The 300 richest people in Switzerland have never been as rich, now owning a total of 833.5 billion Swiss francs. Published at the end of every year since 1988, Switzerland’s rich list is mainly of interest to those who can only dream of such prosperity. Incidentally, the total wealth of the 300 richest people in 1988 was 66 billion francs. Source: “Bilanz” business magazine
Posthumous transactions are one of the reasons why the rich get richer. A large proportion of all inherited wealth goes to those who already have a lot of money. This further exacerbates the gap between rich and poor. According to the latest figures, 88 billion francs is inherited every year in Switzerland – around twice as much as the total amount of money paid out in state pensions.
Switzerland considers itself a thrifty nation. But perhaps it should also call itself a forgetful nation. According to the Swiss National Bank (SNB), 17 million sixth-series Swiss banknotes (1976) worth a total of around one billion francs have gone missing. Worthless today, they were never exchanged for new banknotes and are considered to be lost. That is a lot of forgotten money under the floorboards. However, it is still possible to exchange sixth-series banknotes directly at the SNB in Berne or Zurich or at an SNB agency. www.revue.link/serie6
When interest rates are low, people turn to gold. More and more Swiss people view gold as a stable investment. In total, around 200,000 kg of the precious metal are currently owned by private individuals in Switzerland. Less than 40 per cent of people in Switzerland who keep gold use a bank safe. Many store it at home. Five per cent bury it in the garden. Source: University of St Gallen and Philoro Schweiz
How about a bottle of white wine from the canton of Vaud to toast all this wealth? It also offers interest. Many Vaud vignerons sell their wine in 0.70-litre bottles, but the EU wants Swiss wine bottles to have a uniform size. Sooner or later, producers will have to switch to the conventional 0.75-litre format.
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