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Robo-Advisor and Quality Investing: Why Smart Swiss Investors Combine Both

By Thierry Borgeat, Co-Founder arvy · Last updated: March 2026 · 15 min read

Last week, a friend texted me. He'd opened a Viac account two years ago, set up a monthly transfer of CHF 500, and never looked at it again. "It runs automatically," he said. Then came the March pullback. His portfolio was suddenly down 12%.

His message: "Should I sell everything?"

I asked him one question: "Can you name three companies you own?"

Silence.

He couldn't. Not because he's unintelligent — he's an engineer, one of the sharpest people I know. But because his robo-advisor never taught him what he owns. And when you don't know what you own, you have no conviction to hold you at -10%. You only have fear.

I sent him our article on investing in turbulent times, the investment calculator, and three editions of the arvy Weekly — on Visa, Microsoft, and Nestlé.

Two days later he wrote back: "I'm not selling. And I've added arvy."

Not instead of Viac. Alongside Viac. Because for the first time, he understood why you stay invested.

This story isn't unique. It happens every week. And it's the reason for this article.

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We're not saying: "Switch from Viac to arvy." We're not saying: "Cancel your Finpension account." We're not saying: "findependent is bad."

Quite the opposite. Finpension, Viac, findependent, and True Wealth are excellent products. Low-cost, broadly diversified, digital, regulated. If you have a 3a or ETF savings plan with them — congratulations. You're doing more right than 90% of the Swiss population.

But here's the thing nobody talks about:

An ETF savings plan doesn't make you a better investor. It makes you an efficient saver.

And there's a massive difference between the two.

This article explains why the smartest investors in Switzerland do both — a low-cost ETF as the foundation AND arvy as the complement. Not because arvy is "better." But because arvy does something no robo-advisor can: it makes you a better investor. And in the long run, that's worth more than a 0.1% fee difference.

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Robo-advisors are good. But they don't make you smarter.

Let's be honest about what a robo-advisor actually is: an algorithm that puts your money into an MSCI World ETF and rebalances once a month. That's good. That's efficient. And for Pillar 3a, it's the right choice — low-cost, tax-advantaged, automated.

But here's the uncomfortable question: Do you know what you own?

If you have Viac "Global 100," you own 1,500+ companies. Can you name three? Do you know why they're in the portfolio? Do you know whether they have debt, whether their margins are growing or shrinking, whether they'll still be relevant in 10 years?

Of course not. And that's not the point of an ETF. The point of an ETF is: "I want the market average, without thinking." That's a perfectly legitimate goal.

But it comes with a cost that doesn't appear on any fact sheet:

Peter Lynch said: "Know what you own, and know why you own it." That's not just a quote — it's the only shield against panic selling. When you know that Visa earns from every card transaction on Earth, you don't sell at the next headline. When you understand that Nestlé has grown through every crisis for 150 years, you hold at -20%.

No robo-advisor teaches you that. arvy does.

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"Knowledge pays the best interest"

Benjamin Franklin said it 300 years ago. It's still true — and it's mathematically provable.

An investor who understands what they own and why makes better decisions. Not sometimes — every time. They don't panic-sell. They buy more in crises. They increase their savings plan when others stop. Over 20 years, that's not a 0.5% difference — it's 2–3% annually. On a CHF 500/month portfolio, that's over CHF 100,000 in difference.

But where do you learn this?

Not at a bank — they want to sell you a product. Not from a robo-advisor — they have no incentive to educate you. Not on Reddit — you get opinions there, not analysis.

arvy is the only Swiss investment app that systematically builds knowledge into the customer experience:

Viac has no newsletter. Finpension has no book club. findependent has no company analyses. True Wealth has no calculators. That's not a criticism — it's simply not their product. Their product is an ETF on autopilot. And they do it well.

arvy is something different. It's an investment app that simultaneously makes you a better investor. And that knowledge doesn't just help you at arvy — it helps you with all your financial decisions. For the rest of your life.

The difference between a saver and an investor isn't the money. It's the knowledge. arvy builds both at the same time.

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What you own when you own arvy

With a robo-advisor, you own "the market" — 1,500 companies, 1,490 of which you don't know. The Apples and the Nestlés, but also hundreds of firms with shrinking margins, rising debt, and business models that won't exist in 10 years.

With arvy, you own ~30 hand-picked quality companies. Each one selected for: high free cash flows, dominant market position, low debt, growing dividends, and pricing power in any market environment.

And the data over 30 years speaks clearly:

This doesn't mean your ETF is bad. It means: your ETF gives you the average. arvy gives you the chance to beat the average — not through timing or speculation, but through selecting the companies that pull the average upward.

And crucially: with arvy, you know exactly what you own. You read every week in the Weekly why Visa is in the portfolio, why Microsoft is held, why fertiliser stocks are not bought. You understand your portfolio. And that's why you hold it — even when everyone else is selling.

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What makes arvy different — at a glance

	ETF Robo-Advisor	arvy
What you own	1,500+ companies (MSCI World)	~30 hand-picked quality companies
Who decides	Algorithm	Three experienced investors who invest their own money
Founders invest alongside you	No	Yes — over CHF 100,000 in the same portfolio
Weekly analyses	No	Every Friday, 12,000+ readers
Financial calculators	0–1	11 interactive calculators
Book Club	No	Every 2–3 weeks
You understand what you own	No	Yes — every company is explained
Savings plan from	CHF 1	CHF 100
Historical outperformance	Market average	MSCI World Quality: 2.7x over 30 years

This isn't "better vs. worse." These are two different products for two different needs. Together, they're stronger than either alone.

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Core-Satellite: Why the pros do both

What we're describing has a name: Core-Satellite strategy. It's the standard approach of pension funds, family offices, and endowments worldwide. They've been doing it for decades. And you can do it with CHF 500/month.

Why not 100% ETF? Because then you own everything — including companies with 5% margins and business models from the last century. And because you learn nothing.

Why not 100% arvy? Because diversification matters, and a broad ETF provides stability as a foundation. And because your 3a is cheapest at a specialised 3a provider.

The combination is stronger than either part alone. Breadth as foundation. Quality as accelerator. Knowledge as shield.

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The Friday morning feeling

Here's something that doesn't appear in any fee comparison.

Picture this: Friday morning, 7:30am. You're sitting with your coffee. Your phone buzzes. arvy's Weekly has arrived.

This week: an analysis of why Ferrari builds only 14,000 cars per year and still earns billions. Or why Cadence and Synopsys form an unbreakable software duopoly controlling the entire chip industry. Or why the Strait of Hormuz doesn't just carry oil but also the nitrogen that feeds half the world's crops — and why fertiliser stocks still don't belong in the portfolio.

You read for 10 minutes. You understand something you didn't know before. You think: "Wow. I didn't know that."

And then you walk into a breakfast conversation and explain to someone why L'Oréal has 73% gross margins and what that says about pricing power. Or you tell your partner why Norway's sovereign wealth fund turned $150 million into $1.8 trillion — using exactly the same method you use every month with your standing order.

This isn't dry finance stuff. It's the most fascinating way to understand the world. Every company tells a story about human behaviour, technology, geopolitics, and innovation. And arvy's Weekly tells you these stories every week — written by three founders who invest their own money in the same companies.

With Viac, you open the app twice a year: once in January for the tax statement and once when you want to check the balance. That's efficient. But it's not inspiring.

With arvy, you look forward to Friday. And that feeling — that aha moment, that "I now understand what my money is doing" — is why you stay invested when everyone else stops.

The difference between arvy and a robo-advisor is the difference between watching a film and reading a book. Both tell you a story. But only one makes you smarter.

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12,000 readers. One conviction.

12,000 people read arvy's Weekly. Every Friday. With an open rate of 45–50% — three times the industry average.

These aren't 12,000 "subscribers." This is a community — people who read the same thing every week, understand the same thing, and decide on the same foundation.

When the market drops 15% and headlines scream "Crash!", these 12,000 people read the week before why stock markets have survived every crisis of the last 100 years. They've seen the chart. They have the numbers. They have the conviction.

That's the difference between investing alone and investing with a community. Not a forum with anonymous opinions. But 12,000 people who share the same philosophy: buy quality, understand what you own, and hold for the long term.

And the three founders — Thierry, Florian, and Patrick — aren't standing on the sideline watching. They have over CHF 100,000 of their own money in the same portfolio. When they tell you "stay invested," they mean their own money. That's a level of skin in the game no algorithm can offer.

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What it looks like in practice: 3 setups

Setup 1: "I already have a 3a at Finpension and want to do more"

CHF 350 → Finpension 3a (keep it, it's good). CHF 150 → arvy savings plan. You keep your low-cost 3a core and add a quality satellite. Plus: you get the Weekly, the calculators, the Book Club — all included.

Setup 2: "I have an ETF at findependent and feel ready for more"

CHF 250 → findependent ETF (keep it). CHF 250 → arvy savings plan. 50/50 Core-Satellite. You double your knowledge, diversify your strategy, and build a more personal relationship with your money.

Setup 3: "I have a Swissquote account and don't want another app"

No problem. Buy the arvy equity fund directly through Swissquote. Valor 130614478 (CHF class). No new account, no new app — and still full access to the arvy world: Weekly, calculators, Book Club, education library.

More scenarios with concrete numbers: → How to invest CHF 500 per month

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You don't need a new provider. You need a new layer.

Your robo-advisor is your foundation. Leave it. It does what it's supposed to.

arvy is your next layer. Not instead of the robo. Alongside the robo.

Three things make arvy different from everything else in Switzerland:

1. You learn something new every week. The Weekly, the Book Club, the calculators, the guides — this isn't marketing. It's an investment education that makes you better at all your financial decisions. For the rest of your life. No robo offers that.

2. The founders invest their own money. Over CHF 100,000 in the same portfolio as you. Same fees, same returns, same risk. When the market drops 20% and they say "we're staying invested," that's not a marketing statement. It's their own money. That's trust you can't algorithmise.

3. It's fun. And that's not trivial. Because when investing is fun, you stick with it. You keep reading. You understand more. You make better decisions. You tell a friend. And suddenly, investing isn't something you "also have to do" — it's something you look forward to every Friday.

Benjamin Franklin was right: An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. arvy is that investment.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Further reading: Investing in Switzerland: Beginner's Guide → · What Does Investing Really Cost? → · Bank, Robo-Advisor, or arvy? → · Quality Investing Explained → · Skin in the Game → · How to invest CHF 500/month →

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This article was written by Thierry Borgeat, Co-Founder of arvy, and reviewed by Patrick Rissi, CFA, and Florian Jauch, CFA. Last updated March 2026.

Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes and does not constitute personal investment advice. The mention of other providers (Finpension, Viac, findependent, True Wealth, Swissquote) is for informational purposes — arvy is not affiliated with any of these providers and receives no compensation for mentions. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. arvy is a FINMA-supervised asset manager with a CISA licence. Legal Notice & Disclaimers