A few years back I looked at various 3rd Pillar providers, and VIAC looked like the best option for what I'm looking for (low fees and had lots of index fund/ETF type options). Ultimately I didn't open any accounts, but now I am.
Is VIAC still a good option for low fees and index fund/ETF-type investments? Has something better come along in the meantime?
What do you mean at no expense? Look at the product sheet in the link you provided. The total expense ratio is between 0.8% and 1.48%. FinPension and VIAC are in the region of 0.4-0.5%.
CS also don’t allow you to choose the funds you are invested in, only the asset class mix. The OP specifically wants to choose the funds.
Doesn't it depend on your income level? Isn't there a foreign income tax credit of USD 95k or something. Tom is always going on about it and how he's never had to pay additional tax to the US.
With my salary here plus rental and investment income from the States I'm above that.
Wouldn't putting money into a 3a, which reduces my Swiss tax burden by reducing my effective taxable income here not also reduce my effective tax burden in the US since I believe the US uses my Swiss taxable income as well?
The IRS couldn't care less about your Swiss taxable income. It's your Gross income minus AHV plus your employer's contribution to your Pension. 3A is not US income tax deductible. However, an IRA is. However, an IRA is not Swiss deductible. But, one will get a credit based on Swiss tax paid.
Their "3.65% average return" for the Mixta-BVG points to a lousy deal. Annualised return (aka compounding) will be significantly lower but they need to sell that trash somehow so they show average return instead.
In their defence the Mixta-70 index that I have a part of my pillar 3 in for indirect amortisation of my mortgage performed a little better than my choice of ETFs in FinPension last year. I believe the actively managed Mixta-70 performed better again.
3.65% is one of the funds with a higher fixed income component isn’t it?
Possible, but not clear to me. They call the products collectively "CSA Mixta-BVG investment groups" in their product sheet (not just in the headline), so singular could denote any one of them. But there's also a product named "CSA Mixta-BVG", for this it's indeed 51% bonds, plus stocks and RE.
Correct 3A contributions not US tax deductible, but bigger issue for US citizens is even having this kind of investment. IRS cares if you hold something called a "PFIC", which includes almost all 3A plans. Something to google when really bored, but bottom line for Americans is it's best to just avoid it IMHO.
What is not clear to me is that just because the US government (insert obligatory rant here) doesn't allow me to deduct 3a contributions from my US taxes (insert second obligatory rant here), I still can deduct them from my Swiss taxes thus saving me some, just not as much. Is this correct?
And as far as I can tell, I can use all the investment options available via VIAC or finpension that a regular, unencumbered Swiss person can use (insert third obligatory rant here). Is this also correct?
(insert final obligatory rant here about how free those of us from the "Land of the Free" really are.)
Actually, it could be that 3rd pillar stock investment might trigger PFIC obligations. I would advise against going down this route. I have viac but stopped contributing for these reasons.
Your best bet for now is private investments through Interactive Brokers.