Count it honestly
Saving rate = (income − all spending) / net income, measured on real numbers, not intentions. Include pillar 3a as saving; exclude 'savings' you regularly raid.
The Swiss levers
Housing below the 1/3 line, honest mobility maths (car vs. GA), health insurance model and franchise optimisation, and the 13th salary assigned in advance – these four decide most Swiss saving rates.
Pay yourself first
Transfer the savings amount right after payday – what's left is your spending budget, not the other way round.
Track these costs in your own budget: create your free Swiss budget in BudgetHub – in English, with Swiss categories built in.
How to calculate your rate honestly
Savings rate = amount saved divided by net income. The honest version counts only money that actually leaves your spending circuit: transfers to a savings account, pillar 3a contributions, voluntary pension buy-ins and investment purchases. Money sitting on the current account at month end is not saved – it is merely not yet spent.
Two items are commonly miscounted. Mortgage amortisation does build wealth and can be included, but paying down consumer debt is repairing a past decision rather than saving. And employer pension contributions are not your savings rate; they are part of your compensation package.
Calculate it over twelve months, not one. A single strong month says nothing; the annual figure absorbs holidays, tax bills and the December effect.
What is realistic in Switzerland
Swiss households save more than most European averages, largely because compulsory pension contributions are excluded from that figure and salaries are high in absolute terms. For voluntary saving on top of pillar 2, a rate of 10–20 % of net income is a common working target.
Below that, the constraint is usually fixed costs rather than discipline: rent above the affordability threshold and health insurance for several household members can leave genuinely little to allocate. Recognising this is important, because the wrong diagnosis leads to the wrong remedy.
Above 25–30 %, the constraint becomes lifestyle rather than income. That is the point at which the interesting question changes from «how do I save more» to «what is this money for» – a goal-less high savings rate tends to erode within a year or two.
Raising the rate without a bigger salary
Order the levers by francs per hour of effort: fixed costs first (health insurance model and franchise, insurance policies, telecom, electricity, subscriptions), housing next if a move is realistic, then mobility, and only then everyday consumption.
Automate every increase on the day it happens. When a subscription is cancelled, raise the standing order by the same amount immediately – otherwise the saving quietly redistributes itself into general spending within two months.
Apply the same rule to income increases: half of every raise, bonus or thirteenth salary goes to savings before it reaches the everyday account. This single habit does more for a savings rate over ten years than any spending discipline.