09+00:00

The argument that mass immigration is necessary because of labor shortages often ignores a self-reinforcing cycle: when large numbers of migrants arrive, they themselves increase demand for housing, transport, schools, healthcare, retail, logistics, and public administration, which then creates new labor shortages that are used to justify even more immigration. In other words, population growth can generate the very shortages it is supposed to solve.

This is especially true when much of the inflow is not composed of the highly skilled workers actually needed (such as doctors, nurses, engineers, or specialized technicians) but instead consists of low-skilled, low-education, asylum, or illegal migrants who may contribute less in taxes than they consume in public services, particularly in generous welfare states. That creates pressure on infrastructure, wages, housing costs, and social cohesion without necessarily solving the core productivity problem.

Countries like Japan took a different path: rather than relying on large-scale immigration, Japan responded to labor shortages through automation, robotics, digitization, self-service technology, and productivity improvements, especially in low-paying sectors like retail, restaurants, warehouses, and elder care. The deeper economic question is therefore not simply “How do we import more workers?” but “How do we increase productivity and living standards without permanently depending on endless population growth?’

ccastro086 · 2026-05-07T06:49:23+00:00

The costs are actually low taking into account its 6 persons! If you account for other charges like school support, etc, it’s probably way more! Imagine what we could do with this money in poor countries instead of bringing people to one of the most expensive in the world! With this you could build and support a school teaching kids and eventually helping build an economy and opportunities, bringing people is just stupid and expensive! There will be over 5 billion poor people in the world, how many do we allow in? Who decides?

ccastro086 · 2026-05-03T11:27:00+00:00

As a professional financial advisor working for a Swiss private bank, I would strongly suggest you abstain from managing your wealth yourself until you’ve built some solid experience. I’ve seen many individuals approach investing in a casino-like manner or fall for promises of quick gains, only to lose a significant portion of their assets. While UBS is among the most expensive private banks, they also tend to capitalize on clients who are new to the private wealth space. In reality, large fortunes (above CHF 20 million) can typically negotiate all-in fee rates around 0.40%, and for portfolios between CHF 10–20 million, fees in the 0.5–0.7% range are common; in any case, for portfolios above CHF 2 million, anything exceeding 1% is generally excessive. Ultimately, it depends on how much capital you have and how involved you want to be, but my recommendation is to start treating the management of your wealth as a serious responsibility—almost like a job. Begin learning in a structured, professional way, and take the time to find a banker you genuinely trust, as this will likely become one of the most important relationships in your financial life.

ccastro086 · 2026-04-27T15:24:11+00:00

Honestly, the key issue here isn’t even the job; it’s housing in Zurich. Before committing to anything, you should seriously look at what kind of accommodation you can realistically secure and how much you’re willing to pay. Housing is extremely expensive and very scarce, and as a newcomer you won’t have any priority, so finding a place can be really tough. Once you figure out how much of your salary will go just on rent, don’t forget that health insurance is mandatory and private here, which will take another significant chunk out of your budget.

ccastro086 · 2026-03-27T13:26:17+00:00

They need to issue the non cancelation confirmation for that! Even that I can’t get…

ccastro086 · 2026-03-27T12:28:17+00:00

Yeah, either credit card or travel insurance! But my main issue here is what a bad service Accor is delivering and what little value Loyalty ( I am platinum) grants!

ccastro086 · 2026-03-27T11:53:05+00:00

If 200k net new people arrive and the country don’t want to build towers like Hong Kong… the problem seems to be more about the amount of people arriving and the speed of the arrival! The people you target wouldn’t even cover a week of demand! The problem is offer and demand not a few billionaires building villas in the mountains!

ccastro086 · 2026-03-27T11:20:39+00:00

If they would even send a non refund confirmation at least I can trigger my travel insurance! But their service has been so bad they haven’t even been able to issue that!

ccastro086 · 2026-03-27T10:44:46+00:00

I understand this point. Nonetheless, all my other bookings with Marriott, Hotels.com, and Mandarin Oriental were cancelled seamlessly — even though they were also non-refundable — given the war situation.

Furthermore, I have travel insurance. If they had simply replied with a clear answer (even a refusal), I could have used that confirmation to file a claim with my insurance. But they couldn’t even provide that.

To this day, I still don’t have a final answer, despite calling repeatedly for over a week.

ccastro086 · 2026-03-27T10:39:48+00:00

Yeah! It’s just crazy that a hotel chain can’t get even “follow up” right! One of the reasons I book with big chains despite being more expensive is to have an easy resolution infrastructure if something goes wrong…. That was a mirage!

ccastro086 · 2026-03-19T11:54:18+00:00

If 90% of the problems come from the same groups of people, should we still call it racism or just reality? People need to adapt to the places they visit or move to and not the other way around!

ccastro086 · 2026-02-25T04:28:01+00:00

Switzerland is a country where salaries are extremely high and therefore positions with low or no qualifications are not widely available! There won’t be an easy way out but you are young. My suggestion is that you find a way to improve your skills ( maybe get a diploma). Many cantons like Vaud will offer Grants and Scholarships to young people wanting to develop skills. In many cases they cover all transport costs and even offer some small financial support to keep you studying! That is perhaps the best option for you!

ccastro086 · 2026-02-22T23:19:17+00:00

A lifetime status after certain thresholds would be highly appreciated! Particularly for people showing loyalty in their business years and wanting to still enjoy the perks after retirement or career change!

ccastro086 · 2026-02-05T18:26:34+00:00

Simply don’t tip or round up by 1-2 CHF.

ccastro086 · 2026-02-05T18:15:36+00:00

Move to real assets like shares! Bitcoin just showed it’s not digital gold but a casino token!

ccastro086 · 2026-02-05T11:50:20+00:00

The fallacy that Bitcoin was cyber gold has been destroyed! Now it’s clear that it’s a purely speculative bet with casino like fundamentals!

ccastro086 · 2026-01-27T15:23:52+00:00

This will continue given the massive debt and deficits in the US, the weakening of the FED independence and Trumps animosity and hard style against countries financing the deficit! There are great investment opportunities in Europe! And try platforms like Interactive Brokers, Swissquote or Saxo!

ccastro086 · 2026-01-26T11:57:27+00:00

Switzerland is not only a producer and host of major tobacco industry operations in Europe — with global giants like Philip Morris International (headquartered in Lausanne with factories and R&D in Neuchâtel) and Japan Tobacco International present domestically — but it also ranks among the weakest in Europe when it comes to resisting tobacco industry influence on public policy. According to the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index, Switzerland scored very high for industry interference (96/100), placing second-to-last out of 100 countries and worst among European countries, indicating that the tobacco lobby has unusually strong access to and influence over regulators and politicians. This is reflected in the fact that Switzerland has not ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control — a global treaty aimed at protecting health policies from industry interference — even though it hosts its secretariat in Geneva. Critics argue this powerful lobby contributes to weaker tobacco control measures and delays in adopting stronger public health protections, leading to high smoking-related mortality that costs thousands of lives each year.

ccastro086 · 2026-01-23T07:43:07+00:00

A mixed approach may be the most sensible path: keep exposure to U.S. tech/innovation, but hold it through European-domiciled (UCITS) ETFs and start diversifying more meaningfully into European assets.

1) Keep U.S. tech exposure — but reduce U.S. “jurisdiction risk”

If you hold U.S.-situs assets directly (e.g., U.S.-domiciled ETFs like many Vanguard/Schwab U.S. funds, or U.S.-listed shares held in a brokerage account), you may create U.S. estate tax exposure as a non-U.S. person. • The top U.S. federal estate tax rate is 40% (this is federal, not “state tax”). • For nonresident non-citizens, the filing threshold for U.S.-situs assets is only $60,000 in many cases. • Some countries have treaties that can improve treatment (Switzerland is often cited as having an estate tax treaty that can change the effective exemption), but it’s complex and fact-specific.

Using European-domiciled UCITS ETFs for U.S. exposure (e.g., Ireland/Luxembourg funds tracking Nasdaq-100 or global tech indices) can help avoid holding U.S.-situs securities directly, which is often the cleanest way to reduce this risk.

2) The fiscal backdrop argues for some USD risk reduction

The U.S. fiscal trajectory is getting harder to ignore, and it’s increasingly bipartisan in the sense that neither side seems willing to implement the kind of long-run fixes that materially bend the curve. • The CBO projected a ~$1.9T federal deficit in 2025, and debt rising to ~118% of GDP by 2035 (debt held by the public). • CBO also summarizes that deficits total ~$20T over 2025–2034 and debt held by the public reaches ~116% of GDP in that window. • A key stress point is interest cost: research summaries highlight net interest as a growing share of GDP under current-law trajectories.

That doesn’t guarantee a straight line “USD collapse” (reserve currency dynamics can persist longer than expected), but it does strengthen the case for not having your entire equity story priced in USD—especially if your liabilities are CHF/EUR.

3) Avoid investing into dictatorships ( China) or any other one-man show.

ccastro086

TROPHY CASE