Discovery Call

Retirement Planning

Retirement Planning

Combining the benefits of two complementary systems

Saving efficiently for retirement by managing
and coordinating across countries

Working in different countries allows you to build wealth and social security credits in multiple systems. Although this is a good thing, understanding how to best navigate the opportunities provided by multiple country rules can be challenging.

The US and Swiss systems have differences and similarities. Both countries rely on three pillars: Pillar I or social security, Pillar II or employer sponsored retirement accounts and Pillar III or individual retirement accounts. Two tax treaties: a Totalization Agreement for Social Security taxes and the Income Tax Convention for income taxes, help maximize benefits and avoid double taxation both in the accumulation and in the distribution stage.

Wealth can also be built beyond the three pillars, in taxable investment accounts, real estate and business investments and other income generating assets.

But of course, retirement planning is not just about building and spending assets after a traditional professional career. It can take many forms: changing careers or taking a career break, starting a new business, switching to part-time work, taking a sabbatical….there are infinite possibilities. We can help you make the best use of your resources to allow you to become financially independent and live your life intentionally in alignment with your values.

Our retirement planning services include helping you:

  • Understand the differences and similarities between the US social security system and the Swiss AVS/AHV Pillar I system.
  • Understand how the US-Swiss Totalization Agreement works, and the benefits available to you if you have made contributions in both countries.
  • Plan your US and Swiss social security claiming strategies to ensure you receive the highest level of benefits available to you or to you and your spouse.
  • Understand the Windfall Elimination Provision and estimate its impact on your US social security benefits.
  • Understand Swiss Pillar 2 occupational pensions and their difference with vested benefits accounts such as LPP and Freizügigkeitskonto.
  • Properly report your Pillar 2 account balances and contributions and keep track of your cost basis in these accounts.
  • Understand the US tax consequences of rolling over a Pillar 2 to a new employer when changing jobs, or to a vested benefits account when you have a gap in Swiss employment.
  • Understand the US tax consequences of making Pillar 2 buy-backs and help you evaluate if a buy-back makes sense for you.
  • Understand your 401K, 403(b) or other employer sponsored deferred benefit plans, and the investment choices offered by your US employer.
  • Understand how Swiss Pillar 3 accounts and US IRAs are similar and how they differ, the US implications of Pillar 3 investment choices, and the Swiss tax treatment of IRAs, including Roth IRAs.
  • Build a retirement plan that takes into consideration your values, priorities and goals, and makes the best use of every asset in your wealth.
  • Put together a cost and tax efficient withdrawal strategy to support your lifestyle during your work-optional years.
  • Project your retirement cashflows, monitor your retirement plan progress and stress test your plan regularly to help you stay on track.
  • Plan for the unexpected, so that no matter what the future brings, you have a clear financial picture and clarity about your options for a path forward.

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Still Have More Questions?
No Problem. Read the FAQs.

Swiss American Wealth Advisors provides US tax return review services as part financial planning, but it does not prepare tax returns. One of our founders, Marina Hernandez, is also a credentialed tax professional. Her tax preparation firm, MHTax, prepares US tax returns for a few of our clients. This service is independent from Swiss American and our clients are not required to use it.
Swiss American Wealth Advisors provides Swiss tax return review services as part of financial planning, but it does not prepare Swiss tax returns. For clients of both Swiss American and MHTax, MHTax offers coordination with a Swiss tax firm to prepare both the US and Swiss tax returns using a unified client portal and document exchange system. This service is independent of Swiss American and requires separate engagements with the tax preparation firms.
Yes. Although we manage investment assets for most clients, we do not require a minimum asset level to work with us and occasionally we work with clients with no asset management needs. Our minimum annual fee contemplates that some of our clients are looking exclusively for financial planning services because they are just starting to build their wealth, their wealth is invested in their businesses, it is tied to real estate or in employer pensions that cannot be externally managed.
Yes. While most of our clients want us to provide services beyond financial planning, we of course also work with clients who are looking to delegate only the management of their investment accounts. Typically, these are clients who like to work with an organization that has the expertise, experience and structure to manage their investments in an international compliant manner.
We work hard to make sure your money is safe. We are members of a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) with approximately $2.5 billion in assets under management serving over 3,500 families. We work only with top financial institutions like Charles Schwab and Fidelity as our independent custodians, and we use leading industry technology for investment management and financial planning. We hold multiple professional credentials, and we are held to a fiduciary standard, which means that we are required to always provide advice that is in your best interest, even when it’s against our own.
To minimize conflicts of interest and seek better alignment with our clients, we do not accept sales commissions or referral fees from investment product providers or independent professionals. We only receive compensation in the form of wealth advisory fees paid by our clients as detailed in their wealth advisory agreements. Our clients pay us a transparent fee for our advice.
We believe that a disciplined investment approach using portfolios that are well diversified across asset classes and regions can deliver superior long-term results. We build our portfolios with highly liquid and low-cost ETFs from established providers like Blackrock or Vanguard. We pay attention to asset location and follow a tax efficient rebalancing process to maximize after tax returns. We also offer ESG portfolio solutions for clients interested in considering environmental, social and governance factors with their investments. ESG portfolios have been the fastest growing segment in our investment offering.
Yes. We work with foreign families of different origins living in the USA, and with American families who at some point had ties to Switzerland but returned home or moved to third countries and wanted to keep working with us. Although we believe that our combined decades of experience on US-Swiss crossborder issues allows us to provide the best value to clients with those ties, our multicultural and multilingual backgrounds attract multinational clients who do not feel understood or well served by domestic focused advisors.

We believe that every person deserves access to quality financial education that can empower them to make good financial decisions. For individuals and families who are unable to retain our professional services, our public benefit initiatives support free financial education through the Crossborder Planner [free newsletter and blog], and the Crossborder Academy [free webinars], covering topics like tax reporting, tax planning, saving for retirement, benefiting charities or caring for the next generation.

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