If you’re looking to better understand the Swiss pension system, find out more about your occupational pension, or plan your retirement, then our AVENA evening information sessions are for you. 
We’ve put together three free, accessible, and complementary information sessions for AVENA members.

The ABCs of your occupational pension

Available from 10 November 2025 – online video (in French/German/English)
Watch our video to grasp the fundamentals of your occupational pension and better plan ahead. We’ll answer questions such as:

• How does the Swiss pension system work?
• What options does AVENA offer?
• What information is in my pension statement?

📆 Watch the video here from 10 November onwards

Key steps in retirement planning

18 November, from 6:30 pm to 9pm – at the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne (in French only)
Our specialists will advise you on how you can best prepare for your retirement. The topics covered will include:

• Preparing your retirement budget and handling the paperwork
• Evaluating your pension options
• Using your Pillar 3 personal retirement account

👉 Register for free here.

Live chat – Occupational pension Q&A evening 

20 November, from 6pm to 7pm – online (French/German/English)
If our “The ABCs of your occupational pension” video didn’t answer all your questions, you can attend our live chat session with an AVENA expert. Submit your questions in French, German, or English (the event will include simultaneous interpreting).

📝 Register for free here.

Previous sessions
View the presentations and events from previous years.
2024 information session
2023 information session
2022 information session

2024 was a good year for AVENA – our financial results brought our funded status up to 109.3%. Our Pension Board, with its newly elected members, began its term last year. And we once again held our evening information sessions to help insured members better understand the occupational pension system.
Have a look at our 2024 Annual Report.

What’s inside:

•    Message from the Chair of the Pension Board
•    The Fund at a glance

Governance
•    The Pension Board
•    Interview with Catherine Vogt

Fund updates
•    Fund members
•    Evening information sessions

Financial information
•    2024 economic overview 
•    Key figures
•    Fund holdings
•    Balance sheet
•    Income statement

Enjoy!
 

Over 250 fund members attended AVENA’s three evening information sessions held in fall 2024, the third year in a row we have offered this event. The impressive online and in-person turnout and the numerous questions asked underscored members’ need for information on the Swiss pension system, as well as their keen interest in retirement planning.
This year, for the first time, we used a different format for each information session. The first one,  “Occupational pension Q&A night,” was our first extended question-and-answer session run both in-person and online; it proved to be a hit, with close to 120 questions asked at the event. The following session, “The ABCs of your occupational pension,” was held as a German-only online event for the first time and drew a large crowd. The final session, “Key steps in retirement planning,” was held in Lausanne in person, bringing together fund members of all ages from across Vaud Canton.

Advantages of AVENA
Some fund members had questions about how the Swiss pension system works in general: When can I take early retirement? What steps do I need to take now if I want to retire in five years? How is the conversion rate calculated, and how low can it go? What reference salary will be used to calculate my AVS pension if I change employers one year before retirement? 
Other members asked questions specific to how AVENA works, which gave panelists the opportunity to highlight AVENA’s advantages relative to other pension funds. These include the inability to rapidly reduce the conversion rate under the current regulations, and the fact that if a member dies before retirement, any voluntary contributions (less early withdrawals) will be returned to the beneficiaries.

Spotlight on phased retirement 
Fund members’ questions also pointed to their embrace of the trend toward phased retirement: Can I continue to work after I retire? In which canton does it make sense tax-wise to hold my retirement capital if I retire abroad? Can I stop working at 55? Should my retirement budget be the same at 86 as it is when I’m 66? Questions such as these showed that people in Switzerland are increasingly choosing to keep working at least part-time in retirement or to ease into retirement, whether for financial reasons or to maintain social ties.

Voluntary contributions: beyond the basics
These increasingly complex retirement situations also prompted a great many questions about voluntary contributions, also known in Switzerland as “purchasing” past years to close any gaps in pension coverage. Until what age can I continue to make voluntary contributions? How do I make voluntary contributions when I have several businesses registered in my name? How can I simulate my options for making voluntary contributions? 
Francis Bouvier, the director of AVENA, and Olivier Reymond, a retirement planning specialist at BCV, reviewed the basics of voluntary contributions in their presentations. They also provided tips and tools for fund members on understanding their pension statements, preparing a retirement budget, keeping in mind important deadlines, spreading their pension assets across several accounts in order to stagger withdrawals, and more.

“Take out your phones!”
The sessions were highly interactive, with attendees encouraged to use their mobile phones to submit anonymous questions and respond to live polls, such as “How many of you have already made a retirement budget?” Despite the differences in fund members’ individual situations, this format revealed a number of common questions and doubts – underscoring the importance of information sessions like these. See you in 2025!

Learn more
Click on the links below for a recap of the three information sessions discussed here. Answers to a number of questions asked by fund members are available here.

• Occupational pension Q&A night – 5 November 2024 | AVENA – Fondation BCV 2e pilier
• The ABCs of your occupational pension – 7 November 2024 | AVENA – Fondation BCV 2e pilier (in German only)
• Key steps in retirement planning – 3 December 2024 | Avena Fondation BCV 2e pilier
   

>Dominique Blanchard, chair of the Investment Committee

AVENA recently decided to invest some of its assets in sustainability-themed investments. Why this change in investment strategy?

I wouldn’t say it’s a change – it’s more that our strategy has evolved. Over the past few years, we’ve been taking steps towards something that we consider to be a long-term shift rather than a fleeting fad. In 2022, for instance, we commissioned an assessment of our portfolio based on environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria as part of our approach to socially responsible investing. We were awarded an A– rating on the basis of that assessment. And with our recent decision to add sustainability-themed investments, we are going one step further and taking a more active approach to how we manage part of our portfolio. 

How did you decide how much to allocate to these investments?

The decision will affect just 3–4% of our assets under management. Our aim is to play an active role in the transition towards a more responsible and sustainable economy, while also fulfilling our duty to manage our members’ retirement savings responsibly over the long term.

Which approach will you take for these investments?

With our ESG strategy, which we developed together with BCV, our main asset manager, we have so far prioritized approaches that seek to mitigate any adverse impacts of our investments. These include approaches such as negative screening, which involves excluding investments in companies or themes deemed incompatible with certain norms or values, such as coal or pornography, and reducing the portfolio’s exposure to fossil fuels. By introducing thematic investments, we are looking to increase our positive impact. We will do this investing in companies that offer solutions that contribute to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This could include companies operating in areas such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, education, and poverty reduction.

Does this move affect the Fund’s overall portfolio management strategy in any way?

Our portfolio management strategy is guided by a long-term vision and a quest for stability, which helps to ensure we don’t get sidetracked by fleeting trends or fads. By allocating some of our assets to sustainability-themed investments, we aren’t changing that strategy – we’re simply moving forward with it. 

What does this mean for the Fund’s members?

With this move, our aim is to diversify our investments in order to manage risks. Diversifying in this way also helps us to make our portfolio more resilient in today’s complex environment, which we will continue to analyze. Going forward, any decision we make will be based – as it always has been – on a holistic analysis of how best to allocate our assets. Here, our aim is to deliver the returns needed to manage our Fund effectively and to ensure our members enjoy a top-notch retirement.
 

Understanding your pension certificate

What’s a pension certificate?

A pension certificate is an overview of your personal pension coverage. It includes: 

• your member information
• your salary information
• your and your employer’s contributions
• your insured benefits
• your pension savings
• your retirement benefits
• general information (withdrawal amount available to buy a home, maximum possible voluntary contribution, etc.)
  
   

Where can I get my certificate? 

Directly from your Occupational Pension Cockpit. 

In addition to getting your certificate there, you can view your member information, carry out simulations (voluntary contributions, retirement, etc.) and contact your pension fund manager directly.
If you would like further information, please do not hesitate to contact us using the form below.
 

Find out more:

Information bulletin (FR):
Télécharger la notice au format pdf

Article (FR): 
Comment décoder son certificat de prévoyance | PME

Videos (FR) :
Comment lire son certificat de prévoyance? Vidéo du 16 mars 2022
Comment lire son certificat de prévoyance? Vidéo du 19 avril 2023

Link to FAQ: 
FAQ | Avena Fondation BCV 2e pilier

2024 financial results

At end-2024, AVENA’s funded status was 109.1% (unaudited) and its net return was 7.92%.

The Fund’s total assets stood at CHF 2.9bn.