Short summary: I am employed and put money in my 2nd and 3rd pillar as one is allowed to do.
My wife is self-employed, with a 'small' revenue/income of 40-50k a year. She has an existing 2nd pillar at SwissLife with some money in it from former job. But hasn't put anything in this since years.
She pays her 3rd pillar, ~6600 CHF this year, as that's linked to our mortgage. (Same as i do)
I have understood that as independent you can up to a certain percentage of your revenue/income, put more into the 3rd pillar. We have some savings to use.
i have the feeling we don't use this enough in our 'advantage'.
What should we best do? pls don't hesitate if more info is needed.
You can pay on 2nd pillar OR increase third pillar to max 20% of income.
Which one to choose largely depends on your other insurances (you don't want to be over insured for e.g. disability or death), if you want a fixed pension, how much return you want, if you are keen on investing in the stock market, etc. this also depends on possible scenarios that she may want to cover (divorce, your death, etc.).
Personally I would invest in stocks 3rd pillar and leave it there until retirement, or 2nd pillar and consider it a bond-like safe investment in my portfolio.
To have 2 pillar, it means you need to be employed, if OPs wife structures her income like that mightn’t it result in OP’s wife having to pay higher social security and admin costs ? 3 pillar might be simpler and cheaper
3rd pillar has fewer restrictions on withdrawal, how it can be invested and use for property purchase.
I would say which one is better depends completely on personal circumstances