Robo Advisor comparison for 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 present our Robo Advisor comparison for Switzerland, featuring the 6 best options available. Scroll on and find the best app for you!
Table of Contents
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. Before we delve into our Robo Advisor comparison for Switzerland, let's explore these benefits:
It’s easy: Instead of researching which ETF to invest in and spending hours finding the right one, you have a Robo Advisor doing it for you. All you need to do is sign up, answer a few questions about your investment strategy 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 portfolios tailored to your goals, risk tolerance, and time horizon. They automatically rebalance your portfolio and adjust investments as needed, so you don’t have to spend time managing it.
It’s low-cost: For smaller recurring monthly investments, a Robo Advisor can be cheaper than investing 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:
- Fees: The service of a Robo Advisor is cheaper than a traditional financial advisor, but it still comes with a price tag. You will spend slightly more than investing by yourself.
- Limited personalization: Robo advisors use algorithms to create portfolios based on your goals and risk tolerance, but they might not account for all individual circumstances or preferences.
- Overreliance: Relying solely on a Robo Advisor can lead to a lack of financial education and understanding. If you're not actively involved, you may miss out on valuable financial skills and market insights.
Robo Advisor comparison for Switzerland
If you are looking to simplify your investments, then a robo advisor is the way to go. Our Robo Advisor Comparison for Switzerland will guide you through the top options. 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 different robo advisors available in Switzerland 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 an investing budget up to CHF 49'999.-:
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! ๐๐ผ
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. Also ideal for expats as their based in tax-friendly canton Schwyz.
If you're looking for maximum cost efficiency, VIAC is up there with finpension. It stands out with very low total costs - with no currency exchange fees and no stamp duty. You can start investing with as little as CHF 1.-, and in addition to a regular investment account, you can also manage your pillar 3a assets and vested benefits accounts (Freizügigkeit).
Both VIAC and finpension let you run up to 10 different portfolios with varying strategies.
