Swiss are somewhat risk-averse when it comes to investing. The 2025 Swiss investment survey shows that private accounts and savings accounts remain the most popular vehicle for holding wealth. The 1500 participants across both German-speaking and French-speaking regions were asked whether they held various assets, and how much of their wealth they held in each.
82 percent of participants say that they hold at least part of their wealth in a private account. Savings account came in at second place, with 79 percent of participants holding wealth in these accounts. Cash took third place (68 percent).
Table 1: Use of different asset classes by Switzerland's residents
| Investment vehicle |
Percentage of participants
that use this asset class |
| Private accounts |
82% |
| Savings accounts |
79% |
| Cash |
68% |
| Pillar 3a accounts |
61% |
| Pillar 3a investment solution |
52% |
| Real estate |
43% |
| Life insurance |
42% |
| Individual stocks |
42% |
| Actively managed mutual funds |
40% |
| ETFs |
38% |
| Gold |
35% |
| Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies |
35% |
| Bonds |
33% |
| Structured products |
32% |
Time deposits &
medium-term notes |
32% |
| Other precious metals |
31% |
Example: 82 percent of participants hold at least part of their wealth in a private account.
“Holding an adequate amount of liquid assets in a savings account – as an emergency fund, for example – is generally a sensible move,” clarifies moneyland.ch editor for investment topics Dan Urner. But 36 percent of participants say that they hold a large part of their wealth in savings account balances – and that is in spite of the low interest rates paid by banks.
35 percent of survey participants hold part of their wealth in the form of private account balances, even though most Swiss private accounts do not yield interest. “Private accounts are only suitable for financial transactions. They are not the right instrument for holding wealth,” advises Dan Urner.
ETFs are gaining ground
Although Swiss err on the side of caution when it comes to holding and investing wealth, the survey reveals that exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are gaining significance. “ETFs are no longer an unfamiliar term for many investors,” believes Dan Urner. Five years ago, only 17 percent of survey participants invested in ETFs. Today, that figure has more than doubled, with 38 percent of participants in the 2025 survey holding shares in ETFs. “These funds make it possible to create a diversified investment portfolio even with small amounts of investment capital, and their fees are relatively low. For example, ETFs can be used to invest in global stock indexes like the MSCI World or the FTSE All-World.”
Individual stocks are somewhat more popular than ETFs, with 42 percent of participants holding stocks. Actively-managed mutual funds are also more widely used than ETFs, with 40 percent of participants holding shares in mutual funds even though these funds typically have higher fees than ETFs.
Women are less likely to invest
The survey reveals that women are less likely to invest than men are. That applies across all asset classes. The gap is exceptionally wide for individual stocks, with men surpassing women by 20 percentage points. Large gaps also exist for ETFs (18 percentage points) and cryptocurrencies (17 percentage points).
Table 2: Gender-based differences in holding wealth
| Investment vehicle |
Women |
Men |
| Private account |
76% |
87% |
| Savings account |
75% |
83% |
| Cash |
62% |
74% |
| Pillar 3a savings account |
56% |
66% |
| Pillar 3a investment solution |
45% |
59% |
| Real estate |
37% |
49% |
| Life insurance |
37% |
47% |
| Individual stocks |
32% |
52% |
| Actively-managed mutual funds |
32% |
48% |
| ETFs |
29% |
47% |
| Gold |
29% |
42% |
Bitcoin or other
cryptocurrencies |
27% |
44% |
| Bonds |
27% |
38% |
| Structured products |
26% |
38% |
Time deposits &
medium-term notes |
26% |
38% |
| Other precious metals |
25% |
36% |
Example: 76 percent of women and 87 percent of men who took part in the survey hold at least part of their wealth in a private account.
Wealth-based differences in investment habits
There are also substantial differences between wealth groups. The higher a person’s wealth is, the more likely they are to hold part of their wealth in stocks, ETFs, and structured products. Just 28 percent of participants with less than 20,000 francs of wealth invest in individual stocks, compared to 80 percent of those with a fortune of 500,000 francs or more.
Methodology
The study is based on a representative online survey commissioned by moneyland.ch and carried out by market research institute Ipsos in early 2025. The survey included 1500 participants residing in German-speaking and French-speaking regions of Switzerland. Participants were asked how much of their wealth they hold in different asset classes, and could answer using a scale of 1 (none of my wealth) to 10 (all of my wealth). Abstaining was also possible. To determine the percentage of people who held a certain asset, moneyland.ch combined all participants with entries between 2 and 10.
For additional analyses, moneyland.ch combined the entries between 1 (none of my wealth) and 10 (all of my wealth) into these groups:
- 1: None
- 2 to 3: Few assets
- 4 to 6: Mid-sized assets
- 7 to 10: Many/all assets
More on this topic:
Get the detailed tables (German PDF)
How to invest money in Switzerland
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