Investing your savings is the secret to achieving financial independence. It will allow you to earn money while you sleep or go about your business without doing anything at all.
But then, this is what usually happens:
You: Oh cool, and which online broker do you recommend? Me: The one, the only… You: Just so you know, I want a broker based in Switzerland! Me: Ah, so, as I was saying, the one and only, you have to choose Saxo Bank. You: Ehm, isn’t that Danish? Me: Yes, historically, but Saxo Bank Switzerland has a Swiss banking license. So it’s like Swissquote or Cornèrtrader, except that Saxo is the most optimal in terms of fees and access to the best ETFs on the market.
If that alone convinces you, then you can create your Saxo account by following this link directly:
You will get CHF 200 in brokerage fees reimbursed (and you will help support the blog, thank you!)
If, on the other hand, you are more the type to want to understand all the ins and outs, then I’ll let you read my complete Saxo guide. Their trading platform will hold no more secrets for you after that!
My aim with this guide is to accompany you step by step: from opening your account to the pleasure of seeing your savings grow and to watch you receive your first dividends.
Are you ready?
What exactly is an online broker, just to make sure we’re talking about the same thing?
Specifically, by opening an account with Saxo Bank, an online brokerage platform, you have access to a wide range of investments: stocks, ETFs, bonds, and even foreign exchange market transactions (FOREX).
Once you have made your first investments, you can easily monitor their progress using the monitoring tools integrated into Saxo. This way, you will see your net worth grow as your investments increase, but also thanks to the regular dividends you will receive.
What is Saxo Bank?
Saxo Bank was founded in 1992 in Copenhagen (Denmark) by Lars Seier Christensen, Kim Fournais and Marc Hauschildt. They have since also established a subsidiary in Switzerland, which is a licensed bank and securities dealer authorized by FINMA (the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority).
Saxo Bank Switzerland is therefore an online brokerage platform with a physical presence in Switzerland, but affiliated with a parent company in Denmark. In other words, it is a Danish bank offering its services to Swiss investors from its offices in Zurich and Geneva.
As a Mustachian investor, you want a practical, fast and economical solution for managing your investments. Saxo Bank meets this need exactly: you can access thousands of shares, ETFs, bonds and currencies in just a few clicks, all from the comfort of your sofa, without expensive intermediaries.
One of the main advantages of Saxo Bank is its transparent fees. While the big traditional banks often inflate their rates to finance their marketing campaigns and internal bonuses, Saxo does everything it can to keep its costs to a minimum, enabling you to maximize your returns over the long term.
Reading the Wikipedia entry on the history of Saxo Bank, you learn that it was founded in 1992. And that, compared to other fintechs that open their doors and go bankrupt a few years later, is reassuring about Saxo’s solidity.
Before getting to the heart of the matter, I will quickly share with you my journey as a Swiss investor, including my mistakes in choosing brokers since 2013…
My investment journey and my recommendation for Saxo
I started investing in 2013, when I discovered the magic of compound interest and the FIRE movement.
Like any good Swiss, I started looking for a broker to grow my savings. At the time, not many blogs like we know today were around. So I let myself be guided by the enticing marketing of… Swissquote.
Well, it did the job, except that they charged a lot more than other brokers available to us Swiss investors.
In 2016, I switched to Interactive Brokers. It’s a US-based broker. But some readers like yourself are not comfortable investing through a foreign-based broker.
I also used DEGIRO to invest my children’s money. They, too, are based abroad (in the Netherlands and Germany).
The recurring question was always:
But which Swiss broker do you recommend, MP?
For a long time, Cornèrtrader was the best Swiss broker for the Mustachian investor.
But, since 2024, they have been dethroned by Saxo Bank. You will find my comparison with all the details of brokerage fees here, including how Saxo is ranked first on the list among all Swiss brokers.
Now lets talk about my investments in the stock market:
- 2013: opening of my first brokerage account (the bad one, hehe)
- 2014: deposit of my first few hundred Swiss francs and purchase of my first ETFs (not the right ones I would recommend today, but it was through investing that I was able to see the mistakes I was making)
- 2016: switched to the best broker and created a new optimal portfolio for FIRE, with CHF 10'000 invested
- 2025: 845'000.- invested in ETFs on the stock market, including 145'000.- of growth gains (unrealized)
I’m telling you all this so you don’t think I’m a guru trying to foist the products with the best commissions on you.
I’ve been in your position myself, and I would have loved to have this kind of article from someone who talks about what they have done (and not hypothetical stuff just to sell you their stuff).
You too can invest with Saxo Bank — and I’ll show you how
I’ll grant you that trading platforms are not the easiest things to understand.
And yet, since 2015-2025, Saxo Bank has worked hard to make their trading tools more intuitive, in order to make them accessible to ordinary mortals (lucky you! I’m not telling you what I had to go through in the early 2010s…).
In short, once I’ve explained the basics to you, you’ll be autonomous very quickly. To give you an idea, buying an ETF or a share in a foreign currency now takes me less than 3 minutes flat.
In the 5 chapters of this comprehensive guide, I will take you through the steps:
- How to open your Saxo Bank account
- What is the easiest and fastest way to access your Saxo Bank account
- How to invest in your first ETF with Saxo Bank to grow your savings in the most passive way possible
- The tools integrated into Saxo Bank that I recommend for monitoring the progress of my investments at any time
Like you, I know the anxiety of having to open my first account (argh, those endless forms full of complicated financial terms, although fortunately Saxo now offers all this clearly in English!) and the stress of the very first ETF purchase (“Uh, it’s flashing all over the screen, I’m closing everything before I make a mistake!”).
I completely understand how you feel, because I would have loved to have had someone to guide me from the start, clearly showing me the way forward.
That’s precisely why I decided to write this guide.
Basically, it’s exactly the guide I would have liked to read when I started investing in the stock market in 2014 (unfortunately, not yet with Saxo Bank at the time…).
Still up for it? Then here’s what you can expect:
Chapter 1: Why choose Saxo Bank?
Saxo Bank is the online broker that I recommend to any Swiss Mustachian investor who wants their trading platform to be based in Switzerland. Before exploring how it works in detail, I will explain the reasons that led me to choose this online brokerage platform over any other.
Chapter 2: How to open a Saxo Bank account?
Once I have shown you precisely why Saxo Bank is an excellent choice for a Swiss investor, we will move on to the practicalities of opening your account. In this chapter, I will take you through each screen step by step, with simple and reassuring explanations, to make this essential step as easy and smooth as possible.
Chapter 3: Make my first deposit of Swiss francs on Saxo Bank (in progress)
Finally, we get down to business in this chapter, which covers the first real step in your life as an investor: transferring your money to your Saxo Bank account. I will guide you step by step, with detailed screenshots, so you can easily send your hard-earned money to Saxo.
Chapter 4: Which Saxo Bank platform should I use? (in progress)
As I said earlier, Saxo Bank can seem a little intimidating at first. A good example is that there are several different ways to access your account. But don’t worry, we’ll look at it together in detail, and you’ll quickly understand why it’s like that. In the end, nothing too complicated, I promise!
Chapter 5: How to buy an ETF on Saxo Bank? (in progress)
TA-DA! It took us 5 chapters to finally get to the holy grail that will help you achieve financial independence: buying an ETF or a share, regardless of the country of origin. And thanks to this chapter, you will know exactly how to do it in a few clicks on Saxo Bank.
So much for the program. I sincerely hope that this guide will give you the impetus to invest in the stock market and build a secure financial future.
If you ever decide to open your Saxo Bank account via this affiliate link (entitling you to CHF 200 in reimbursed brokerage fees), thank you very much: it helps support the blog, and helps me free up more time to write other guides as comprehensive as this one.