The Best Robo Advisor (Switzerland): Get To Know The Main Players

If you are looking to simplify your investments, I have the solution for you: A robo advisor. Instead of manually picking stocks and ETFs, which involves a lot of research on your part, you can choose from an existing set of strategies and let the robo advisor do the rest. In this article, we will dive into the benefits of robo advisors and have a look at the 6 best robo advisors in Switzerland. Scroll on and find the best app for you!

Table of contents:

• What is a robo advisor?
• Why should you consider using a robo advisor?
• What are the downsides?
• The best robo advisors in Switzerland: Our comparison
• My favorite robo advisor

What is a robo advisor?

Think of a robo advisor as a digital financial advisor that helps you manage your money and investments automatically. Instead of talking to a human advisor, you interact with a digital service or app. You answer some questions about your financial goals, risk tolerance, and how much you want to invest. Then, based on your answers, the robo advisor uses algorithms to create a personalized investment plan for you. It automatically invests your money in a diversified portfolio of stocks, ETFs, or other assets, and it keeps track of your investments over time, making adjustments as needed. Essentially, a robo advisor is like a helpful robot that takes care of your investments for you, making it easier to grow your money without a lot of effort.

Most robo advisors will have different strategies to choose from that vary in the composition of assets. If you are more risk-averse, your robo advisor will invest more in bonds – if you are happy with a bit more risk, your robo advisor will invest more of your money in stocks and ETFs.

Why should you consider using a robo advisor?

In my opinion, there are three main benefits to using a robo advisor:

It’s easy: Instead of researching what ETF to invest in and then spending hours to find the right one, you have a robo advisor doing it for you. All you need to do is sign up, answer a couple of questions on your investment strategies and preferences and you can start investing. 

It’s time-efficient: After signing up, you have no active to do’s - robo advisors use sophisticated algorithms to create diversified investment portfolios tailored to your individual goals, risk tolerance, and time horizon. Robo advisors automatically rebalance your portfolio and adjust your investments as needed to maintain your desired asset allocation, so you don’t have to spend time doing it.

It’s low-cost: For low recurring monthly orders, a robo advisor can be cheaper than doing it yourself through an online broker.

What are the downsides?

Like everything in life, there are downsides to using a robo advisor compared to investing on your own:

1. Fees: The service of a robo advisor comes by cheaper than a traditional financial advisor, but it is still a service with a price tag. You will spend slightly more than by investing by yourself.
2. Limited personalization: Robo advisors use algorithms to create investment portfolios based on your goals and risk tolerance, but they might not account for all individual circumstances or preferences.
3. Overreliance: Relying solely on a robo advisor might lead to a lack of financial education and understanding. If you're not actively involved in managing your investments, you may miss out on learning valuable skills and insights about the financial markets.

The best Robo Advisors in Switzerland: Our comparison

If you are looking to simplify your investments, then a robo advisor is the way to go. Check in every once in a while, to make sure your money is taking care of – otherwise, you can relax knowing you are putting your money to work in the background. 

I have looked in detail at 7 different robo advisors available in Switzerland (findependent, Kaspa&, selma, SimpleWealth, TrueWealth, inyova, finpension) and assessed them using a variety of criteria. That way you can save hours of research! Just look at the table and find the app that is best suited for you and your financial goals.

Assessment criteria

I looked at the following criteria when judging the different providers:

• Management fees: Fees related to the management of your money – usually it’s either a flat fee or the fee changes depending on the amount of money you invest.
• Product purchase fees: Fees related to buying new products.
• Stamp duty: Swiss tax on buying and selling stocks, ETFs and other investments.
• Exchange rate: Fees related to currency exchanges.
• Minimum investments: Tells you if the broker requires you to invest a minimum amount of money.
• Investment strategies: Indicates, what assets (stocks, ETFs) the robo advisor includes in their investment strategy.
• Sustainability: Indicates, if the suggested investment strategies include sustainable investments.
• 3a pillar: Tells you whether the app 3a pillar investments.
• Languages: Available languages in the app / service.
• Custodian: Indicates what bank is backing the robo advisor.
• Custodian in CH: Indicates if the custodian is located in Switzerland.

Find everything you need to know in this table for a 50'000.- CHF investing budget:

Want to know what robo advisor to pick if you have a bigger investment budget? Download my free Robo Advisor Overview with all scenarios now! 👇🏼

My favorite Robo Advisor in Switzerland

Hands down finpension. No matter if you are investing 10'000.- or 1'000'000.-: Their cost structure gives you the best bang for your buck. I also like that you can start investing from 1.- onwards, that they offer 3a solutions and have a Swiss custodian.