Everyday banking

5 tips to better manage your finances in 2024

Published on January 29, 2024Reading time 6 min.
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In 2024, do yourself a favour! Save yourself a little stress by following these financial management tips.

Tip #1: Create or update your financial calendar

Planning, organising and anticipating: words that make you dream? Perhaps they do! To be able to think clearly, it is very useful to note down the important dates for your administrative management and to enter them into a calendar or your favourite planning tool.

TopicTo doDeadlines
TaxesComplete your tax return and send it to the cantonal tax authorities. Between late February and late April, depending on the canton.Between late February and late April, depending on the canton.
Basic insuranceCheck the coverage, the deductible, and the amount of the premium.Cancellation possible by 30 November.
Supplementary insuranceReview the contracts and check that the coverage is sufficient.Can be terminated by 31 March or 30 September.
Pension fund (2nd pillar)Review whether a voluntary buy-out is desirable, either to improve retirement or for tax reasons.By mid-December.
Restricted pension plan (pillar 3a)Pay in the maximum amount as redefined at federal level.By mid-December.
SecuritiesAssess and adapt your investments.Every year.
MortgageCheck your deadlines.For your fixed rates: every year. For your SARON rates: every quarter.

Save time by downloading our printable schedule!


Tip #2: Start collecting documents for your tax return early

To avoid being overwhelmed when the time comes, start collecting the documents you need for your tax return at the beginning of the year. While these are usually automatically sent to you by the issuing bodies, it is sometimes necessary to go online to download them from your personal online platform. In rare cases, you may also have to specifically request these documents.

Since each individual situation is different, it is not possible to offer you an exhaustive list. Here, however, is a basic list as a base for building your own:

  • Your salary certificates (if you work as an employee)
  • Your company accounts (if you are self-employed)
  • Your pension certificates (if you are retired, for example)
  • Your bank statements
  • Your interest and/or tax certificates
  • Statements for your securities
  • Your contribution certificates for Pillar 3a (personal pension)
  • Your health-related expenses (health insurance premiums and medical expenses)
  • Your professional and/or training expenses
  • Proof of your donations (e.g. to associations)
  • Documents related to your property (if you own a home)

Certificates of interest

To get your certificates of interest from CA next bank, go to your e-banking platform, then to the Documents tab.


Tip #3: Stagger your Pillar 3a payments

If you have a Pillar 3a account and do not want to pay out too much at once, you can spread your payments over the year by setting up a standing order, for example. When you make a payment in your CA next bank e-banking platform, simply activate the " Recurring payment " function and select the desired frequency.

Deduction of the Pillar 3a: new ceilings in 2024

Payments into your Pillar 3a can be deducted from your taxable income1 up to a certain limit. In 2024, the limits for the Pillar 3a are defined as follows:

You are affiliated to an occupational pension fund (2nd Pillar):

You can pay in, and therefore deduct from your income, up to CHF 7,056.

You are self-employed, and do not have an occupational pension fund:

You can deduct up to CHF 35,280 (within the limit of 20% of your net annual income).

Pillar 3a with Crédit Agricole next bank: attractive benefits

Don’t have a Pillar 3a yet? Think about it. Aside from the tax advantage, it is above all an excellent way of providing a complementary financial resource for your life when you retire. Opening a Pillar 3a account with Crédit Agricole next bank has several advantages, including:

  • An interest rate of 1.50%: according to Handelszeitung2, our bank offers one of the best interest rates on the market.
  • An open architecture: we offer you the opportunity to invest your money with 5 renowned fund issuers – UBS, Pictet, Swisscanto, SwissLife and Credit Suisse. This is a real asset for diversifying your portfolio.

Pillar 3a

Do you have a Pillar 3a with another provider? No problem: transfer your current 3rd Pillar to CA next bank, free of charge.

Top tip

If you have a Pillar 3a account with Crédit Agricole next bank, make sure you activate the notifications on Liberty Connect to be sure you are alerted when you receive a new document. To do so, please click here:

  1. In your Liberty Connect account, click on " User profile" in the main menu on the left of your screen.
  2. At the bottom right, in the "Notifications for new documents" section, choose the channel through which you wish to receive your notifications by ticking "SMS" and/or "E-mail".
  3. Lastly, click on "Save" to save your changes.


Tip #4: Adjust your mortgage payment

If you have a SARON mortgage, you have already been informed that your mortgage instalments increased in the last quarter of 2022. You should therefore make sure you adjust your monthly payments to ensure your account has sufficient funds for the next quarterly mortgage payment withdrawal. If you are using a standing order to fund your account, you will have to change it manually.

Reminder

You will not receive notice of the final amount of your mortgage payment until 5 days before the end of the quarter. You can, however, estimate this amount in advance: find all the information you need to make this estimate in our factsheet.


Tip #5: Build savings into your annual budget

For many of us, saving means putting aside the money we have left at the end of the month. The fact is, however, that these amounts are random, making it difficult to budget. There is a simple way to remedy this: save before you spend, rather than the other way around.

The idea is to allocate a fixed share of income to savings with a predefined distribution, for example: 60% for fixed and current expenses, 25% for occasional expenses, and 15% for savings.

This breakdown, of course, is an example. Ultimately, to have a financial vision, the most important thing is not how the budget is defined, but sticking to it! The easiest way to do this is to set up a standing order at the beginning of every month: in your CA next bank e-banking platform, when you make an internal transfer from your current account to your savings account, all you have to do is activate the "Recurring payment" function and select the desired frequency.

In practice

Plan your spending and saving with our budget template.



A savings account with Crédit Agricole next bank at very attractive rates

By placing your savings in different savings accounts, you can increase your returns, depending on your short-, medium- or long-term plans. At Crédit Agricole next bank, we offer several types of savings accounts, in CHF or EUR, with some of the best rates on the market3.


Our best rates (CHF)Our best rates (EUR)
Fixed term deposit savings account1.42%
(up to CHF 1,000,000)
-
CA Libre Epargne savings account0.85%
(up to CHF 200,000)
0.95%
(up to €1,000,000)
CA Junior savings account1.25%
(up to CHF 30,000)
1.50%
(up to €30,000)
CA Energy savings account1.25%
(up to CHF 50'000)
-

1 Depending on your canton and your tax status.
2 Article published in Handelszeitung on 19.01.2023.
3 Article published in Moneyland on 10.01.2023.