FIRE in Switzerland: the three pillars, simply explained

1. The three pillars at a glance

For early retirement, one question matters most: when can you get at which money? The age limits differ from pillar to pillar. The examples assume a reference age of 65.

Everything not tied up in these pillars, such as accounts, a brokerage account or a property, is often called free assets. That is what you live on in the years before the first withdrawal.

2. AHV: reference age, early draw, pension amounts

Reference age

The reference age is 65. For women born in 1961 to 1963 it rises step by step: born 1961, 64 years and 3 months; 1962, 64 years and 6 months; 1963, 64 years and 9 months. From the 1964 cohort it is 65.

Drawing early and deferring

• Early draw: from 63 at the earliest, for women born 1961 to 1969 from 62. The pension is reduced for the whole time you receive it: by 6.8 percent for one year early, by 13.6 percent for two years. Women of the transitional generation have their own, more favourable reduction rates.
• Deferral: by one to at most five years, so up to 70. In return you get a higher pension.
• You can also draw or defer part of the pension.

How much the pension is

• From 2027 pensions rise: the minimum to CHF 1,280, the maximum to CHF 2,560 a month.
• 13th AHV pension: paid once a year in December on top, worth one twelfth of the old-age pensions paid during the year. The first payment is in December 2026.
• Gaps cost money: one missing contribution year usually reduces the pension by at least 1/44. How to find gaps is explained in the guide Checking AHV contribution gaps.

Sources: AHV/IV leaflets 3.04 "Flexibler Rentenbezug", sections 1–4, and 3.01 "Altersrenten und Hilflosenentschädigungen der AHV", sections 13, 21 and 23 (both as of 1 January 2026); FSIO, "Beträge gültig ab dem 1. Januar 2026" and press release of 2 October 2026; FSIO, "13. AHV-Rente: Auszahlung"; AHVG Art. 21, 34^ter, 35 and 40.

3. Stopping early means: keep paying AHV

The duty to pay AHV contributions does not end with your last salary. If you retire early, you count as non-employed (nichterwerbstätig) and keep paying AHV, IV and EO contributions until the end of the month in which you reach the reference age.

• How much: contributions are based on your wealth plus 20 times your annual pension income. In 2026 they are at least CHF 530 and at most CHF 26,500 a year, plus administrative costs of at most 5 percent. For married people, each spouse is assessed on half of the couple's wealth and pension income.
• Married: you don't pay your own contributions if your spouse is employed in the AHV sense and pays at least CHF 1,060 in 2026, twice the minimum contribution.
• Register yourself: if you retire early in or after the calendar year in which you turn 58, you stay with your previous compensation office (Ausgleichskasse). Otherwise you register with the compensation office of your canton of residence. According to the leaflet, making sure the contributions are paid is your responsibility.
• From 2027 the minimum contribution is CHF 541 a year.

Why this matters: missing contribution years usually lead to a lifelong reduction of the AHV pension.

Sources: AHV/IV leaflet 2.03 "Beiträge der Nichterwerbstätigen an die AHV, die IV und die EO", sections 1–4 and 8 (as of 1 January 2026); FSIO, press release of 2 October 2026 (amounts from 2027).

4. Pension fund: from 58, otherwise vested benefits

• Early retirement: the law provides for an early draw from 63. Your pension fund's regulations can allow retirement from your 58th birthday at the earliest. What applies to you is in your regulations.
• Stopping earlier: if you leave the pension fund before the earliest retirement age in its regulations, you get a termination benefit, not a retirement benefit. It goes to a vested benefits account or policy. Retirement benefits from it are paid five years before the reference age at the earliest and fall due at the reference age. You can only defer further if you keep working.
• After the earliest retirement age: if you stop working altogether after that age, you usually get retirement benefits from your fund. A termination benefit is then only paid if you keep working or are registered as unemployed.
• Cash payment of the termination benefit only in three cases: leaving Switzerland for good (with restrictions on the mandatory part if you remain compulsorily insured in an EU or EFTA state), becoming self-employed without mandatory occupational pension cover, or if the amount is less than your annual contribution. Married people need their spouse's written consent.

Lump sum or annuity

You can take at least a quarter of your mandatory retirement assets as a lump sum. The regulations can allow more and can set a deadline for announcing a lump-sum withdrawal. Married people need their spouse's written consent.

The statutory minimum conversion rate of 6.8 percent applies to the mandatory retirement assets at a reference age of 65. Which rate applies to all of your assets is in your fund's regulations and on your pension certificate.

Sources: BVG Art. 13, 14 para. 2, 37 and 37a; BVV 2 Art. 1i; FZG Art. 2 para. 1^bis, 5 and 25f; FZV Art. 16 (Fedlex, current versions, retrieved 27 October 2026).

5. Pillar 3a: from 60, contributions only with earned income

• Withdrawal: five years before the reference age at the earliest, so from 60 for a reference age of 65. Earlier only for specific reasons, such as owner-occupied housing, starting self-employment, leaving Switzerland for good, buying into a pension fund or a full IV pension.
• Paying in is only allowed with earned income subject to AHV. In the year you stop working you can still pay the full amount, but only while you are still working. After that, no more contributions are possible.
• A 3a account can only be withdrawn in full. More on this, the 2026 maximum amounts and the new catch-up payment: Pillar 3a before 31 December.

Sources: BVV 3 Art. 3 and 7 para. 3; FSIO FAQ "Wer kann eine Säule 3a einrichten?"; FTA, Circular No. 18a, sections 5.1 and 6.

6. Tax on lump-sum withdrawals

Lump sums from the pension fund, from vested benefits and from pillar 3a are taxed separately from your other income. At federal level it is a full annual tax at one fifth of the ordinary rates, without social deductions. The cantons also tax such lump sums on their own. How high the tax is, and whether it matters in which years you withdraw which accounts, depends on your canton of residence. There is no single figure that applies to everyone. Your canton's tax office gives binding answers.

Sources: DBG Art. 38; StHG Art. 11 para. 3 (Fedlex, retrieved 27 October 2026).

7. An example: the bridge phase

A simplified example, not a recommendation: you stop working at 55, your reference age is 65, and your pension fund allows retirement from 58.

1. 55Your salary stops. Because you leave the fund before 58, your pension fund assets go to a vested benefits account. You live on your free assets and pay AHV contributions as a non-employed person. You can no longer pay into pillar 3a.
2. 60Earliest withdrawal of pillar 3a and vested benefits.
3. 63Earliest early draw of the AHV pension, reduced for life.
4. 65Regular AHV pension. Your duty to pay contributions as a non-employed person ends. The vested benefits fall due now at the latest, unless you keep working.

So you have to fund the years from 55 to 60 entirely from free assets, and much of the time until 65 depending on your withdrawal plan. Besides living costs, that calculation includes AHV contributions, health insurance premiums and the tax on later lump-sum withdrawals.

8. Common misconceptions

• "Without a salary I don't pay AHV any more." You do: as a non-employed person you pay until the reference age, in 2026 at least CHF 530 a year.
• "I can draw my pension fund as soon as I stop." Only from the age your regulations allow, 58 at the earliest. Before that the money goes to a vested benefits account, paid out five years before the reference age at the earliest.
• "I'll keep paying into pillar 3a after retiring early." No. Without earned income subject to AHV, contributions are not possible.
• "The maximum AHV pension is guaranteed." It requires a full contribution record and a high enough average income. Every missing contribution year usually costs at least 1/44.
• "The conversion rate is 6.8 percent." The statutory minimum only applies to the mandatory assets. Your fund can use a different rate for the rest.
• "An early AHV draw is only reduced until 65." The reduction applies for the whole time you receive the pension.

9. How FinanzPilot helps

FinanzPilot is our app for your money in Switzerland, for iPhone and iPad. For FIRE planning it does the following:

• Set up your FIRE plan: seven short steps on spending, wealth, pension fund (as a lump sum or as an annuity), pillar 3a, AHV and assumptions. Values come from your data, and every input is explained.
• Bridge phase: pension fund and pillar 3a money stay locked until you draw them, and FinanzPilot counts AHV from 65. The plan funds the years in between from your free assets. You set the age at which your pension fund annuity starts. FinanzPilot does not model an early AHV draw.
• Realistic AHV: missing contribution years cut the estimated AHV by 1/44 per year. FinanzPilot estimates the AHV pension from your income (pension scale 44). The plan works out AHV contributions as a non-employed person from the official table on your wealth and adds them to your spending until 65; you set your own amount, or the exemption when your spouse keeps working, under Settings → Swiss Tax Constants. The 13th AHV pension can be switched on and off there.
• Lump-sum tax: pension fund and 3a lump sums join your wealth after an estimated capital withdrawal tax, calculated with the federal tariff and your canton's rule (ESTV Steuermäppchen).
• On track? With FinanzPilot Pro, a Monte Carlo simulation with historical returns checks whether the money lasts to 95.

What FinanzPilot does not do: it doesn't know your pension fund's regulations, doesn't read your AHV statement and doesn't recommend when to draw what. All figures are estimates for planning, not advice.

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10. Sources

All retrieved on 27 October 2026. The federal offices publish in German, French and Italian.

1. AHV/IV information centre: leaflet 3.04 "Flexibler Rentenbezug" (PDF, German, as of 1 January 2026). Reference age, early draw from 63, reduction rates, deferral.
2. AHV/IV information centre: leaflet 3.01 "Altersrenten und Hilflosenentschädigungen der AHV" (PDF, German, as of 1 January 2026). Full pension, 1/44 reduction, 2026 pensions, cap for couples.
3. AHV/IV information centre: leaflet 2.03 "Beiträge der Nichterwerbstätigen an die AHV, die IV und die EO" (PDF, German, as of 1 January 2026). Contributions until the reference age, 2026 minimum and maximum.
4. Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO, BSV): "Beträge gültig ab dem 1. Januar 2026" (PDF, 6 November 2025). 2026 pensions, cap for couples.
5. FSIO: press release of 2 October 2026. From 2027: pensions CHF 1,280 to 2,560, minimum contribution for non-employed people CHF 541.
6. FSIO: "13. AHV-Rente: Auszahlung" (26 October 2026). First payment in December 2026, then every December.
7. Fedlex: AHVG, SR 831.10, Art. 21, 34^ter, 35, 40; BVG, SR 831.40, Art. 13, 14, 37, 37a; BVV 2, SR 831.441.1, Art. 1i; FZG, SR 831.42, Art. 2, 5, 25f; FZV, SR 831.425, Art. 16; BVV 3, SR 831.461.3, Art. 3, 7; DBG, SR 642.11, Art. 38; StHG, SR 642.14, Art. 11.
8. FSIO FAQ: "Wer kann eine Säule 3a einrichten?" Contributions only with earned income subject to AHV.
9. Federal Tax Administration (FTA, ESTV): Circular No. 18a (PDF, in force since 1 January 2026). Pillar 3a: contributions in the last working year, withdrawal.

More guides

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