Descartes Index 20

An 80% cash 3a with a private bank custodian and a human on the phone. Niche by design.

Descartes Index 20 ranks #33 among 90 3a investment funds in Switzerland. It's a passive Swisscanto strategy with just 20% equity and 80% Swisscanto money market, held in a personal securities account at Lienhardt & Partner Privatbank Zürich. A very defensive allocation aimed at investors within a few years of withdrawal.

Are You Paying 0.62% for an 80% Cash Bucket?

All-in cost is 0.62% (0.22% weighted TER plus 0.40% flat fee). On CHF 50,000 that's CHF 310 per year. The 80% money market sleeve currently yields a very modest rate after fees, so the 0.62% strategy fee is a meaningful drag at this allocation.

Do the math honestly: a strategy that's 80% in cash-equivalent paper, charged at 0.62%, has limited room to net-earn anything during a low-rate cycle. The 20% equity sleeve does the heavy lifting on returns. If you're parking 3a money for a withdrawal in 1-3 years, a pure 3a savings account from a cantonal bank likely beats this on net yield.

What Actually Stands Out

The personal securities account structure holds up even at this defensive end. Lienhardt & Partner Privatbank Zürich keeps your assets in a depot in your own name, not pooled with other clients. That's unusual for a 3a fund product and matters more, not less, the closer you get to withdrawal.

The 20% equity sleeve uses Swisscanto Responsible index funds across World ex CH, Switzerland Total, MSCI World ex CH FTH1, and Emerging Markets. Even at a small weight, that gives you globally diversified equity exposure with ESG screening at the underlying level. Worth more than a single home-bias Swiss equity slice for the long-tail growth piece.

What Most Reviews Miss

This is the wrong tool for parking money before withdrawal. A 3a savings account from a cantonal bank like BCV, BCGE or a similar regional offers a higher net rate on 100% of the balance than Descartes Index 20 nets on its 80% cash portion after the 0.62% strategy fee. If withdrawal is the goal in 1-3 years, the savings-account path is cleaner.

The 5-year return of +5.90% tells you exactly what to expect: the 20% equity sleeve drove most of the gain. The 1-year +0.52% reflects how thin the net return gets when 80% of the portfolio is in low-yielding paper while the strategy still charges a competitive equity-fund-style all-in fee.

The Bottom Line

Descartes Index 20 is structurally awkward. It's a defensive strategy priced like an equity strategy. Unless you really want some equity glide-path on a portion of your 3a in the 12-36 months before withdrawal, a 3a savings account does the job more cleanly. Compare both worlds in our guide to the best 3a investment funds in Switzerland.

Verdict: Hard to justify versus a 3a savings account unless you specifically want small equity participation and a private-bank depot.