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What I Wish I'd Known Before My Child Was Born

A financial letter to new parents — from three who learned the hard way.

By Thierry Borgeat · March 2026 · 12 min read

Nobody warns you.

They warn you about the sleep deprivation. They warn you about the nappies. Your mother warns you about the colic, your colleague warns you about the nursery waitlist, and the internet warns you about everything from screen time to peanut allergies.

But nobody — not your midwife, not your HR department, not your parents, not a single one of the 47 baby books you received — warns you about the financial window that opens the day your child is born and quietly closes a little more every year you don't act on it.

This isn't a financial guide. We have those (and they're linked at the end if you want them). This is something simpler: three parents telling you what they wish someone had told them in the delivery room, in the maternity ward, in that delirious first week when the world shrinks to the size of a swaddle.

Their names are changed. Their regrets are real.

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Laura, 38, Zurich — "I did everything right. Except the one thing that mattered most."

Laura pauses. She's told this story before, but it still bothers her.

"When Mia was born, I opened a PostFinance Jugendsparkonto the next week. CHF 200 a month, standing order, done. I felt responsible. I felt smart. I was building something for her."

"Six years later, a colleague showed me his daughter's investment account. She was the same age as Mia. He'd been investing CHF 200 a month since birth — same amount, same duration. His daughter had CHF 21,000. Mine had CHF 14,800."

"Same money. Same time. CHF 6,200 difference. Because I chose a savings account instead of investing."

"And here's what kills me: that gap gets bigger every year. By the time Mia turns 18, the difference will be over CHF 22,000. On CHF 200 a month. I didn't do the wrong thing — I did the right thing in the wrong place."

"The savings account felt responsible. The numbers say it wasn't. And every year I wait to switch, the gap gets harder to close."

Laura opened an investment account for Mia last year. She also opened one for her 3-year-old son, Leo, from day one. "Leo will have six more years of compounding than Mia. That's the part that stings — the years I can't get back for her."

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Marco, 44, Basel — "I started at the right time. But I almost ruined it at 17."

Marco did everything right. CHF 150 a month into a diversified equity fund, from birth, never missed a month. By Sofia's 16th birthday, the account had grown to CHF 48,000. He was proud. He'd built something meaningful.

"Then came March 2020. Covid. The markets dropped 30% in three weeks. Sofia's account went from CHF 48,000 to CHF 34,000. I panicked."

"My wife said: sell. Protect what's left. She'll turn 18 in two years, we can't afford to lose more. And she had a point — what if the markets don't recover before Sofia needs the money?"

Marco didn't sell. But he almost did. "I opened the sell order three times. Three times I closed the app."

By December 2020, the portfolio was back to CHF 46,000. By Sofia's 17th birthday in 2021, it was CHF 54,000. Today, as she approaches 18, it's CHF 62,000.

"If I'd sold in March 2020, she'd have CHF 34,000 on a savings account earning nothing. Instead she has CHF 62,000. The difference between panic and patience: CHF 28,000."

"The hardest part of investing for your child isn't starting. It's not selling during a crash in year 16. Nobody prepares you for that."

What Marco wishes he'd done differently: "I should have started shifting 20% into bonds when Sofia turned 15. Not because I don't believe in equities — but because I needed the psychological cushion. The last three years should be about protecting, not growing."

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Anna, 31, Lausanne — "I'm a single mum. I thought investing was for people with money left over."

Anna didn't grow up with money. Her parents never invested. Nobody in her family owned stocks. "Investing was for people in suits at banks. Not for a nurse in Lausanne with a toddler."

"Then a friend — also a single mum — showed me her phone. She had this app where she put CHF 50 a month for her daughter. CHF 50. I spend that on coffee in a week. And the app showed that in 16 years, that CHF 50 a month would become over CHF 20,000."

"I said: that can't be real. She said: it's compound interest. I said: what's that? She pulled up a calculator and showed me."

Anna opened an account that evening. CHF 50 a month. "Some months I can do CHF 100. Some months I skip. But the standing order is there and most months it runs."

"The part nobody tells you: it's not about the amount. It's about starting. CHF 50 today is worth more than CHF 200 in five years — because the first CHF 50 has 16 more years to compound. That's what I didn't know. That's what nobody told me."

"I thought you needed money to invest. You don't. You need CHF 50 and the courage to start when you don't feel ready."

Anna's CHF 50 a month, if she keeps it running for 16 years, will become approximately CHF 19,000. If she manages CHF 100 on average: CHF 38,000. That's a year of university for Jules — built entirely from amounts she described as "money I didn't think I had."

"When Jules is older, I want to show him the account. Not the number — the history. That his mum started investing for him with CHF 50 when she was barely making rent. Because that's the lesson: you don't need to be rich to build something."

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The conversation every Swiss parent avoids

We asked all three: "Why don't Swiss parents talk about money for their children?"

Laura: "Because it feels premature. The baby is three days old and you're supposed to think about compound interest? It feels wrong. Cold. Unromantic. You want to be present with your newborn, not on a finance app."

Marco: "Because Swiss culture doesn't talk about money. Period. You don't ask your neighbour what they earn. You don't tell your friends what you invest. And you certainly don't discuss your children's financial future at a dinner party. It's private. Which means nobody learns from anyone else's experience."

Anna: "Because it feels like something for rich people. When you're a single mum counting francs, 'investing for your child' sounds like advice from a different planet. Nobody told me CHF 50 was enough. I needed someone to say: start with what you have."

The irony is: the sooner you have the conversation, the less money you need. A parent who starts at birth with CHF 50 ends up with more than a parent who starts at age 5 with CHF 150. Time beats money. Every time.

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What all three agree on

We asked each of them: "If you could go back to the week your child was born and give yourself one piece of financial advice, what would it be?"

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The numbers nobody shows you in the delivery room

Here's what the baby books leave out:

A child in Switzerland costs approximately CHF 300,000–400,000 to raise until age 18. You'll spend it on food, clothes, nursery, school supplies, football clubs, birthday parties, and 4,000 other things that feel essential in the moment and vanish from memory within a year.

But CHF 50 a month — 0.15% of that total cost — invested from birth, gives your child CHF 23,000 at 18. CHF 200 a month gives them CHF 92,000. Redirecting the Kindergeld (CHF 200–300/month depending on canton) that most families absorb into daily expenses gives your child a six-figure head start.

You will spend CHF 300,000 on your child whether you invest or not. The question is whether CHF 50 of that goes to a savings account that loses to inflation — or to an investment that gives your child a financial foundation before they're old enough to understand what a financial foundation is.

You don't have to choose between being present with your newborn and being smart about their future. You need 10 minutes, one standing order, and then you go back to the swaddling. The standing order does the rest for 18 years.

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A note for each parent

For the one who handles the finances: You already know the numbers make sense. What you need is the 10 minutes to set it up. Not tomorrow. Not next month. This week. Because every month you wait costs your child ~CHF 200 in future value. Open the app, set the standing order, and move on. You can optimise later. Starting matters more than optimising.

For the one who doesn't handle the finances: Ask. Ask your partner: "Are we investing for our child, or just saving?" If the answer is a savings account, show them this article. Not to start a fight — to start a conversation. The difference between a savings account and an investment over 18 years is CHF 22,000 on CHF 100/month. That's worth a 15-minute conversation.

For single parents: You're doing the hardest job with the fewest resources. And that's exactly why starting with CHF 50 matters more for you than for anyone else. Because nobody else is going to start it for your child. CHF 50 a month is CHF 1.65 a day. It's less than a coffee. And in 18 years, it's your child's first semester of university, funded by standing orders you set up at 2 AM while they were sleeping.

For grandparents reading this: You've raised your children. Now you can do something for the next generation that costs less than a monthly dinner out but changes a life. CHF 100 a month from birth to 18 becomes CHF 46,000. That's the most meaningful gift you'll ever give — and they'll know it came from you.

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What the first week is really for

The first week of your child's life is for skin-to-skin contact, for sleepless wonder, for learning to hold something impossibly small. It is not for spreadsheets.

But somewhere in that first week — maybe on day 4, when you're awake at 3 AM and the baby is finally sleeping and you're staring at the ceiling — your mind will wander. It will go to the future. To school. To university. To "will they be okay?" And in that moment, you can do something that takes 10 minutes and works for 18 years.

Set up a standing order. CHF 50, CHF 100, CHF 200 — whatever you can. Into an investment account, not a savings account. And then forget about it. Go back to the swaddling. The standing order will run every month, silently, while your child learns to crawl, to walk, to read, to argue, to dream.

And one day — on a birthday that feels impossibly far away but arrives impossibly fast — you'll hand them a piece of paper with a number on it. And you'll say: "I started this the week you were born."

That's the sentence. That's the whole point. Not the number. The sentence.

"I started this the week you were born."

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Written by Thierry Borgeat, Co-Founder of arvy. Based on real conversations with parents in the arvy community. Names and identifying details have been changed. Last updated March 2026.

About arvy: We're a Swiss investment app built by three CFA Charterholders who invest their own money alongside their clients. We also write a weekly newsletter read by 12,000+ investors, maintain 11 free financial calculators, and have published 30+ analyses in NZZ The Market. We're launching a dedicated kids account — because we believe the best time to start investing for a child is the week they're born. Learn more about arvy · Legal Notice