Investing with findependent: my review of the Swiss robo-advisor

When you want to invest in Switzerland without managing every ETF purchase yourself, you have to choose between fully delegating portfolio management and keeping some freedom over what you invest in. The main investment solutions offer very different levels of flexibility:

• finpension Invest lets you build your strategy fairly freely from the available funds and starts from CHF 1.
• True Wealth builds an allocation based on your risk profile, then lets you adjust asset classes and regions before automating the management.
• Selma builds and manages the portfolio based on your financial situation, with fewer options to intervene yourself in its composition.
• Alpian adds meetings with a wealth management advisor on top of portfolio management.

findependent sits somewhere between these approaches: it offers ready-made strategies to invest without having to build your own portfolio, while giving you more choices if you want to customize your allocation.

You can start investing from CHF 500, but the offering isn’t limited to small portfolios. findependent provides pre-built strategies and lets you customize your portfolio more as it grows.

The real question is how far findependent lets you adapt your strategy as your portfolio grows and your needs evolve.

This review covers only findependent’s self-directed investment offering.

Opening the account

To open a findependent account, you must meet three conditions:

• be at least 18 years old;
• live in Switzerland and be taxed there exclusively;
• have a Swiss phone number and a Swiss bank account.

Everything is done in the app. You answer questions to determine your risk profile and choose an initial investment strategy.

Then you make a first deposit from a Swiss bank account in your name. This first deposit also confirms your identity: the name and address on the bank account must match the information provided during sign-up.

Start investing

Account activation and the moment findependent actually starts investing are two different things.

To activate the account, you only need an initial deposit of CHF 1 within three months. But you need to deposit CHF 500 to be able to invest. You can deposit it in one or several payments. Each payment has its own QR reference number. You must use it so findependent knows which portfolio to allocate the money to. New deposits are invested once the CHF 50 threshold is reached. Smaller amounts stay in the account until they reach that threshold.

Choosing a strategy

findependent offers five strategies, with an equity share ranging from 20% to 99%.

At the start, you mainly choose the level of risk you’re comfortable with. findependent suggests a strategy after the onboarding questionnaire, but you can pick another if it better matches what you’re looking for.

With the ready-made strategies, I find the choice fairly easy to understand: the higher the equity share, the more the portfolio can fluctuate, and the longer you need to be able to stay invested.

You don’t choose each ETF or their weights in the portfolio. With these strategies, the choice is mainly about risk level.

Portfolio management

Once the portfolio is up and running, findependent handles the purchases and keeps the allocation in line with the strategy.

That’s useful if you want to invest regularly without having to come back every month to decide what to buy or check the portfolio allocation.

findependent does a large part of the work for you.

If you want to choose the ETFs yourself and set their weights, you need the custom strategy.

You can also book a free 30-minute online call to ask questions about investing (but it’s not ongoing personalized support).

From CHF 5’000, you can move beyond findependent’s five pre-built strategies and build your own portfolio.

findependent offers around 40 ETFs. You choose which ones you want to use and what share they should represent in the portfolio.

This option becomes useful if the ready-made strategies don’t match what you want. For example, you can adjust exposure to certain regions or build a different split across the available ETFs.

Freedom has its limits. You can’t buy individual stocks directly. You must choose from the ETFs selected by findependent, which sets a maximum weight for some of them to maintain diversification.

Until you reach CHF 5’000, you keep investing with one of the five pre-built strategies. Once you reach that amount, you can create your own strategy.

You gain flexibility, but findependent still has the final say on what you can put in the portfolio.

findependent is mainly interesting if you want to start with a small amount and leave portfolio management to the platform.

findependent is particularly suitable if:

• you want to start investing with CHF 500;
• you’d rather pick a ready-made strategy than build a portfolio yourself;
• you want findependent to handle purchases and portfolio allocation;
• you’d like to be able to choose your ETFs later, once you reach CHF 5’000.

findependent offers less freedom if:

• you want to buy stocks directly;
• you want to choose from a very large number of ETFs;
• you want to build your portfolio without the limits set by findependent;
• you’re looking for a service where an advisor regularly monitors your investments.

The choice mainly depends on how much freedom you want to keep: findependent greatly simplifies management, while still letting you build your own strategy from CHF 5’000.

findependent applies ESG criteria to part of the equities used in its five ready-made strategies.

For non-Swiss equities, the platform uses ETFs that track MSCI Screened indices. These indices exclude certain companies based on their activities or behavior, notably in tobacco, controversial weapons, and certain fossil fuels. They also exclude companies that do not comply with the principles of the UN Global Compact. Around 10% of companies are excluded by these filters.

You don’t choose between a classic strategy and a sustainable strategy: findependent applies these filters to the foreign equities in its five strategies.

The custom strategy offers more choice. Among the ETFs offered by findependent, there are also several ETFs that apply ESG or SRI criteria.

This system can work if you want to avoid certain sectors without selecting each fund yourself. However, you can’t define your own exclusions or freely choose any sustainable ETF on the market.

findependent’s pricing has an interesting feature when you’re starting out: at findependent, you pay no management or custody fees on the first CHF 2’000. This free tier remains valid as long as you keep the account.

Above that amount, the rate decreases as the invested amount increases:

findependent only charges these fees on the portion above the free CHF 2’000. With CHF 10’000 invested, the rate applies to the remaining CHF 8’000.

ETFs add another around 0.12% to 0.25% per year, depending on the strategy. These costs are built into the ETFs.

Additional fees may apply when buying or selling:

• 0.50% FX fee if the transaction is in another currency;
• 0.075% stamp duty for a Swiss ETF or 0.15% for a foreign ETF;
• 0.015% SIX exchange fee on ETF transactions.

You shouldn’t automatically add all these rates to the annual cost. Management fees and ETF costs recur each year. FX, stamp duty, and the exchange fee depend on the transactions actually carried out.

findependent does not charge a brokerage commission. Deposits, withdrawals, and the electronic tax statement are also free.

For a small portfolio, the free CHF 2’000 significantly reduces the initial cost.

At findependent, everything is managed in the app. If you have questions, you can contact the team by email or phone.

findependent also publishes articles and runs webinars to help you better understand investing and ETFs. Some webinars are available only in German.

The team remains reachable by email or phone when you need help.

* At findependent, you pay no management or custody fees on the first CHF 2’000.

To start with a small amount, the choice mainly comes down to findependent vs finpension Invest. finpension offers a lot of freedom from the start and its standard strategies use cheaper funds. At findependent, you start with an already-built strategy and pay no management or custody fees on the first CHF 2’000.

With True Wealth, you need to invest at least CHF 8’500 to get started. In return, you can adjust the portfolio’s asset classes and regions without choosing each ETF. At findependent, you need to reach CHF 5’000 before you can build your own strategy.

If you want more human support, Selma—and especially Alpian—go further. Selma builds the portfolio taking your financial situation into account. With Alpian, you can also speak with wealth advisors, but fees are higher.

To start simply with little money, findependent has a real advantage. If you want to fine-tune your portfolio very freely from the start, finpension Invest offers more options.

Since February 2026, findependent has been a FINMA-authorized and supervised securities firm. For new clients, findependent directly holds the account and securities custody.

If findependent goes bankrupt, the ETFs remain the client’s property. They are not part of the bankruptcy estate and must be returned.

Protection works differently for cash held in the account. findependent is affiliated with esisuisse, and deposit protection covers cash up to CHF 100’000 per client and per institution. If multiple accounts are held with findependent, they are added together to calculate this cap.

The key point is that the CHF 100’000 applies to cash, not ETFs. ETFs remain segregated from bankruptcy, regardless of amount.

To get started with a few hundred or a few thousand francs, I’d choose findependent over most other robo-advisors.

With CHF 500 or a few thousand francs to invest, findependent lets you get started without having to build your own portfolio. On the first CHF 2’000, you pay neither management fees nor custody fees. To begin without multiplying decisions and costs, it’s a very good compromise.

When the portfolio grows and you want to choose your ETFs and their weights more precisely, finpension Invest offers more freedom. findependent does let you customize your portfolio from CHF 5’000, but the choice remains limited to the ETFs selected by the platform and to certain weighting rules.

I mainly recommend findependent to get started: it really simplifies the first years of investing. If the priority becomes building your portfolio with much more freedom, I prefer finpension Invest.

Also read

• Beginner’s guide to investing in the stock market in Switzerland in 2026
• Selma Investing (robo-advisor): review and test
• Descartes Invest (robo-advisor): review and test
• Swissquote Invest Easy: review and test
• Alpian Investing & Trading: review and test

• Do you use a ready-made strategy, or did you build your own strategy from CHF 5’000?
• Did the CHF 500 threshold and the CHF 2’000 with no management fees influence your choice?
• Did you use the free 30-minute meeting with the team, and was it helpful for your investments?

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