Viac experience report after one year review, costs, fees and refer a friend with Viac Review Test as well as Viac vs Frankly.

VIAC experience report: 7 years 3a with Viac fees, performance, criticism & praise!

Schwiizerfranke has also been invested in Viac for over 6 years and a lot has happened since then with Pillar 3a as well as with Viac. In this article, you can find out how the app was used, how customer support was and what else influenced the Viac experience. viac review!

Table of contents

Viac yield test report in the Performance Review Viac 3a pillar
VIAC Dashboard: Clear and tidy

Viac Field Report Summary

After the year is over and we have gathered some points of contact, we can give you our Viac experience report in one word: Terrific! The app is very intuitive and clear and never caused any problems. The strategies can be adjusted individually every month, which we also used a lot. The fees are extremely low and the Viac performance is therefore very good. 

In January we automatically received the message that the tax report was ready and so we were able to start the tax settlement on time.

Positive Viac experience: Viac advantages

  • Low fees: The Viac performance is absolutely terrific due to the low fees! 

  • Free basic protection: In the event of disability or death, you will receive up to 25 % in addition to your pension assets. For every CHF 10,000 invested, VIAC will provide you with free insurance cover of CHF 2,500 (max. CHF 250,000) in the event of death or disability (70% - IV degree).

  • Intuitive app: It is easy to understand, it is well designed and you can perform all necessary tasks in it.

  • Paperless: Thanks to the app and the website, no paper is necessary. Neither for opening an account nor for the Viac tax return.
  • Viac Performance: It is not only the low fees that ensure a good performance of the pillar 3a at Viac. A top performance can be achieved thanks to the high equity quota of up to 98 %.
  • Ready-made strategies: As already mentioned, Viac likes to work with stock strategies that can give you a good performance. If you are not a stockbroker (someone who knows a lot about shares), you can use Viac's Global 100 strategy, for example. So you don't have to be a pro, but you can become a performance pro thanks to Viac!
  • Customer ServiceAlways there for you via chat or phone and quickly available: Super Viac experience in support! We never needed it, but we asked for another Blog article once via chat and promptly received a competent answer.
  • Vested benefits account: Since May 2020, Viac now also offers a vested benefits account. Are you leaving Switzerland, becoming self-employed or changing employer? You can now park your money temporarily in the Viac vested benefits account or invest it in securities.
  • Viac Invest: Since December 2024, there has also been the Viac Invest Solution for free assets.

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Disadvantages and Viac criticism

  • Fees depending on the strategy not the cheapest: Should you choose products and services based on price alone? Hardly. Nevertheless, there are cheaper providers than Viac in terms of the chosen investment strategy. Young people in particular often choose a strategy with a high equity allocation due to their long investment horizon. If we compare, for example, Viac vs. Frankly or Viac vs. Finpension 3a Viac comes off worse here in the fee comparison. Over a 20 or even 30-year investment period, a difference in fees can make a lot of difference. 
  • No client branch: If you are one of those customers who like to make small talk in branches, you are in the wrong place at Viac. They focus on low costs, avoid fees wherever possible and therefore do without expensive branches.

Viac Performance

Viac performance stands and falls with your investment strategy. Yes, Viac also offers you a "normal 3a interest account" with current interest of 0.15 %. But this is unlikely to attract most customers to Viac. There are other banks that currently pay you around 0.25 % interest, as you can see in our Interest rate comparison you can see. 0.25 % performance is nothing, however, compared to the average 8.3 % over the last 10 years in the Viac Global 100 strategy. You can see this in the Viac Performance Report.

In the past, a high equity allocation led to good performance. What then reduces the return even further are the fees. At Frankly strategies with a high equity ratio are more favorable than with Viac.

However, the future cannot always be derived from the past, of course. The 3a account is used for long-term retirement planning and should not necessarily be used to implement active investment strategies. With the 5 different accounts, however, you can of course pursue different strategies and then staggered to reduce the risk in old age. If you like Viac's digital 3rd pillar, but would like a little more advice, it's worth taking a look at Selma Finance. Compared to Viac, Selma not only manages your 3rd pillar, but also your entire assets if you wish. 

Viac yield test report in the Performance Review Viac 3a pillar
Exemplary 3a portfolio with remarkable performance - not least due to "lucky" timing, after the corona crash in 2020. Return calculated here as TWR - don't get confused (article on the blog).

Viac fees

The normal management fees are 0.40 % on the invested assets. Depending on the strategy, there are also product costs. Certain shares, ETFs or commodity bonds are of course not free for Viac. These (small) fees are of course also incurred by you if you use the corresponding products. Viac has recently introduced a Fee cap, i.e. a cap on fees at a maximum of 0.40 %! At Fees FAQ you will find all further questions and answers about the Viac Fees. Yes, there are cheaper providers such as Frankly from ZKB, but this depends mainly on the strategy chosen. This does not have a negative impact on our Viac experience report.

Since there is from Viac a "Invite friends"program, you can even make your first Manage CHF 1,500 free of charge and save on the administration fee! So when you open your account, invite friends right away and get the coupon. Feel free to leave your code in the comments, then it will be even faster for you and others can also benefit from it.

Viac alternatives in comparison

Finpension

In the big Pillar 3a comparison Finpension in particular stands out very positively.
The pillar 3a offering from Finpension is not only somewhat younger, but also cheaper than Viac's offering. Furthermore, Finpension offers a wide range of investment strategies to choose from, which is also customisable. The offer is complemented by a very exciting vested benefits facility and good customer service. Finpension so you should definitely look at it as a Viac alternative.

Frankly

The digital pillar 3a offering of Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) goes by the name of Frankly and is very popular. The digtal pension solution is inexpensive, innovative and particularly suitable for long-term investments with high equity ratios.

Viac Taxes

Since the tax report is sent automatically in January, Viac Taxes no problem. Without an application and without paperwork, the tax assessment is conveniently sent to you. When you file your tax return, you submit it and claim back the corresponding taxes. In the Tax table you can see how much tax you can refund in your canton of residence on your income.

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Conclusion of the Viac 3a test

Viac revolutionises the pension market with its 3a solution. What stands out in a particularly positive way is the Free "Basic protection" add-on in the form of cover in the event of disability or death.

All in all, the Viac package is right, and you will find a very good fair and good product offered. The Viac performance is very good, thanks to a high equity quota of up to 98 %, it is thus possible to build up assets well over the long term with the 3rd pillar.

The Viac Fees are very loweven if Finpension is more favourable. Depending on the strategy chosen, it may also be Frankly be cheaper and more attractive.  

2,099 responses

  10. Thanks for the well-document article ! The new competitors entering the Swiss 3P market might even reduce the cost of VIAC in the future... 🙂

    From 2021, I'll invest monthly in my 3P VIAC. If a market crash occurs, I'll then invest the remaining amount I can invest yearly to benefit from a tax deduction in order to benefit from the "sale effect" 🙂

    Here's 3 codes to benefit from the free fees on the first 500.-:
    gCEBIqb
    qCq3r15
    5CMsllt

    Reply

  11. Here are some more fresh codes:

    0CixcOM
    jC17w3u
    YCAJrhS
    bCBiKtL

    All the best & thanks @Eric for the info!

    Reply

  15. If you would like to have 500 francs managed for free, you can enter one of the codes below:
    eCqnXsm
    RCe8fFX
    IC6JnyZ

    All codes are currently still valid.

    Reply

  16. Thanks for the review, I've just signed up for VIAC in no small part because of this. 🙂
    Also thanks everyone for your codes!

    I would also like to share mine if you don't mind, since it's a win-win situation. Get rid of the administrative fees on your first CHF 500 for life. If one of the codes is already used, try the next one.

    Don't be alarmed when you can't enter the code right at the beginning of the registration: The code can be entered towards the end of the initial sign-up process.

    DC1VS7c
    ZCjKCWZ
    ZCIMSuF
    ZCKOLyQ
    mCbxzPF

    And here are the codes of my SO 🙂

    wC51XdZ
    JCjHXBK
    lCdAzdi
    jCX8hPZ

    Cheers and happy saving/investing!
    Lois M.

    Reply

  22. Use one of the following codes when registering and you will pay no administration fee on the first 500 francs of pension assets - for life!

    GCqzt1m
    4CCpruh

    Reply

  29. Save taxes this year 😉 You can, for example, start with a more conservative strategy with a lower equity component and switch to one with a higher equity component at the "right moment". At the beginning of the month, the rebalancing takes place.
    Best of all, if you use one of the codes below when registering, you won't pay an administration fee on your first CHF 500 of pension assets - for life!🤙 Simply use one of these codes when registering for the app under the point "Have you been invited by a friend" (at the very end):
    RCJuTDC
    NCxSBLk
    dCRG8lJ
    KCOcZ3x
    gCfMWDU

    Reply

  34. VIAC codes that are still free and help us save on fees:

    5CYVKvk
    uCMrkge
    hCQykGd

    Happy Holidays & Happy 2021!

    Reply

  38. Hi,

    I have some codes to contribute and hope to give something back to you.
    eCHnVns
    5C4JXiK
    yCqDlnL
    tC2rhsy
    jCRABpT

    After a long search, Viac is exactly what I was looking for.
    The 3a with low-cost ETFs is a super solution to avoid the low interest rates and overpriced funds.

    Reply

  43. Hi,

    Thanks for the review and also for sharing the codes!

    Paying it forward with 2 new codes:

    1CFzubY
    0C0AM9g

    Regards,
    Daniel

    Reply

  44. Thanks for this great article!
    Here are two of my referall codes to save fees on the first 500chf

    LCAwGxx
    UCJZ2al

    Thank you!

    Reply

  45. There are fresh VIAC codes again to take advantage of quickly until the end of the year:
    6CZt5G3
    CCI4LP0
    uCOjm0T
    PCEyK6p
    oCjqGHx

    Reply

    1. Great article!
      With my codes you save the administration fees on the first 500.- invested with Viac for life.

      bCE1DYq
      xCZPmEv
      WCvPGtT
      SCJTTmC
      2CtYi2n

      Good luck!

      Reply

  48. Thanks so much, was able to snag a code. So that the next can also benefit, here a load of new codes:

    kCA8xXb
    SCnC678
    iC98r2b
    eCwH8Lm
    9C6CkOG

    Reply

  49. Hello Together
    Use one of the following codes when registering:

    kCQ1Vh7

    DCt7LbD

    KCU48QQ

    Many thanks for your support.

    Then you pay no administration fee on the first 500 francs of pension assets - for life!

    Reply
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