Optimisation of occupational pension provision

Many SMEs pay too little attention to occupational pension schemes. The legal obligation to be insured from a certain salary level is known and is also implemented. In practice, however, solutions are often found that only cover the legal obligation. The individual design options are often neglected due to a lack of knowledge of the subject matter.

A good pension fund model offers many advantages, such as tax and pension optimisation opportunities for employers, management, executives and employees. At the same time, a good social security package increases the company's attractiveness on the labour market and its positioning as a modern company with social responsibility. These are all attributes that are important for well-trained specialists and managers.

When it comes to implementation, there is the possibility of offering an extended pension plan for selected groups of people, e.g. management or certain management levels. This offers qualified managers additional purchasing potential as well as higher retirement and risk benefits.
It should also be examined whether a division into basic and management pension plans can generate further advantages. The main focus here is on flexibility and risk diversification (two pension schemes with different benefits, coverage ratio and age structure). This can be done via a second standard connection or via a 1e solution.

1e solutions in particular offer a lot of flexibility, as the insured person can define his or her own investment strategy and adapt it to his or her risk capacity and risk tolerance. Solutions with individual investment strategies are only permissible for salary components above CHF 129,060. The return achieved is credited in full to the personal retirement assets. In return, any losses must be borne by the insured person. Another plus point: Unlike the basic pension plan, there is no undesirable redistribution of returns in favour of the insurance collective.

1e solutions also offer the possibility of building up a securities portfolio in stages during the acquisition phase. The annual savings premiums and any purchases are invested in a tax-privileged manner according to personal investment strategy. The staggered build-up protects against an unfavourable entry point. Coordination with the private investment strategy can generate additional advantages (e.g. dividend gems in the pension custody account, securities with appreciation potential in the private custody account). When you stop working, the pension custody account is converted into a private securities custody account. The value of the custody account is subject to privileged pension taxation, just like a conventional lump-sum withdrawal.
If you have any questions about your pension solution, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Valentin Chiquet

Financial Planning & Pension Advice
BSc HES-SO in Business Administration

T +41 31 329 20 52
vch@core-partner.ch