This is our Investment Committee

Name: findependent
Brand: findependent
Rating: 4.9 (101 reviews)

The Investment Committee of findependent consists of:

Matthias Bryner – Founder of findependent
Tobias Hochstrasser – Investment Management at findependent
Prof. Dr. Thorsten Hens – Deputy Head of the Institute for Banking and Finance at the University of Zurich

The three of them are united by their passion for long-term investing. Together they have more than 60 years of investment experience. More importantly, they bring different (professional) experiences, which guarantees different perspectives and opinions and leads to lively and differentiated discussions. You thus benefit from balanced and considered decisions.

Contact: tobias.hochstrasser@findependent.ch

Meet our three experts

This is our Investment Committee

The Investment Committee of findependent consists of:

Matthias Bryner – Founder of findependent
Tobias Hochstrasser – Investment Management at findependent
Prof. Dr. Thorsten Hens – Deputy Head of the Institute for Banking and Finance at the University of Zurich

Contact: tobias.hochstrasser@findependent.ch

More about the three

Responsibilities of the Investment Comittee

The Investment Committee formulates our investment principles. This means that you invest with findependent on a broad basis, passively and with a focus on the long term. We are guided neither by short-term market developments nor by which doomsday scenario is currently making the headlines in the daily papers. We are convinced that short-term action is not a promising strategy, but rather causes high costs.

The Investment Committee observes the investment universe and determines the investment solutions by means of selection and composition of the right ETFs . In doing so, it selects the investments carefully and according to strict selection criteria. In addition, the Investment Committee monitors that your selected investment solution is implemented correctly by means of rebalancing, among other things.

The Investment Committee acts independently and is fully committed to the long-term success of your investment solution. It meets every six months, discusses and decides.

Timeline of Decisions

December 2024 – 5th Meeting

Decisions

The Investment Committee has decided not to make any changes to the investment solutions.
The 2024 investment year brought significant price gains for global equity investors, with three factors standing out:

Firstly, the economic development in the USA was encouraging. The world’s largest economy by far continued to show hardly any signs of fatigue.
Secondly, further interest rate cuts have taken place in the largest economic areas and are more likely than interest rate hikes in the future.
Thirdly, the election of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the USA led to euphoria, particularly on the US equity markets and with regard to crypto assets.

All three factors led to significantly higher stock market prices in the USA. This led to an increase in rebalancing transactions for our clients, i.e. allocations to US equities that had risen due to the above reasons were systematically reduced to their target values. Such rebalancing enabled disciplined profit realizations in the strongly risen US markets, whose short and medium-term return potential probably decreased accordingly in return.

Furthermore, the following additional exchange traded product (ETP) for Bitcoin will be available in the coming weeks for findependent clients who put together their own investment solution: WisdomTree Physical Bitcoin ETP

The ETP complements the existing offering and is suitable for investors who wish to add up to 10% Bitcoin to their own allocation.

Commentary on crypto assets

The committee is responding to a frequently expressed customer request and is taking the most important crypto asset – Bitcoin – into account in this first step. This offers interested parties an opportunity to invest with a low portfolio weighting. This still young asset class has attracted attention in the past with extremely high gains and fluctuations in value and is therefore particularly suitable for investors who are willing to take risks.
The committee refrains from using crypto assets in ready-made investment solutions, particularly in view of the extremely euphoric sentiment. In its view, it is unclear whether they are suitable as an asset class for capital accumulation or preservation over several decades.

Comment on ETPs

As it is unlikely that ETFs on Bitcoin will be launched in Europe and Switzerland in the foreseeable future for regulatory reasons, ETPs remain the best alternative. An ETP differs from a “conventional” ETF in that the former is legally a debt security to the provider and not a special asset like the latter. The ETP therefore does not offer quite the same level of security as an ETF. Consequently, the analysis of the provider is particularly important. The Investment Committee opted for the product of the well-known US fund company WisdomTree, which has an impeccable reputation, high profitability and a healthy balance sheet.

June 2024 – 4th Meeting

Decisions

The Investment Committee has decided not to make any changes to the investment solutions findependent investment solutions.

The stock price gains since the start of the year reflect the positive mood among investors, with three factors standing out:

Firstly, the economic trend worldwide is encouraging. The US economy in particular is showing hardly any signs of fatigue.

Secondly, the first interest rate cuts have taken place in the largest economic areas and are more likely than interest rate hikes in the future.

Thirdly, artificial intelligence applications offer the potential to make many work processes more efficient.

All three factors can support the development of profits at many of the leading companies. This should make long-term investors optimistic, as rising corporate profits are “the” factor for performance in the long term.

Furthermore, the following additional ETF for Swiss equities is now available for findependent clients who put together their own ETF investment solution:

iShares Swiss Dividend (CH)

The ETF fulfills the strict selection criteria, complements the existing offering and is suitable for investors who want to invest in Swiss equities with a focus on high-dividend companies.

The ETF is being added in response to many customer requests. It is important to emphasize at this point that private individuals pay tax on dividend distributions as income. Higher distributions can lead to higher after-tax charges, which can result in a relatively lower total return in the long term.

Other topics

The committee also discussed the possibility of including crypto assets in the investment solutions. It decided against it. Two reasons:
Firstly, crypto assets are a young asset class with a short and very volatile track record. In their opinion, it is unclear whether they are suitable as an asset class for capital accumulation or preservation over several decades.
Secondly, there are currently no valid listed instruments (yet). Should the latter change, however, an offer for clients who put together their own ETF investment solution will be considered.

December 2023 – 3rd Meeting

Introduction of the investment solution Careful

The committee decided on the securities and their weighting for the new Careful investment solution. The aim is to preserve the invested capital in the long term after deduction of all transaction and administration costs as well as the increase in Swiss consumer prices (“inflation”). Its equity component is 20%, which offers a certain return potential. The majority of the assets, on the other hand, are invested in defensive Swiss investments such as medium-term CHF government bonds, investment-grade CHF corporate bonds and Swiss property funds. The focus is clearly on stability. A 10% allocation to gold rounds off the cautious profile. The gold price is not a “common commodity”. However, its track record for long-term value stability goes back thousands of years. Overall, 92% of the investments are held in Swiss francs, which also greatly reduces the foreign currency risk.

Decisions for existing investment solutions

The committee also decided to make the following changes to the existing range:

Cautious: New 5% gold and 15% medium-term CHF government bonds at the expense of fewer CHF corporate bonds and USD emerging market bonds
Balanced: New 8.4% CHF medium-term government bonds at the expense of fewer CHF corporate bonds and USD emerging market bonds
Brave: 1.6% more USD emerging market bonds at the expense of fewer CHF corporate bonds

The changes to Cautious and Balanced in particular provide additional long-term stability without investors having to forego too much yield potential. In particular, the credit and duration risk of the bonds is reduced. The gold component in the “Cautious” investment solution also offers a certain insurance character: gold remains stable or even increases in value, especially in times of crisis.

Additional ETFs for your own investment solution

Furthermore, the following ETFs are now also available for clients who put together their own ETF investment solution:

UBS ETF Gold
iShares Swiss Domestic Government Bond 3-7 ETF
iShares MSCI World SRI

All ETFs fulfil the strict selection criteria and complement the existing range.

June 2023 – 2nd Meeting

Decisions
The committee decided not to make any changes to the investment solutions. In our view, the price gains since the start of the year reflect two developments. On the one hand, market sentiment has brightened noticeably. More and more investors are assuming that no additional interest rate hikes will soon be necessary in the most important currency areas in order to reduce the still high inflation rates. Secondly, the track record of many leading companies is also impressive in the current environment. Many have underpinned their continued respectable growth rates with an unbroken capacity for innovation. The second reason in particular should make long-term investors optimistic.

Furthermore, the following additional ETF for Swiss equities is now available for customers who put together their own ETF investment solution:

UBS ETF SPI ESG

The ETF fulfils the strict selection criteria, complements the existing range and is suitable for investors who want to invest in Swiss equities and do not want to forego the inclusion of ESG criteria.

Further
The committee discussed at length what a conservative investment solution worthy of the name should look like. Two imperatives take centre stage. Firstly, a conservative investment solution focuses on long-term real value preservation. In other words, assets should grow in line with the cost of food, rent and other goods and services. Secondly, a conservative investment solution should also exhibit fewer fluctuations in value. Findependent is planning to introduce one by the end of the year. Interested parties can look forward to it.

December 2022 – 1st Meeting

Founding
On December 14th, the committee met for the founding meeting in Aarau. The agenda was broad and included the investment year 2022, the current ETF list, as well as gold and Chinese bonds.

Decisions
The most important decision made was to «do nothing». The committee sees no reason to change the investment solutions. The losses in 2022 mean that the expected future returns increase. It is best to «ride out» the downturn.

In addition, the following additional ETFs are now available for customers who want to create their own ETF investment solution:

UBS ETF SLI (Swiss equities)
iShares Digitalisation UCITS ETF (equities with a thematic focus on digitalization)
iShares Core Euro Corp UCITS ETF (corporate bonds in euros)

All three ETFs strictly meet the strict selection criteriaand complement the existing offer.

Other
The committee also discussed the possible use of gold as an additional asset class. However, it decided against it. There are two reasons for this: First, gold has a high «insurance character», meaning it can hold its value in times of crisis. However, the Swiss franc also fulfills this function. The findependent investment solutions all have a high value of the Swiss franc. Second, income-generating investments, especially equities, are better suited for building long-term wealth due to their higher potential returns.

Convinced?

Do you want to make more out of your savings in the long term, invest them broadly and cost-effectively in ETFs? Without active trading or speculation, but still with the assurance that professionals will take care of important investment decisions for you? Then you’ve come to the right place with us.

Get findependent!

This is our Investment Committee

Responsibilities of the Investment Comittee

Timeline of Decisions

Our selection criteria for ETFs

Basic requirements

Important selection criteria

Rebalancing