3rd pillar – Personal retirement provision

The personal retirement provision is the third pillar of the Swiss pension system.
It individually supplements the provision for risks of preretirement and postretirement, death and disability under pillars one and two, as a means for maintaining the insured person’s accustomed standard of living and covers other individual needs (e.g. early retirement).

Third pillar provision is possible via restricted pension plans (3a) or unrestricted pension plans (3b) respectively. Restricted pension plans have tax advantages, but are subject to restrictions concerning availability, design and access to funds. Unrestricted pension plans feature fewer restrictions, but do not have tax advantages.

Who is insured?

Personal retirement provisions are exclusively voluntary and based only on individual retirement planning needs.

Financing and contributions

The third pillar is 100% self-financed. Contribution amounts depend solely on individual retirement planning needs. Contributions for restricted pension plans (Pillar 3a) are maximized because of tax deductibility.