my first Investment Policy Statement

[Ex Pat]

Hello - as recommended , I made an Investment Policy Statement (my first!) and I am sharing it here to commit to it and get feedback from this community.

TBH, as I am writing this post, I am alternating currently between three options for the non-stocks 30%: (25% bonds and 5% gold) and (20% bonds and 10% gold) and (20% bonds and 5% gold and 5% BTC).

Reasoning : I understood that the Bank of China is buying incredible amounts of gold, so the price is likely to go up; and that large investors (BlackRock, JPMorgan, Bank of America etc) invested in BTC to not let it drop lower than it did this autumn.

Thanks in advance.

Investment Policy Statement

Objectives
Achieve financial independence by ~age 50, supporting ~90,000 CHF annual net spending (today's terms). Spouse retirement target differs (later age).

Investment Philosophy
Buy-and-hold low-cost global index ETFs. Diversify globally without sector/US overexposure; prioritize simplicity, low fees (TER <0.25%). Accept currency fluctuations without hedging.

Never sell in crashes.

Minor fun money (P2P / crypto) aside.

Maintain 18 months emergency fund in bank cash initially (as noobs). Invest regular savings into core portfolio; park separate tactical/excess cash in money market funds (MMF) for liquidity/crash deployment.

Strategy
Invest 20%+ of gross income annually via monthly sums to IBKR. Use IBKR exclusively.

Max retirement accounts (e.g., Pillar 3a) early yearly; optimize pensions (e.g., LPP buy-ins).

Transfer Pillar 3a to low-cost index provider (e.g., finpension Actions)

Asset Allocation
Long-term (post-emergency fund):
- 70% stocks (80% global VT, 20% Swiss CHSPI).
- 25% CHF gov bonds (CSBGC0).
- 5% gold ETF (AUCHAH).

Initial lump sum deployment example: 70% stocks, 25% bonds, 5% gold; plus tactical (excess) cash in MMF.

After, contribute monthly with 20% savings to the 70/25/5 portfolio.

Rebalancing
Annually or on >5% drift via new contributions.

Special Situations
- Windfalls: Invest after-tax per allocation.
- Crashes: Deploy tactical cash.
- Life changes (kids, job loss, decision to buy home): Revisit and max deductions.

Review
Review this IPS annually in January and after major events.

 

[Baptiste Wicht]

Your IPS looks great! Thanks for sharing with us!

Minor fun money (P2P / crypto) aside.

Maybe you should define a percentage for that to be clearer?

25% CHF gov bonds (CSBGC0).

Aren't you better off with cash these days?

park separate tactical/excess cash in money market funds (MMF) for liquidity/crash deployment

Do you have a target for tactical cash?

 

[gaijin]

Thanks for sharing!

Maintain 18 months emergency fund in bank cash initially (as noobs).

May I ask why you are considering 18 months emergency fund? This sounds excessive to me, I would rather go for an 1-2 months emergency fund so as not to block too much cash. Everything beyond that could then fall under live changes.

 

[Ex Pat]

Maybe you should define a percentage for that to be clearer?

Thanks! When looking at the numbers, I realized that P2P is a significant part of my existing portfolio, and after the lump sum investment it would still account to 3% of the new portfolio. I don't want to give it up, so I will actually add it in my portfolio description, to ensure I am deliberate about it.

I'd like to keep P2P around 2.5% and increase crypto to 2.5% as well, by the end of the year.

Aren't you better off with cash these days?

Thanks a lot! TBH I didn't realize that the yields from money market funds are higher than from government bonds.
I've updated my strategy accordingly.

Do you have a target for tactical cash?

Yes. My initial plan was to move a lump sum from my bank to IBKR, and keep 1/3 as cash in MMF and invest 2/3 of the lump sum in the portfolio I described in "Asset Allocation".

Your three questions made me put in a spreadsheet my current portfolio and where I'd be after the lump sum move.

And I've realized that I have a considerable investment (4.5% of new portfolio) in a few Mutual Funds through one of my banking apps that have TER between 1.5% and 2.5% (I started small monthly contributions in 2020, to test how investing works, and over five years they added up!). I need to move these to IBKR.

May I ask why you are considering 18 months emergency fund? This sounds excessive to me

Thanks, it's a good question.
Regarding the terms, I now realize it's more like a "safety fund" than "emergency".

You've made me think and I've realized there are two reasons:
- The first reason is me being a noob and a bit risk-adverse: I don't want to move almost everything in one go, while I still don't understand the mechanisms and risks of keeping most of my funds in IBKR as VT (which means the assets are in the US, from what I understand, even if I invest via IBKR UK Limited). While I understand IBKR + VT is super cost effective, I still don't understand the worse that can happen in case of a geopolitical mess. I will open a different post on the forum to ask about this.
- The second reason for not going all in: my spouse is very risk adverse and doesn't want to move everything out of the bank (as a principle). I need to first educate myself better, and then gradually get buy-in from my spouse for investments in the financial market. Maybe suggest to her to invest some of the safety funds via Swissquote, as trustworthy CH bank with better fees than normal banks.

---

Posting the IPS on this forum already has had very good effects on how I organize and think about the investment. Thank you both for the time you put to read and comment on it.

Updated:

Investment Policy Statement

Objectives
Achieve financial independence by ~age 50, supporting ~90,000 CHF annual net spending (today's terms).

Investment Philosophy
Buy-and-hold low-cost global index ETFs. Diversify globally without sector/US overexposure; prioritize simplicity, low fees (TER <0.25%). Accept currency fluctuations without hedging.

Never sell in crashes.

Do not over-invest in gold (keep 5% of portfolio).
Do not over-invest in P2P or crypto (keep P2P + crypto < 5% of portfolio).

Maintain 18 months safety fund in bank cash initially (as noobs). Invest regular savings into core portfolio; park separate tactical/excess cash in money market funds (MMF) for liquidity/crash deployment.

Strategy
Invest 20%+ of gross income annually via monthly sums to IBKR. Use IBKR exclusively.

Max retirement accounts (e.g., Pillar 3a) early yearly; optimize pensions (e.g., LPP buy-ins).

Transfer Pillar 3a to low-cost index provider (e.g., finpension Actions).

Sell expensive mutual funds and invest in IBKR instead.

For crypto, find a better option than Revolut, which has high fees (either Swissquote or SwissBorg or personal wallet?).

Asset Allocation
Long term goal: 80% stocks, 10% MMF cash, 5% gold, 2.5% crypto, 2.5% P2P.

Goal at the end of 2026:
- 70% stocks (80% global VT, 20% Swiss CHSPI).
- 20% cash (MMF).
- 5% gold ETF (AUCHAH).
- 2.5% P2P.
- 2.5% BTC.

After my initial lump sum deployment I will have in portfolio : 59.5% stocks, 32% cash (MMF), 5% gold, 3% P2P, 0.5% crypto.

After, contribute monthly with 20% savings to the 70/20/5/2.5/2.5 portfolio.

Rebalancing
Annually or on >5% drift via new contributions.
No selling core assets.

Special Situations
- Windfalls: Invest after-tax per allocation.
- Crashes: Deploy tactical cash.
- Life changes (kids, job loss, decision to buy home): Revisit and max deductions.

Review
Review this IPS annually in January and after major events.

 

[Baptiste Wicht]

Nice update!

And I've realized that I have a considerable investment (4.5% of new portfolio) in a few Mutual Funds through one of my banking apps that have TER between 1.5% and 2.5% (I started small monthly contributions in 2020, to test how investing works, and over five years they added up!). I need to move these to IBKR.

Very good way to start the year!

 

[Ex Pat]

Nice update!


Very good way to start the year!

Hi, since posting here, I've done some research and actually CHF MMFs don't seem much better than keeping cash in the bank because:
- Swisscanto (LU) Money Market Fund seems to have had negative interest for many years
- they have a TER cost
- I moved some money in this MMF, and it took several days to make the transaction, so the funds are not _that_ liquid

From talking to LLMs, CHF for MMFs only make sense for very large sums (more than 100K) where the small benefits would out weight the TER cost.

So probably keeping cash in the bank is better ? (Not in a savings account which has withdrawal restrictions with no interest, though)

 

[gaijin]

So probably keeping cash in the bank is better ?

Yes, I agree. See also this blog post by Baptiste. Of course, this assumes a short to mid term investment. If you are planning long term investments with (guaranteed) low return, it might be different.

(Not in a savings account which has withdrawal restrictions with no interest, though)

Depends on your needs and your personality. If you need full flexibility and/or don't want to invest a lot of time, cash accounts (Privatkonto) is the best option up to 100k. If you don't need the cash for a certain time and/or like to chase for small additional profit, distributing the cash to different savings account and fixed deposits is the way to go.

 

[Baptiste Wicht]

So probably keeping cash in the bank is better ? (Not in a savings account which has withdrawal restrictions with no interest, though)

In recent years, cash has become better than CHF bonds indeed.

 

[Ex Pat]

I have updated my Investment Policy Statement Investment Policy Statement

Why: I had created my initial IPS with the help of LLMs, when I didn't fully understand the risks of investing in the stock market, and even how the stock market works (e.g. I had no idea about what "speculative returns" are - now I'm reading "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing" and I am learning). Also, there are lots of things happening in the world which show the possibility of disruptions, and I want to make sure I am psychologically ready for market crashes. Thankfully, all the back and forths with LLMs in the past three months made me realize that my initial IPS is good enough to move forward, and that I actually need to focus on my savings rate instead of overthinking my portfolio.

In this updated IPS, I have:
- improved my principles, including how to react to a market crash and the importance of focusing on my savings rate a.s.a.p.
- detailed the actual FI Number (to be able to compute personal finance metrics later on)
- tweaked the target portfolio to have more gold and less cash; and to stop investing in P2P
- added a point about leaving Switzerland

Objectives
Achieve financial independence by ~age 50, supporting ~90,000 CHF annual net spending (today's terms).

If I plan to withdraw 4% of my portfolio each year (for 30 years), I will need to reach a net worth of 2'250'000 CHF. (Note: it's not yet clear how much of this will need to be my investment portfolio versus LPP & 3a).

Investment Principles

Principle	Details
No speculation.	Don’t use commodities (except gold). Don’t react to geopolitical events and market news.
Buy-and-hold low-cost global index ETFs (Bogle).	Diversify globally without sector or US overexposure. Prioritize simplicity, low fees (TER <0.15%). Accept currency fluctuations without hedging (implicit hedging done via Swiss home bias and gold).
Have a diversified portfolio	VT is my Growth engine CHSPI is my Home bias + CHF alignment AUCHAH is Inflation + monetary disorder hedge Portfolio cash exists to be deployed in crisis BTC is asymmetric growth bet (risky) P2P is for personal conviction (risky, illiquid)
Don’t overthink the portfolio	Raising my savings rate and growing my income have a much higher impact than the perfection of my portfolio.
React to market crashes based on a plan, not emotions.	Key principle 1: Never sell in crashes. Deployment strategy in VT for portfolio cash: Starting -15% drawdown from all-time high, deploy 25%. Wait 30 days before deployment. Starting -30% drawdown, deploy 35%. Wait 15 days of sustained drawdown before deployment. Starting -45% drawdown, deploy the remaining 40%. Wait 7 days of sustained drawdown. If the market continues falling, stop and hold. Do not touch the safety buffer outside the portfolio. Income clause: if unemployed, skip all tranches until re-employed. Hindsight clause: once deployed, never second-guess the timing
Keep speculative asset risk under control	Do not over-invest in gold (keep it 10% of the portfolio). If gold exceeds 10% of the portfolio, trim excess into VT at the next monthly investment. Do not over-invest in crypto (keep crypto < 2% of portfolio). Don't invest in P2P anymore (illiquid, risky). Let it be dilluted over time as portfolio grows.
Monthly investments	Invest regular savings (20% - 30% of income) into the core portfolio on a monthly basis, after paying taxes, rent and main recurring bills.
Never sell in crashes.	Maintain enough months of safety fund in bank cash to ensure I won’t panic sell in crashes. Ensure I won't have feelings of regret during a long-term crash (e.g. 10+ years).
No bonds in portfolio	My 2nd and 3rd pillar have bonds and it is enough (even if pensions are not liquid). Pensions do not count to FI by age of 50, but it does count towards net worth and FI in general. LPP is bond-heavy. Pillar 3a has around 40% bonds.

Strategy
Invest 25%+ of gross income annually via monthly sums.
Max pillar 3a contribution early yearly.
Ask a fiduciaire about optimizing pensions (LPP buy-ins).

Asset Allocation
Goal until 2030: 77% stocks, 10% cash, 10% gold, 2% crypto, 1% P2P.

Goal at the end of 2026:

• 71% stocks (ratio 80/20 for VT/CHSPI)
• 15% cash.
• 10% gold ETF (AUCHAH).
• 2% P2P (stop investing, keep existing capital).
• 2% BTC (keep it low).

Special Situations

• Windfalls: Invest after-tax per allocation.
• Life changes (kids, job loss, decision to buy home): Revisit and max deductions.
• Leaving Switzerland:
  • VT (and in general US-based funds) is subject to US estate tax risk (in case of death, heirs would have to pay a huge tax). Consider moving to VWCE.
  • Re-consider swiss-based funds vs tax penalties for expats.
  • Evaluate 2nd pillar options.

Review
Review this IPS annually in January and after major events.
Re-evaluate safety buffer size each year.

 

[gaijin]

Wow, that's a very impressive piece of work. Congrats! I think you have covered all major points. My comments therefore are small points:

• You write: 'Diversify globally without sector or US overexposure.' Depending on the definition of exposure, VT might not be the right choice. My understanding is that VT is strongly based on market cap. With the big US tech companies, there is currently an overexposure to US and AI. If you want equal exposure to all sectors and counties, the MSCI World Equal Weighted Index might be the correct benchmark. Alternatively, you could simply copy the wording of the VT benchmark (FTSE Global All Cap Index) as your strategy.
• You have two principles that you don't do (No speculation and no overthinking). I would probably get rid of them and focus on clarifying the does (not the don'ts). My thinking is that speculation and overthinking can be quite extensive concepts. Mentioning 'overthinking' to me suggests that you actually are overthinking
• Asset allocation: I'm a bit confused. You don't seem to have your desired asset allocation, only the actual one plus some future targets. I would more focus on a desired allocation. As for myself, I also have some money blocked in P2P investments. These are mistakes from the past, I don't even list this money in my asset allocation. It only becomes part of the asset allocation once it is paid back and fully available for investment.
• I don't fully understand your reasoning behind the reaction to market crashes. If you have a long-term investment horizon, you won't need to sell until FIRE, so there is no need for such a strategy. If you have an unplanned emergency situation that requires unplanned selling of parts of your investments, there is no possibility for a strategy. I can only imagine such a strategy once you are FIREd and withdraw money.

 

[Rttm]

If I may share my thoughts on the various points:

• VT + Home Bias: Agreed, this is a solid approach.
• 15% Cash: In my view, this is a significant drag on performance. Statistically, holding cash to deploy during a crisis is often disadvantageous. I prefer allocating to uncorrelated assets; this allows you to buy equities during downturns via rebalancing to maintain target percentages. I would consider allocating a portion to iShares 7-15 year bonds. These typically offer strong negative correlation to equities with manageable volatility, which should reduce overall portfolio volatility more effectively than cash. I look at the portfolio as a whole, not just individual assets. I noticed you excluded bonds because you hold them in your 2nd and 3rd pillars, but here they serve a specific function: rebalancing and volatility control.
• AUCHAH (Gold with CHF Hedge): Currency hedges are usually expensive (the true cost often lies outside the TER, making it hard to calculate precisely), and they don't always work in your favor. Gold naturally offers uncorrelated protection during crises without a hedge. However, if the USD strengthens and the CHF weakens during a crisis, you could face a double penalty: a drop in gold prices (which can sometimes correlate with USD strength) exacerbated by an unfavorable hedge. The allocation percentage itself seems reasonable, though.
• P2P: I agree.
• BTC: This is a low-correlation asset used primarily to boost portfolio returns. The general rule of thumb is to cap it at around 5%, so you are on the right track. For context, I consider my own portfolio more "aggressive" than yours, and I don’t hold any BTC

 

[Ex Pat]

Depending on the definition of exposure, VT might not be the right choice. My understanding is that VT is strongly based on market cap. With the big US tech companies, there is currently an overexposure to US and AI. If you want equal exposure to all sectors and counties, the MSCI World Equal Weighted Index might be the correct benchmark.

.
You’re right — VT reflects market cap, which currently implies significant US and tech concentration.

I don’t want to move to equal-weight indices, as I still believe market cap reflects economic reality over the long term. However, I am aware of the current valuation levels (see this post - CAPE, Buffett indicator), and I’m still refining how much I want to act on that.

I’m working through the tension, I may add some VXUS (up to 10%) to my stocks to slightly dilute magnificent 7 exposure.

You have two principles that you don't do (No speculation and no overthinking). I would probably get rid of them and focus on clarifying the does (not the don'ts). My thinking is that speculation and overthinking can be quite extensive concepts. Mentioning 'overthinking' to me suggests that you actually are overthinking

I agree w/ you that I am overthinking.

You’re right that “no speculation” and “no overthinking” are very broad concepts. What I really mean in the IPS is:
– I will stick to a fixed asset allocation and buy‑and‑hold globally diversified index funds, not individual stock or sector bets.
– I will not change my allocation based on macro forecasts or headlines, only according to my pre‑defined rebalancing rules.

I added those lines because I noticed I was spending a lot of time reading about macro and historical financial crisis after a big lump‑sum (recently, my liquid portfolio jumped from <5% to about a quarter of my net worth; this made me do more research into investment risks). They’re primarily reminders to stick to the plan rather than react to fear.

You don't seem to have your desired asset allocation, only the actual one plus some future targets. I would more focus on a desired allocation.

The “goal 2026” and “goal 2030” lines are meant as my desired allocations; my current liquid portfolio is still below that (around 62% stocks), and I plan to bridge the gap with monthly contributions.

I don't fully understand your reasoning behind the reaction to market crashes. If you have a long-term investment horizon, you won't need to sell until FIRE, so there is no need for such a strategy.

To clarity: the strategy is for buying more stocks during crashes using the dry powder cash, not to sell anything.

You’re right that with a 20‑year horizon, I don’t need a crash strategy to avoid selling; the IPS already assumes I won’t touch the portfolio before FIRE.

The “dry powder” cash is more of a psychological tool: a pre‑defined rule for deploying extra cash at deep drawdowns, so I don’t improvise under stress. I’m fully aware this is a mild form of market timing, which is why I’ve also set a glide‑path to reduce portfolio cash from 15% toward 10% by 2030 and let the long‑term allocation do the heavy lifting.

My working resolution is: Bogle for execution (buy, hold, don't react), Buffett for awareness (I won't pretend valuations don't exist), Dalio for humility (I keep some gold and cash as insurance). I realize these aren't perfectly consistent.

15% Cash: In my view, this is a significant drag on performance. Statistically, holding cash to deploy during a crisis is often disadvantageous. I prefer allocating to uncorrelated assets; this allows you to buy equities during downturns via rebalancing to maintain target percentages.

My initial reasoning for cash:

• liquidity and optionality
• CHF as a safe-haven currency
• weak expected returns from CHF bonds

However, I understand your point: bonds can provide rebalancing opportunities that cash does not.

I’m still evaluating this tradeoff.

AUCHAH (Gold with CHF Hedge): Currency hedges are usually expensive (the true cost often lies outside the TER, making it hard to calculate precisely), and they don't always work in your favor. Gold naturally offers uncorrelated protection during crises without a hedge. However, if the USD strengthens and the CHF weakens during a crisis, you could face a double penalty: a drop in gold prices (which can sometimes correlate with USD strength) exacerbated by an unfavorable hedge. The allocation percentage itself seems reasonable, though.

This is a very good piece of feedback. You helped me discover several contradictions with my own IPS:

• “Prioritize simplicity, low fees (TER <0.15%).” - initially my target was 0.25%, but after reading Bogle’s “rules of humble arithmetic”, I moved to target TER < 0.15%. AUCHAH has a TER of 0,23 %, which is above that line.
• “Accept currency fluctuations without hedging “ - AUCHAH is hedged, and currently the cost of hedging is high in my understanding, because of difference of interest rates between US and CH. Already Gold is a non-productive insurance in my portfolio, the cost of hedging makes it even more expensive.
• “If gold exceeds 10% of the portfolio, trim excess into VT at the next monthly investment.” → from this point of view, it makes zero sense to hedge my Gold ETF, because both Gold and VT are priced in $.

So now I am looking into selling my AUCHAH ETF (TER 0.23% + hedging cost) and moving it to an un-hedged ETC with TER 0.12% (e.g. SGLD or IGLN). I guess the juridiction is different (not Swiss) and the financial instrument is different (ETC vs ETF), so I will need to read more about that.

For context, I consider my own portfolio more "aggressive" than yours, and I don’t hold any BTC

Yes, I am having second thoughts about BTC as I better understand it, hence keeping it low.


Thank you @gaijin and @Rttm for spending the time to read my update and post your valuable comments.
I am converging toward a stable system, but I am still in the process

 

[Ex Pat]

Another realization since I wrote my previous answer:

I’m working through the tension, I may add some VXUS (up to 10%) to my stocks to slightly dilute magnificent 7 exposure.

This doesn't actually make sense, because VT is not that huge from my net worth. I still have a very conservative portfolio.
VXUS would add complexity without huge benefits.

And today I went back to an older post to realize that I still have MSFT stocks. I forgot to mention them in my IPS and then forgot about them. Selling the MSFT stocks alone, and buying VT/CHSPI would reduce my magnificent 7 exposure more efficiently (lol).

And I should stop optimizing my portfolio (I've been saying this for a while, but I still am going in circles) and focus on :
- optimizing savings rate
- reducing cash drag to start compounding --> move faster to my 2026 target

Thanks again for your feedbacks.

 

[Ex Pat]

Alright, I am really done fiddling with my IPS. Thanks to all for your feedback. More feedback is welcome, of course.
I tried to iron out all the contradictions I had in my previous IPS. If you see any left, please highlight them.
I am aware that my safety buffer is a huge cash drag, but at this point this is what I am psychologically comfortable with.

Investment Policy Statement (April 2026)​

Objectives
Achieve financial independence by age 51, supporting ~90,000 CHF annual net spending (today's terms).

If I plan to withdraw 4% of my portfolio each year (for 30 years), I will need 2'250'000 CHF to retire (probably less because LPP and 3a will cover a large amount of expenses once I am retired, but not from the age of 50 - I will need to better understand this).

Investment Philosophy
Build a system that works without being right about the future.
Net worth includes: taxable portfolio + pension assets (2nd pillar, 3a) + cash savings.
The safety buffer is 18 months of expenses.

Principle​	Details​
I buy-and-hold low-cost global index ETFs (Bogle).	I rely on market cap based index funds, while accepting that the market valuation will create noise (over-valuation) during hype periods. I prioritize simplicity and low fees (TER <0.15%). I respect The Relentless Rules of Humble Arithmetic : portfolio management costs hurt long-term compounding. I avoid hidden costs like currency hedging and I accept currency fluctuations without hedging (implicit portfolio hedging is done via Swiss home bias and Gold).
I accept the rules of the game	I accept that markets are not rational - they can drop when things are alright, or can continue growing when all macro signs show a recession is coming. I accept the US market cap dominance via VT as a portfolio weakness. This strategy may underperform alternative strategies in certain market environments. I accept the risk in exchange for simplicity and robustness until my portfolio reaches 40% of my net worth. I accept the fact that I am buying over-priced equity that may end up in a “lost decade” (or worse) during a generational financial crisis. This is the price I pay to start compounding early and be in the market.
I stick to a fixed, boring asset allocation	I keep my fixed, boring allocation stable and only review it on a yearly basis. I ignore the noise from the market (valuation prices, macro economic warnings, exuberance or panic).
I have a simple, diversified portfolio	VT is my Growth engine (global market) CHSPI is my Home bias + CHF alignment Gold (SGLD) is my monetary disorder hedge (in physically backed gold, unhedged) Portfolio cash is kept small - mainly a staging area for monthly investments and crash deployment BTC is asymmetric growth bet (risky) I stop holding singular stocks (sell MSFT and move to VT). I stop investing in P2P (risky, illiquid).
I manage US concentration risk	I accept the US market‑cap dominance via VT as a starting point while my portfolio is small. Once my taxable portfolio reaches 40% of my net worth, I apply a simple US concentration cap using an ex‑US ETF, as described below.
I keep investing in my core when the market crashes	Key principle 1: Never sell in crashes (unless required to cover essential living expenses that cannot be met by cash reserves or income). If the safety cash is gone, I sell the portfolio in this order: cash → P2P runoff → BTC → gold trim → bonds → stocks. Key principle 2: Don’t use the safety buffer to buy dips. Key principle 3: as long as I am employed OR receive unemployment benefits, I continue contributing on a monthly basis during a crash (that’s when I get discounted stocks). When I start consuming my safety cash, I stop contributions. Key principle 4: I don’t change my asset allocation during a crisis. Gold is maintained at target weight via rebalancing and not actively increased during crises.
I improve my savings rate	Raising my savings rate and growing my income have a much higher impact than the perfection of my portfolio. I invest regular savings (20% - 30% of income) into the core portfolio on a monthly basis, after paying taxes, rent and main recurring bills.
My portfolio is for growth, thus equity heavy	When I calculate how risky my overall finances are, I include my pension rights and cash safety reserve as part of my safe assets, so my true stock exposure is lower than it first appears. My equity portfolio is Bogle-based. For risk management (Dalio, Taleb), I keep a safety fund outside of it.
Adapt the portfolio risks when it grows	Keep the big picture: the portfolio is one part of the net worth. At the first annual review where the taxable portfolio is ≥ 40% of net worth, I: switch to the new allocation (10% bonds) via future contributions only . I will not sell existing equity positions to introduce bonds. Bonds will be CHF-denominated, investment-grade, via a low-cost broad ETF with short-to-intermediate duration. limit US equity concentration: Target: US ≈ 40–50% of my total equity allocation; if US exceeds 50% at an annual review, I redirect new global equity contributions to ex‑US ETF/CHSPI until it returns to 50% or below. At the first annual review where I am 10 years before FI target, I will grow bonds to 20%. At 5 years before FI, I will grow bonds to 40%.
Execution discipline	All portfolio changes are implemented only during scheduled monthly investment or annual review windows.
Keep speculation under control	If gold exceeds 10% or BTC exceeds 2% of the portfolio, trim back to target by redirecting the excess into VT at the next monthly investment BTC is max 2% of the portfolio; during crypto crashes I do not add new BTC and only rebalance if it ever exceeds the cap.

Asset Allocation
Goal at the end of 2026:

• 60% VT
• 16% CHSPI
• 10% cash (psychological stability because I am new to investment)
• 10% gold ETF (SGLD) - monetary disorder hedge
• 2% P2P (let P2P run off naturally without reinvestment)
• 2% BTC (crypto).

Desired portfolio until 40% net worth: 66% VT, 17% CHSPI, 10% gold (SGLD), 5% cash, max 2% BTC.
Desired portfolio after 40% net worth: 62% VT, 15% CHSPI, 10% gold (SGLD), 10% bonds, 2% cash , max 1% BTC.
Desired portfolio closing to FI target: 56% VT, 11% CHSPI, 10% gold (SGLD), 20% bonds, 2% cash , max 1% BTC.

Strategy
Immediate steps (Spring 2026):

1. Gold switch (AUCHAH → SGLD)
2. MSFT rotation into VT
3. Dry powder into VT

General:

• Invest 25%+ of gross income annually via monthly sums according to portfolio desired targets.
• Max retirement accounts (e.g., Pillar 3a) early yearly.
• Ask a fiduciaire about optimizing pensions (e.g., LPP buy-ins).
• After 2026, reduce cash to 5% by fixed monthly amounts regardless of market conditions (on top of monthly savings).
• Rebalance annually or when any asset deviates by more than 5% absolute (during once per month deployments).
• Pillar 3a in a low cost provider (e.g. finpension) should have 60% stocks for growth.

Panic reminders

• Markets have recovered from every crash in modern history, including the Great Depression, 2000, 2008, and COVID. The question has never been if, only how long.
• A drawdown only becomes a permanent loss if I sell. As long as I hold it, it is a temporary number on a screen.
• Monthly contributions during a crash are buying the same assets at a discount.
• If I feel the urge to change my allocation or stop investing, I will wait 30 days and re-read this document before acting.

Special Situations

• Windfalls: Invest after-tax per allocation.
• Life changes (kids, job loss, decision to buy home): Revisit and max deductions.
• Leaving Switzerland:
  • VT (and in general US-based funds) is subject to US estate tax risk (in case of death, heirs would have to pay a huge tax if outside Switzerland). Consider switching from US-domiciled global ETFs (e.g. VT) to Irish-domiciled equivalents (e.g. VWCE) if I become a long-term non-US, non-Swiss resident.
  • Re-consider swiss-based funds vs tax penalties for expats.
  • Evaluate 2nd pillar options.

Review
Review this IPS annually in January and after major events.
This IPS will not be changed in response to market movements, valuations, or macroeconomic forecasts.
Re-evaluate US-domiciled ETFs (VT) vs Irish (VWCE) each year, especially as portfolio grows and/or residency changes.

 

[Rttm]

I’m working through the tension, I may add some VXUS (up to 10%) to my stocks to slightly dilute magnificent 7 exposure.

If I can be of help, there are other ways to make a portfolio less dependent on a few companies. Look, for example, at factor ETFs. Value or Small Cap Value strategies tend to distribute weights more broadly. Quality, High Profitability, or Fundamental factors give more weight to financially solid companies. Momentum or Low Volatility strategies select companies based on specific past performance trends, which often persist over time. This approach helps you avoid full market exposure, though it does add complexity to your portfolio.

So now I am looking into selling my AUCHAH ETF (TER 0.23% + hedging cost) and moving it to an un-hedged ETC with TER 0.12% (e.g. SGLD or IGLN). I guess the juridiction is different (not Swiss) and the financial instrument is different (ETC vs ETF), so I will need to read more about that.

For gold, I use GLDM, which has a TER of 0.10%; I believe it is the most cost-effective option available. I would love to find an ETF holding physical gold stored in Switzerland, preferably listed on the Swiss exchange, but for now, I stick with this one due to its extremely low cost. The one you chose is excellent.

However, I understand your point: bonds can provide rebalancing opportunities that cash does not.

Uncorrelated assets combined with regular rebalancing lead to a much more stable portfolio (reducing volatility and, consequently, making a "lost decade" less likely), while also theoretically improving performance (see Shannon’s Demon: https://www.richmondquant.com/news/...tfolio-returns-can-be-created-out-of-thin-air).

Raising my savings rate and growing my income have a much higher impact than the perfection of my portfolio.

I invest regular savings (20% - 30% of income) into the core portfolio on a monthly basis, after paying taxes, rent and main recurring bills.

How much you manage to save at the beginning has a far greater impact. Therefore, it makes sense to save as much as possible early on. However, remember that life is also meant to be lived well in the present. Once your savings reach a point where they no longer significantly affect capital growth (because the portfolio is expected to grow on its own), you can afford to be more flexible with your savings rate and less strict with yourself. This is where concepts like Coast FIRE or Flamingo FIRE come into play (https://www.moneyflamingo.com/flamingo-fi-part-1/).

 

[Ex Pat]

Update on my IPS (as shared here) - I'm posting it here to keep myself accountable.

Before:
> Once my taxable portfolio reaches 40% of my net worth, I apply a simple US concentration cap using an ex‑US ETF, as described below.
After:
> Once my taxable portfolio reaches 40% of my liquid assets, I apply a simple US concentration cap using an ex‑US ETF, as described below.

Before:
> At the first annual review where the taxable portfolio is ≥ 40% of net worth
After:
> At the first annual review where the taxable portfolio is ≥ 40% of liquid assets

Why: looking at myself, I don't feel comfortable looking at my net worth (which is liquid assets + pensions) when thinking about financial independence, because I cannot touch pensions. And the more I read about LPP, the more shady and unreliable I see it is (and subject to changes in legislation).

So I changed the rule to be about liquid assets.

The other change

Goal at the end of 2026:

• 60% VT
• 16% CHSPI
• 10% cash (psychological stability because I am new to investment)
• 10% gold ETF (SGLD) - monetary disorder hedge
• 2% P2P (let P2P run off naturally without reinvestment)
• 2% BTC (crypto).

Becomes

Goal at the end of 2026:

• 48% VT
• 7% EXUS
• 5% EMIM
• 16% CHSPI
• 10% cash (psychological stability because I am new to investment)
• 10% gold ETF - monetary disorder hedge
• 2% P2P (Let P2P run off naturally without reinvestment)
• 2% BTC (crypto).

Basically, my new contributions will go into balancing the portfolio, as it's already >40% of liquid assets.

 

[Baptiste Wicht]

Why: looking at myself, I don't feel comfortable looking at my net worth (which is liquid assets + pensions) when thinking about financial independence, because I cannot touch pensions. And the more I read about LPP, the more shady and unreliable I see it is (and subject to changes in legislation).

That's a good point. And you cannot control much your pension while you can control your liquid assets. So it makes sense to act based on liquid assets.

I am not sure I would consider it shady. But it sure can change by the time we reach retirement, and usually not in our favor.

 

[Ex Pat]

I am not sure I would consider it shady. But it sure can change by the time we reach retirement, and usually not in our favor.

I recently talked with an attorney who told me that, because the Swiss population gets older (and even now there's pressure on the pension system) and there will likely be less workers in the economy and more elderly (medicine advances, life expectancy keeps improving), they expect that the LPP law will be changed in the next 20 years, to put limits on how much you can take out monthly.

Indeed, it's not "shady", but for example I asked my LPP provider about whether in case of death the whole LPP sum will go to my wife, and they didn't answer to my question (they said "per terms and conditions"). And the T&C say that they survivors only get part of the LPP.

So... if I die early, not all the money stays in my family. And the pension laws can change in the future. So it's less reliable for me.

 

[Baptiste Wicht]

I recently talked with an attorney who told me that, because the Swiss population gets older (and even now there's pressure on the pension system) and there will likely be less workers in the economy and more elderly (medicine advances, life expectancy keeps improving), they expect that the LPP law will be changed in the next 20 years, to put limits on how much you can take out monthly.

I do expect that the conversion rate will go down, and this will definitely be impacting how much you get per month.
I also unfortunately expect that our capacity to withdraw it fully in cash will be reduced.

Indeed, it's not "shady", but for example I asked my LPP provider about whether in case of death the whole LPP sum will go to my wife, and they didn't answer to my question (they said "per terms and conditions"). And the T&C say that they survivors only get part of the LPP.

I have never heard of a case where the money does not go to the wife. But the conditions are complex, and she may indeed get a pension and not a lump sum. Additionally, these conditions are different for each pension funds (the law only sets a (bad) minimal).