Why the fixed self-salary works
Swiss fixed costs don't flex: rent, premiums and insurance arrive monthly regardless. A self-salary set at your conservative baseline turns chaos into a normal salaried budget – everything above it is buffer, not lifestyle.
The Swiss-specific reserves
Self-employed must reserve for AHV contributions (roughly 10% of net self-employment income), taxes (no employer withholding!) and their own pillar 3a (up to 20% of net income without a pension fund). These three reserves come out of the buffer account first.
Make the buffer visible
Track the buffer account's months-of-fixed-costs coverage as your key number.
Track these costs in your own budget: create your free Swiss budget in BudgetHub – in English, with Swiss categories built in.