How do Swiss people invest their money? What role do traditional forms of investment, personal advice, and digital solutions play in this? And how established are exchange-traded funds (ETFs)?
To explore these questions, we conducted a survey with more than 2'000 people aged between 16 and 74 in German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland.
The results provide deep insights into the investment behavior of the Swiss population. For example, they show that one-third of respondents do not invest at all, mostly due to a lack of knowledge or capital. At the same time, ETFs have become an integral part of many Swiss people's portfolios.
The study highlights who invests, how they invest, and which instruments they prefer. A particular focus was placed on the question of how established ETFs already are as a component of private individuals' portfolios.
ETFs are no longer niche products, but are enjoying increasing popularity. People have realized that ETFs offer them a simple, inexpensive, and broadly diversified way to invest – exactly how modern wealth management should work today.
Felix Niederer
CEO, True Wealth
Key findings
How Swiss people invest
Over 65 percent of Swiss citizens invest their disposable assets, while around one third do not invest at all. This reluctance is particularly pronounced among women: 43 percent of women surveyed do not invest, compared with 27 percent of men. Those who do invest often do so on their own: over 40 percent make their own investment decisions, while 21 percent rely on product recommendations and 17 percent delegate their investment decisions entirely.
20% of Swiss citizens invest in ETFs
Half of investors in Switzerland invest in individual stocks, followed by ETFs with a share of just under 30 percent. This puts ETFs in second place among the most popular investment instruments – a clear sign of their growing establishment in the Swiss market. Based on all 2'000 respondents, the proportion of people who invest in ETFs is one-fifth.
Almost 50% plan to increase their ETF investments
Despite their growing popularity, ETFs still play a minor role in the portfolios of many Swiss investors: 60 percent of ETF investors hold less than a quarter of their investable assets in ETFs. At the same time, there is a clear trend: almost half (49%) of ETF investors plan to increase the proportion of ETFs in their portfolios.
How does the Swiss population invest?
What role do age and gender play in ETF investments? Do younger people really invest more frequently in ETFs – and what proportion of their total assets do they invest in ETFs? Find out more in our ETF study.
About the report
The «ETF Study 2025» analyzes how the Swiss population manages and invests its assets. A survey was conducted among more than 2'000 people aged 16 to 79 in German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland.
GfK Switzerland
GfK Switzerland AG (IHA-GfK AG until December 2008), based in Rotkreuz, is the largest market research institute in Switzerland. Since 1999, it has been part of the German GfK Group in Nuremberg, one of the five largest market research organizations in the world.
True Wealth
True Wealth was founded in 2013 by Oliver Herren, co-founder of Digitec Galaxus AG, and Felix Niederer, a physicist and portfolio manager. The online platform has consistently automated all processes of modern wealth management and offers its clients domiciled in Switzerland a cost-effective wealth management solution. The company manages customer assets of more than 1.9 billion Swiss francs, spread across over 30'000 customer relationships.
Why True Wealth?
- Over 1.9 billion francs in assets under management
- More than 30'000 invested clients
- Award-winning digital user experience
- Personal customer service
- No lock-in, no minimum term