Customer Reviews

The Consumer's Guide to Swiss Annuities, 2nd edition

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This booklet about the various types and advantages of Swiss Annuities really turned on the light for me about an alternative choice for investing. I have spent many sleepless nights during the last few years worrying about how my 401K has eroded into a 201K, so I was thrilled to learn about what seems to be a much safer and smarter choice to safeguard and grow my life's savings.

Mr. Meillard's style is objective and explanatory in an easy-to-follow outline structure -- with lots of charts that re-tell the story. It was interesting to learn about the history of Swiss Annuities and how the Swiss people and government take a fairer viewpoint about account privacy and bankruptcy protection -- one that protects you not ruins you. It was also surprising to learn about why the Swiss franc continues to increase in value relative to most of the world's other currencies -- especially the U.S. dollar.

The Consumers Guide to Swiss Annuities booklet does an excellent job of explaining the various types and potential advantages of Swiss annuities. I was especially interested about a new type of annuity called the Swiss Private Placement Annuity. This investment structure appears to be the ideal solution for investment flexibility and safety. It has all the old advantages of Swiss Annuities -- such as Swiss francs conversion, creditor protection and low fees -- along with the big advantage of opening up all the world's investment opportunities. It was also refreshing to learn that investing in Switzerland is easy and not considered a bad thing -- but rather a smart choice by many savvy U.S. investors.

Because of the ongoing nightmare of huge bailouts that will certainly be devastating for generations, Economics 101 should tell us there's little doubt that inflation in the U.S. will rise and the U.S. dollar we get weaker -- especially against more stable world currencies like the Swiss franc. The booklet not only showed me the right currency to put my hard earned money, but it also explained the right investment vehicles. It also provided me with the peace of mind of knowing there is a much safer alternative than having my broker tell me to "hold on" and wait for the market to come back.

My thanks to Mr. Meillard for his insightful ins and outs of Swiss investing. The reasonable price of this book is the best investment I ever made!

Finally, a book that makes Swiss annuities easy to understand.

I have had an interest in Swiss annuities for some time. Unfortunately, until Mr. Meillard's book, all I could find were books that seemed to be written by lawyers for other lawyers. This book is completely different.

The Consumer's Guide is written for people like me. I wanted to know how Swiss annuities work, what kind there are and how to learn more. This book does just that.

The Swiss insurers sell the same kinds of annuities (immediate and deferred) that we have in the U.S. The big difference is that the account accumulation and annuity payouts are in Swiss francs. As the book shows (and most wise investors know) the Swiss franc has a better record as a hedge against inflation than just about anything else.

What surprised me the most were the private placement annuities. This is an annuity where you determine what the investments inside the policy are. The insurer provides the shell and you can tuck in pretty much whatever assets you want. Once inside all future gains are tax deferred until you make withdrawals. In addition, all Swiss annuities are virtually creditor proof. Unless you are a criminal, your creditors (even in bankruptcy) can't get their hands on it. As a professional I found this creditor protection feature very attractive.

So, I can't recommend this book strongly enough for anyone who wants to learn about Swiss annuities.

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Like most people approaching retirement age, I am concerned about having a life income which is both sufficient today and twenty years from now.


From my own travels and investing experience I have seen that the currency one's investments are denominated in is important. Specifically, I have watched over the years the Swiss franc rise relentlessly relative to the dollar. At the same time, I have watched the dollar's purchasing power be eroded by inflation. In fact, the dollar's sad story is told on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator. [...]


The Swiss franc's strength had peaked my interest in owning some as part of my retirement portfolio. Yet, I didn't know quite what to do.


Until a friend recommended The Consumer's Guide, I had never thought about Swiss annuities. I don't know why, I just hadn't.


What I learned from The Consumer's Guide is that Swiss annuities are pretty much just like American annuities. The big difference is that your account is in Swiss francs and not dollars. Over the past decades, an income in Swiss francs, when converted to dollars, has kept pace with inflation. Swiss annuities are also perfectly legal for Americans to own.


Meillard points out that Swiss annuities are immune from the attacks of creditors. While I don't have any lawyers chasing after me, in today's world you never know. We all seem to be one frivolous lawsuit away from oblivion.


What Mr. Meillard has to say makes a lot of sense to me.


If you are interested in learning about Swiss annuities, I think this is a great book. As the name implies, it is a "Consumer's Guide" and not an academic book or one written for tax attorneys. It really was written for someone like me: sophisticated enough to manage my own investments, not so sophisticated as to have sold out before the crash and concerned about a secure inflation protected retirement.

The author has done a remarkable job of making the subject of Swiss annuities understandable to an ordinary person approaching retirement.

Probably like everybody else, my husband and I are trying to create a retirement portfolio which will give us purchasing power when we retire that will last for the rest of our lives. The crash of the financial markets over the past year have made this all the harder. Not only do we have to make up what we lost, we need to continue accumulating towards our retirement objectives.

While inflation is not a problem now, we think it sure will be a few years from now. The government needs some way to pay off the massive debts it is incurring. I don't see any other way than for them to ultimately inflate the dollar. What is really scary is that the inflation will start right about the time we retire.

That is where Swiss annuities come in. Mr. Meillard in his book simply confirms what I have seen over the years. The Swiss franc's relentless increase over the years has more than made up for U.S. inflation. The question for us is how best to own Swiss francs. To us, the answer is a Swiss annuity. They combine the safety of the Swiss franc with an income we can't outlive. From the Consumer's Guide, it seems Swiss annuities are pretty much just like American annuities. The big difference is that the policy is in Swiss francs and not dollars. Best of all, owning a Swiss annuity is completely legal for Americans.

Mr. Meillard has packed a lot of information into his short book. I had looked at one other book before and found that one incomprehensible. This is certainly not the case with the Consumer's Guide. It really lays it all out and if you are interested where to go to get a proposal from a Swiss insurer.

The Consumer's Guide to Swiss Annuities is comprehensive, informative and very easy to read. The author does an excellent job of explaining how Swiss annuities work with crisp graphs and illustrations. As I plan for my retirement I am continually seeking opportunities to invest outside of the US and after reading this book I feel like a whole new world has opened up to me. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to expand their investments outside of the US.

I've been looking for other investment avenues and had not thought about going offshore until I read this. I know the Swiss Franc has always been strong, but didn't realize how dismally the dollar has performed against it over the past 30+ years. Simple flowcharts and concise writing helped solidify the annuity concept, while a rich historical account explained the development of Swiss integrity and respect for individual rights. I was pleased to see that U.S. taxation issues are addressed. Easy read and opens up a whole new avenue of opportunity.

The Consumer's Guide to Swiss annuities is a fascinating and very interesting book.
It is beautifully prepared with lots of images and graphs. It tackles a complex subject and makes it easy to understand. As I am in retirement I was especially pleased with how the book clearly explains the ins and outs of Swiss Annuities and the advantages of investing outside the U.S.. My congratulations to Mr. Meillard for his very insightful and timely book.

I read this in one sitting. It reads like a brochure more than a book. The information is there though. My biggest disappointment, which was more with the content, was that Swiss annuities are not tax free on withdrawals. So you get diversification on the Swiss frank and some deferral. But there are other ways to do that which seem less complicated.

Finally a comprehensive guide to Swiss Annuities! I found the book to be easy to follow and informative. The illustrations perfectly complimented the information. I was especially please that the author eloquently conveyed the ins and outs of Swiss Annuities. Never before had I found a book that contained so much information. Congratulations Mr. Meillard, for a job well done.

When I'm dealing with my money, I don't want to leave anything to chance. I want to make sure I really understand everything before I make a decision. After reading the Consumer's Guide to Swiss Annuities, I can safely say that the book did a better job of distilling down the important information about Swiss Annuities than any other book I've read. Some parts of the book, especially the information about exporting and agriculture in Switzerland, felt unnecessary, but overall the book did a great job of helping break down exactly what a Swiss annuity was and why it was a great option for investors.

This is a quick read but it also provides all the information you could want about Swiss annuities. You don't need to be an accountant or financial planner to make sense of the book, but you'll certainly feel like an expert after reading the book!