Why fixed costs, not income
Your buffer must cover what you cannot pause: rent, health premiums, insurance, food, transport. Calculating from fixed costs gives a precise, personal target – often CHF 10,000–20,000 for a Swiss household – rather than a vague salary multiple.
Where to keep it
A separate savings account at your bank is fine: instant access beats yield here. Don't invest the buffer – its job is being boring and available on the worst day.
Build it as a fixed line
Automate a monthly transfer until the target is reached, then redirect that amount to longer-term goals.
Track these costs in your own budget: create your free Swiss budget in BudgetHub – in English, with Swiss categories built in.
Why the Swiss franchise makes the buffer non-optional
In many countries an emergency fund is prudent. In Switzerland it is structural: basic health insurance carries a franchise of between CHF 300 and CHF 2'500 plus a 10 % co-payment (Selbstbehalt) up to CHF 700 per year for adults. Choosing a high franchise lowers the monthly premium but shifts a four-figure risk onto your own account – and that risk only makes sense if the money genuinely exists.
The second Swiss specific is the rental deposit: moving flat typically requires up to three months' rent in advance, held in a blocked account, while the old deposit is released weeks later. Without a buffer, an ordinary move turns into a credit decision.
Third, notice periods: Swiss employment often runs on one to three months' notice, and unemployment benefits begin after a waiting period. Three months of fixed costs is not a conservative figure here; it is roughly the minimum that matches how the system actually works.
Calculating your number in three steps
Step one: add up genuinely fixed monthly costs – rent and utilities, health insurance premiums, mandatory insurance, transport to work, minimum food, childcare, existing loan or leasing payments. Do not include discretionary spending; the buffer is for surviving, not for maintaining your usual lifestyle.
Step two: multiply by three for a first target, by six if your income is variable, you are self-employed, you support dependants on one salary, or your notice period is long. A household with CHF 4'500 in fixed costs therefore targets CHF 13'500 to CHF 27'000.
Step three: build it in stages. The first CHF 2'000 to 3'000 already absorbs most real-world emergencies – a dental bill, a broken appliance, a franchise hit. Reaching that first stage quickly matters more than reaching the full target slowly, because it removes the need for expensive short-term credit.
Where to keep it – and where not to
The buffer belongs in a separate savings account in Swiss francs, accessible within a day or two and without a card attached. Not in pillar 3a, which is locked until retirement apart from defined exceptions. Not in stocks or funds, because the moment you need it is statistically likely to coincide with a market drop. Not on the everyday account either, where it silently becomes spendable.
Interest is the wrong criterion here. The buffer's job is availability, not return; chasing yield with money you may need next Tuesday is how emergency funds quietly disappear. Once the buffer is complete, further savings can move into pillar 3a and long-term investing – in that order, because 3a also reduces your taxable income.
One practical detail for expats: keep the buffer in CHF even if you also hold accounts abroad. Currency conversion at short notice adds both cost and delay exactly when neither is welcome.