Use a common comparison grid
Contributions and term
Ask whether payments are optional or contractually scheduled, what happens during a pause and which maturity applies. A commitment that is affordable now may matter after income changes.
Saving and protection
Separate the part building pension assets from any death or disability benefits. Read definitions, exclusions, waiting periods and contracted benefits without assuming cover merely because the solution is insured.
Exit and transfer
For a policy, request conversion and surrender values for several dates in writing. For every form, check the transfer process, investments, charges and consequences of a change.
Documents to compare side by side
Compare the same headings and do not base a decision on one central projection.
Terms and regulations
Read the institution, 3a form, premium duty, beneficiaries, insured risks and the procedures for amendment or transfer.
Charges and scenarios
Request explicit charges, investment assumptions, written guarantees and adverse or neutral scenarios. An illustration must not be treated as a promise.
Values after a change
Obtain the effects of a pause, reduced payment, conversion, permitted surrender or transfer to another institution.
Keep the verified conclusion
Record the date, source, institution’s reply and contract version so that the point can be checked again before a later decision.
What registers do not tell you
- Tax recognition is not a commercial recommendation or a performance ranking.
- FINMA does not generally approve individual life-insurance tariffs; inspect the contract and settlement values.
- No form is universally better, and this site does not determine personal suitability.
Verified Swiss federal sources
Verified English guidance is linked where the FSIO, FTA and FINMA provide it. The current contribution-limit page and the controlling OPP 3 and Insurance Contract Act texts fall back to French because no equivalent current English legal source was verified. German, French and Italian official texts, the competent authority and the provider’s documents remain decisive.
- OFAS — Old-age insurance system — private pension provisionEnglish · Official English overview of the Swiss three-pillar system and the general employment-linked condition for paying into pillar 3a.↗
- AFC — List of providers of recognised pillar 3a pension productsEnglish · English FTA overview of recognised providers; it is not a ranking or an assessment of quality, cost, performance or suitability.↗
- FINMA — Individual life insuranceEnglish · Supervisory framework for individual life insurance, including the absence of general tariff approval and requirements for surrender values.↗
- Fedlex — Federal Insurance Contract ActFrench legal-text fallback · Pre-contract information and general contract rules relevant to an insurance-policy solution; the cited controlling text is French.↗