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An Infographic by Canvas Infographics

The Swiss Cost Conundrum

Analyzing the financial vulnerability, literacy gaps, and behavioral solutions for young adults (aged 18-30) in Switzerland.

The High-Salary Paradox

Switzerland boasts some of the world’s highest salaries, yet many young adults report significant financial stress.

The Cost of Living Squeeze

Housing and mandatory health insurance are the top concerns, often eclipsing anxieties like climate change.

The Vulnerability Gap

A significant portion of Gen Z and Millennials struggle to cover an unexpected cost of 2,500 CHF.

The Core Problem: The Fixed-Cost Squeeze

Our primary research question investigates the direct impact of high fixed costs. How much of a young adult’s income is immediately consumed, and what’s left for savings, investment, or emergencies?

Hypothetical Income Breakdown

This chart visualizes the “squeeze.” Based on survey data, we will analyze the typical monthly budget. This hypothetical model shows mandatory costs for housing and health insurance alone consuming nearly half of a young adult’s income.

This leaves a small, vulnerable margin for savings, debt repayment, and discretionary spending, creating a state of financial precarity despite a “good” salary.

  • Housing (30%)
  • Health Insurance (15%)
  • Other Fixed Costs (20%)
  • Savings & Discretionary (35%)

Compounding Factors: Literacy & Behavior

Beyond fixed costs, our secondary questions explore the roles of financial knowledge and the active coping strategies young adults employ.

Literacy, Debt, & Retirement (S-RQ1)

This chart plots the relationship between literacy, debt, and retirement planning (Pillar 3a). We hypothesize that higher literacy (X-axis) correlates with higher Pillar 3a participation (Y-axis) and lower consumer debt (smaller bubble size).

Common Coping Strategies (S-RQ2)

What are young adults *actually* doing to survive? This research will identify and quantify the most common behavioral strategies, which may differ significantly by canton (e.g., Zurich vs. Geneva).

The Research Plan: A Mixed-Methods Approach

To get a complete picture, we will combine large-scale quantitative data with in-depth qualitative insights.

1

Survey (Quant)

A 200-300 person survey across Zurich, Geneva, & Bern on costs, literacy, debt, and savings.

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2

Analysis (Quant)

Regression and comparative analysis (T-tests, ANOVA) to identify correlations and group differences.

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3

Interviews (Qual)

10-15 semi-structured interviews to understand the “why” behind the numbers and solutions.

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4

Synthesis

Combining all data to provide actionable, evidence-based solutions for key stakeholders.

Why This Research Matters: Expected Impact

This thesis is designed to provide tangible value to three key groups, moving beyond theory to offer practical, Swiss-specific insights.

️

For the Academic Community

Provides new empirical data on Household Finance and Behavioral Economics in a unique high-cost economy.

For Policy & Institutions

Highlights specific intervention points (e.g., minimum health franchises, rental market) for financial education and regulation.

‍

For Young Adults

Offers evidence-based, actionable strategies for managing finances, moving beyond generic advice to Swiss-specific solutions.

 

 

The Swiss Cost Conundrum: Analyzing the Financial Vulnerability, Literacy Gaps, and Behavioral Solutions for Young Adults (Aged 18-30) in Switzerland

 

I. Introduction: Defining the Crisis of Resilience

 

The financial landscape for young adults (aged 18–30) in Switzerland presents a fundamental paradox that belies the nation’s reputation for wealth and stability. While Switzerland maintains high average income levels, a closer examination of the liquidity and resilience of its youngest working generation reveals significant and growing vulnerabilities. This report posits that the Swiss financial reality for this cohort is defined by a deep and dangerous disconnect between perceived solvency—the ability to meet planned monthly costs—and actual financial resilience—the capacity to withstand unforeseen expenses.

 

A. The Swiss Financial Paradox: Comfort vs. Vulnerability

 

Objective metrics quantifying the immediate financial strain on Swiss Generation Z and Millennials demonstrate that over half of young people are worried about their current financial standing.1 This concern translates directly into compromised financial capacity. More than a third of respondents in this cohort (37% of Gen Z, 35% of Millennials) report struggling to cover their basic expenses and bills each month. Critically, more than half of those surveyed (51% of Gen Z, 52% of Millennials) indicate that they live from paycheck to paycheck, immediately consuming all their income on day-to-day needs.1 The immediate consequence of this consumption pattern is a complete absence of financial reserves to absorb unexpected costs.

The severity of this objective vulnerability is underscored by comparing it to self-reported financial comfort. Despite the data showing high rates of living paycheck-to-paycheck, subjective reports suggest a high level of comfort. Studies indicate that approximately three-quarters of respondents (75%) feel comfortable with their financial situation, and 79% report having enough money.2 This contradiction suggests that the high fixed cost structure allows high Swiss wages to cover predictable obligations, leading to a feeling of solvency. However, the magnitude of these fixed costs eliminates any surplus income, preventing the formation of necessary financial reserves. Therefore, the core challenge facing this cohort is not merely income inadequacy, but a crisis of liquidity and resilience against structural financial shocks.

The failure to accumulate financial reserves is a systemic issue, evidenced by the fact that the percentage of young people unable to cover higher unexpected expenses is virtually identical to the 25% reported for the total Swiss population.1 Although this lack of emergency savings is widespread, young adults are disproportionately exposed to fragility because they lack the established capital and savings history of older generations. The vulnerability is tied to the regulatory structure, where mandated high financial barriers, such as the maximum compulsory health insurance deductible, act as a systemic risk equalizer, threatening the financial standing of even higher-income young individuals who lack sufficient reserves.

Table 1: The Subjective-Objective Financial Paradox in Swiss Youth (Aged 18-30)

 

Financial Dimension Objective Reality (Resilience) Subjective Perception (Well-being) Implication Source Reference
Monthly Liquidity 51-52% live paycheck-to-paycheck 75-79% feel they have “enough money” Vulnerability is high, but masked by ability to meet predictable costs. [1, 2, 3]
Savings Capacity No financial reserves for unexpected costs Low savings rate for long-term goals (Pillar 3a) Present Bias dictates consumption/liquidity preference over future security. [1, 4]
Structural Stressors Rent, Health Insurance, Food are top worries Cost of Living ranks above climate change or health Financial stress is driven by high fixed, mandatory costs. 1

 

B. The Structural Drivers: Rent, KVG, and Regional Disparity

 

The primary source of financial strain for young adults is the high level of non-negotiable fixed monthly costs. The three monthly living costs identified as the biggest source of worry for Generation Z and Millennials are Rent, Health Insurance Premiums, and Food.1 The persistent concern regarding the cost of living ranks ahead of other significant societal issues, including climate change, health, and crime.1

Crucially, this financial vulnerability is not uniform across the country due to Switzerland’s significant cantonal heterogeneity. The regional cost multipliers exert a powerful influence on disposable income. Analysis of financial attractiveness across municipalities demonstrates that freely disposable income for middle-class households is heavily influenced by the combination of local tax burdens, health insurance premiums, and high location-based rent or real estate prices.5 Consequently, urban cantons such as Geneva and Basel-Stadt impose substantially greater strain on household budgets, primarily due to exorbitant housing costs, compared to rural cantons like Uri and Glarus.5 This necessitates a geographically nuanced policy approach, as financial vulnerability is amplified in high-cost urban centers where the fixed burden is highest. For research purposes, the methodology must distinguish between and measure both financial well-being and financial resilience, arguing that the latter is severely lacking due to the overwhelming magnitude of these structural burdens.

 

II. Structural Pillar: The Mandatory Health Insurance (KVG) Conundrum

 

The mandatory health insurance system, governed by the Krankenversicherungsgesetz (KVG), is a central and distinctive structural challenge contributing to the financial precarity of Swiss young adults. As a non-negotiable fixed cost, KVG premiums absorb a disproportionate share of disposable income, exacerbating the paycheck-to-paycheck existence reported by over half the cohort.1

 

A. KVG Premium Shock and Affordability Crisis

 

The annual increases in KVG premiums often represent a greater financial shock than official averages suggest. Official announcements by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) regarding average premium increases often fall short of the reality faced by households seeking the most economical options. Evidence indicates that while the official average might be 4.4%, the effective increase for the cheapest options on the market is actually around 7%.6 This higher-than-average rise forces households to find an extra CHF 23 per month on average for the cheapest premium.6 Young adults, who are most likely to select the lowest-cost plans due to liquidity constraints, are thus disproportionately affected by this steep increase in the entry-level tier, which directly strains their already fragile monthly budgets.

The cumulative effect of these rising premiums acts as an inequality amplifier. Over the past two decades, health insurance premiums have doubled on average.5 This sharply rising premium burden contributes significantly to the unequal distribution of income, particularly because premium reductions intended for lower and middle-income households increasingly fail to offset the true cost increases.5

Furthermore, regulatory issues within the broader health insurance market contribute to cost inflation. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has found that invoices in the supplementary health insurance sector often lack transparency and appear unjustifiably high.8 This environment creates false incentives and allows for cost shifting onto supplementary policyholders.9 While young adults are less likely to enroll in supplementary insurance 10, regulatory failures that permit systemic cost inflation within this market ultimately contribute to the generalized pressure on mandatory KVG premiums, demonstrating a need for improved governance to ensure fair premiums for all policyholders.9

 

B. The High-Deductible Trap: Behavioral Selection and Financial Consequences

 

The design of the KVG system, which allows individuals to choose a high deductible (franchise) in exchange for a lower monthly premium, creates a critical point of financial and behavioral failure for young adults.

 

1. The Rationality of Present Bias in Choice

 

Individuals who opt for high-deductible plans are typically younger, male, and possess higher income and educational attainment.11 They often rationally select the maximum deductible option, driven by the immediate necessity of reducing the fixed monthly premium, a behavior characteristic of Present Bias. They prioritize short-term budget relief, assuming a low probability of illness in their healthy young years.

However, the KVG design, which uses deductibles as a strong financial incentive, inadvertently creates a new behavioral hazard. By prioritizing the lowest premium, young adults subject themselves to a high financial shock barrier if they require medical intervention. The study of Swiss patients revealed that high insurance plan deductibles are strongly associated with forgoing needed health care, even in a system with universal coverage and regardless of socioeconomic status or pre-existing conditions.11 This avoidance of necessary preventative or early-stage care due to the fear of activating the high deductible undermines the fundamental goal of universal coverage and can lead to worse long-term health and, ultimately, higher financial costs later (e.g., increased emergency department visits).13 This structural flaw converts an attempt at cost management into a systematic source of deferred health and financial vulnerability.

 

2. The Role of Health Insurance Literacy (HIL)

 

Compounding the problem is the role of Health Insurance Literacy (HIL) in mediating decision-making. Low-educated, young individuals, migrants, or those with limited experience navigating the healthcare system were found to have the lowest HIL.14 Their limited capacity to make informed choices and effectively use their health insurance was directly associated with an elevated likelihood of foregoing necessary care and facing significant financial burdens.14

This suggests a complex and reinforcing relationship: the structural pressure of rising KVG premiums pushes young adults to seek the cheapest option, while low HIL prevents them from accurately calculating the potential catastrophic risk associated with that choice. The intersection of this structural pressure and the cognitive gap leads directly to sub-optimal decisions that result in adverse health and financial outcomes, trapping them in a cycle of instability.11

The geographic distribution of these factors further amplifies vulnerability. Residents of high-cost urban cantons, such as those in the French-speaking regions (e.g., Geneva), face intense structural cost pressure due to high rents and premiums.5 Simultaneously, financial literacy, particularly concerning sophisticated financial products like Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), is lower in French-speaking Switzerland.15 This geographical intersection means individuals in these regions face a compound disadvantage: higher mandatory fixed costs coupled with less cognitive capacity to effectively optimize complex financial decisions related to insurance and investment.

 

III. Cognitive Pillar: Literacy Gaps and Behavioral Finance Theories

 

The existence of structural burdens only partially explains the financial vulnerability of Swiss youth. A complete analysis requires integrating Behavioral Finance (BF) to understand the cognitive gaps and biases that prevent rational, long-term decision-making, particularly concerning savings and debt.

 

A. Financial Literacy: The Knowledge-Action Gap

 

Switzerland is characterized by high financial literacy standards compared to international benchmarks, a result compatible with the nation’s high PISA mathematical scales ranking.16 Financial literacy is strongly correlated with positive financial behaviors, such as voluntary retirement saving.16 However, significant demographic and regional disparities persist, indicating that knowledge alone is insufficient to guarantee optimal outcomes.

Literacy levels remain lower among specific populations, including low-income, less-educated, immigrant, and non-native-speaking households, as well as women.16 More specifically, there are regional variations in the understanding of complex financial concepts. For instance, the understanding of key investment principles, such as the relationship between higher expected returns and higher risk, was correctly identified by 72.7% of respondents in German-speaking Switzerland, compared to only 56.2% in French-speaking Switzerland.15 This suggests a regional gap in the conceptual sophistication required for long-term investment decisions.

The strong correlation between literacy and savings highlights an important phenomenon: the constraint is often not purely informational, but behavioral. If a well-educated, high-income population exhibits high literacy yet still struggles with long-term savings adherence—as evidenced by the moderate participation rates in Pillar 3a 4—then the failure point must lie in the psychological barriers to action rather than a lack of fundamental knowledge.

 

B. Behavioral Finance: Present Bias and Hyperbolic Discounting

 

Hyperbolic Discounting, often observed through Present Bias, describes the cognitive phenomenon where individuals place an disproportionately high value on immediate rewards and costs relative to future ones. This theory is highly effective in explaining why people simultaneously hold short-term high-interest debt while failing to engage in beneficial long-term savings.18

 

1. The Pillar 3a Failure

 

In the context of the Swiss three-pillar pension system, Present Bias manifests as a systematic failure to engage in voluntary retirement planning, specifically contributions to the tax-privileged Pillar 3a. Around 40% to 50% of employees and self-employed individuals contribute to Pillar 3a.4 The financial benefit of early contribution is exponential: a person starting contributions at age 25 can accumulate more than twice the capital of someone who starts only 15 years later at age 40, even if the total amount paid in by the later starter is the same relative to their participation years.19

Present-biased consumers prioritize immediate liquidity, leading them to delay the perceived “cost” of saving. This preference for short-term cash flow explains low adherence to Pillar 3a. Furthermore, the decision to save is intertwined with perceived income stability. Research suggests that voluntary commitment mechanisms aimed at improving savings only succeed when income is predictable; under conditions of uncertainty, these mechanisms often fail.20 Given that the 18–30 cohort frequently faces higher income risk and job market volatility early in their careers 21, low adherence to Pillar 3a is not solely a cognitive failing but an adaptive response to perceived income instability. Young adults may hesitate to commit capital to a locked-in retirement account if they anticipate needing it for income smoothing or absorbing sudden cost shocks, such as the KVG deductible.20

 

C. Behavioral Finance: Mental Accounting and Debt Management

 

Mental accounting, another foundational BF theory, is crucial for understanding how young adults manage spending and debt. This theory posits that consumers mentally categorize money, and the psychological “pain of paying” acts as a critical self-regulation device.22

 

1. Decoupling Payment and Consumption

 

Consumers ideally attempt to maximize “hedonic efficiency” by tightly coupling payments to consumption (associating the payment with the benefit) while simultaneously decoupling consumption from the payment itself (avoiding the guilt of spending).22 Payment technologies disrupt this self-regulation. Utilizing cashless instruments, particularly credit cards, reduces the salience and vividness of the outflow, making the expense harder to recall than cash payments.23 New charges added to a running credit card balance are easily mixed in with many others, reducing the psychological impact of each individual purchase.22

While one study found that the effect of cashless payments on increased discretionary spending was not robust among young Swiss consumers 24, the underlying theory suggests that the management of consumption debt is heavily reliant on mental accounting mechanisms, such as setting mental budgets or practicing mental prepayment.22 The fact that many young adults struggle to cover their expenses monthly 1 suggests a widespread difficulty in self-regulating debt and spending, likely exacerbated by the low salience of digital payments.

Table 2: Mapping Behavioral Finance Biases to Swiss Financial Failures (Aged 18-30)

 

Behavioral Bias Mechanism of Failure Manifestation in Swiss Youth Finance Targeted Nudge Strategy Source Reference
Present Bias (Hyperbolic Discounting) Prioritizing immediate low cost over future certainty. Choosing the highest KVG deductible for lowest premium, leading to forgone care or financial shock. Visual shock indicators, reduced friction (hassle costs) for Pillar 3a contributions. [11, 25]
Mental Accounting Decoupling payment from consumption, reducing the “pain of paying.” Overspending or insufficient budgeting control, particularly with cashless payments/credit cards. Mental budgets, enforced “prepayment” mechanisms, increased salience of digital spending outflows. 22
Low Health Insurance Literacy (HIL) Inability to evaluate complex, standardized financial products correctly. Sub-optimal selection of KVG plans, increasing likelihood of financial burdens. Simplified, tiered choice architecture; default options aligned with low HIL risk profiles. 14

 

IV. Behavioral Solutions and Policy Intervention Architecture

 

A diagnosis centered on structural burdens and cognitive biases demands policy interventions that target the choice architecture, rather than relying solely on traditional financial education. Nudging offers a promising path by altering the environment in which decisions are made without restricting choices or changing core financial incentives.26

 

A. Foundations of Choice Architecture (Nudging)

 

Research into behavioral interventions confirms that nudges that automate some aspect of the decision-making process are significantly more effective, possessing an average effect size (Cohen’s $d$) that is $0.193$ larger than other types of nudges.26 This effectiveness confirms that for the Swiss young adult cohort, the solution lies in reducing the friction or “hassle costs” associated with rational behavior, specifically mitigating the effects of Present Bias.

 

B. Nudging Financial Resilience (Retirement and Savings)

 

The primary goal for long-term savings must be to overcome the twin barriers of Present Bias and high friction in Pillar 3a contributions.

Previous interventions confirm that reducing execution friction is more important than increasing information salience. In Swiss trials, receiving a simple reminder registration letter or a letter focusing on the tax savings benefit (a System 2, calculation-heavy informational nudge) had no measurable effect on contribution behavior.25 In stark contrast, merely receiving a letter that contained a subtle nudge toward a digital app’s ability to decrease the hassle costs of making a contribution increased the probability of making a buy-in and raised the overall contributed amount by approximately 10%.25 This demonstrates that the barrier to Pillar 3a adoption is primarily the System 1 effort required for initiation, not a lack of knowledge regarding the tax benefits.

Policy recommendations should therefore focus on mandatory digital default enrollment or “Active Choice” mechanisms for Pillar 3a, coupled with aggressive friction reduction strategies such as seamless automated deposits and integrated tax reporting linkages. This approach prioritizes simplification (System 1) over complex disclosure (System 2) to activate long-term savings behavior.

 

C. Behavioral Interventions in the KVG System

 

The complexity and financial risk embedded in the KVG system necessitate targeted choice architecture to prevent young adults from falling into the high-deductible trap.

 

1. Mitigating the High-Deductible Trap

 

The intervention must shift the young adult’s choice framework away from prioritizing the immediate, short-term gain of the lowest monthly premium and toward the calculation of the lowest expected total annual cost, including potential deductible activation.

This requires implementing mandatory, simplified decision tools that force an explicit visualization of the financial shock associated with high deductibles. A proposed tool is the Deductible Shock Indicator, which would prominently display the maximum out-of-pocket sum required before KVG coverage begins, contrasting it with the average emergency fund required to cover that shock. Since low HIL correlates directly with poor outcomes (forgoing care) 14, the choice architecture could also be simplified by automatically assigning a medium-risk deductible default to individuals with demonstrably low HIL or those newly entering the system, requiring them to actively opt-out and choose the highest financial risk configuration.

 

2. Addressing Spending and Debt

 

To address the mental accounting failures that lead to chronic liquidity issues, digital tools should be deployed to increase the salience of consumption outflows. This can include digital platforms that help young adults mentally earmark payments to specific budget categories (mental budgeting) and provide instant transaction feedback for credit card or digital spending, reinforcing the necessary “pain of paying” required for financial self-regulation.22

 

D. Informal Coping Mechanisms and Policy Support (Housing)

 

The most pressing financial stressor remains housing costs, particularly high location-based rents in urban cantons.1 In response to this structural pressure, shared living arrangements (Wohngemeinschaften or WGs) have become a mainstream financial coping strategy for young adults.27 Policy must acknowledge the necessity of these arrangements for cost control. Policy should explore institutional support for regulated shared housing or co-living models, ensuring that official support structures integrate these vital coping mechanisms to mitigate the single largest monthly cost stressor for this demographic.

 

V. Synthesis, Research Agenda, and Policy Roadmap

 

A. Synthesis: The Interdependence of Structure and Behavior

 

The financial vulnerability of Swiss young adults aged 18–30 is the result of a vicious cycle created by the interplay of structural economic pressures and predictable cognitive biases. The high structural burden of mandatory fixed costs, chiefly KVG premiums and high urban rents, severely restricts discretionary income. This constraint, in turn, amplifies the effects of Present Bias, forcing young adults to prioritize short-term liquidity, leading to sub-optimal decisions such as choosing the highest KVG deductible and delaying retirement savings. These behavioral failures—the high-deductible trap and low Pillar 3a engagement—compound their long-term financial fragility.

The critical observation is that high overall financial literacy in Switzerland does not confer immunity to financial vulnerability. Instead, it suggests that the constraint is not knowledge, but rather the overwhelming complexity and psychological friction imposed by mandatory financial systems (KVG and Pillar 3a). This complexity renders choice architecture, rather than purely informational campaigns, the necessary locus for effective policy intervention.

The thesis must, therefore, be organized around testing and addressing this interdependence, ensuring that structural cost issues are mitigated through regulatory action, and behavioral failures are corrected through streamlined choice architecture.

Table 3: Regional Cost Drivers and Inequality Multipliers

Region Type Structural Cost Profile Financial Literacy Tendency Vulnerability Multiplier Source Reference
Urban/High-Cost (Geneva, Basel-Stadt) High Rent, High Taxes, High KVG Premiums. Lower Financial Literacy (French-speaking bias for sophisticated products). Double Jeopardy: High objective structural burden combined with lower capacity for financial optimization. [5, 15]
Rural/Low-Cost (Uri, Glarus) Low Rent, Low Taxes, Moderate KVG Premiums. Moderate to High Financial Literacy (German-speaking tendency). Mitigated Risk: Lower structural burden cushions behavioral mistakes and volatility. [5, 15]

 

B. Proposed Empirical Research Agenda

 

To validate these theoretical connections and provide robust evidence for policy implementation, the following empirical research steps are required:

  1. Quantitative Analysis of Cantonal Heterogeneity: Leveraging administrative data, such as that provided by the Swiss Federal Statistics Office 28, and published cantonal cost indices 5, to construct a model that isolates and quantifies the interaction effect of regional cost burden (Rent, KVG) and financial literacy levels on key outcomes, such as credit card debt accumulation and Pillar 3a participation rates among the 18–30 cohort.
  2. Quasi-Experimental Choice Architecture Testing (KVG): Designing and testing a simulated or real-world intervention (such as the Deductible Shock Indicator) within KVG plan selection portals. This quasi-experimental design would measure the causal shift in deductible choice and use these shifts to predict changes in the cohort’s susceptibility to financial vulnerability, pre-testing the effectiveness of behavioral interventions before full policy implementation.
  3. Longitudinal Study of Behavioral Persistence: As long-run effects and non-targeted outcomes are critical for assessing nudge success 26, any behavioral intervention tested must be assessed using multi-temporal metrics. Specifically, KVG behavioral changes (e.g., selection of a lower deductible) must be tracked not only for immediate premium choice but also for subsequent long-term health behavior (e.g., reduction in forgone care) and overall financial stability (fewer unexpected medical bills).

 

C. Policy Roadmap (Recommendations)

 

The analysis necessitates a targeted policy roadmap focused on mitigating structural cost drivers and implementing behaviorally informed choice architectures:

  1. Mandate Behavioral Choice Architecture in KVG: Regulatory bodies should require KVG insurers to implement decision tools that counteract Present Bias, specifically by displaying the potential maximum financial shock (Deductible Shock Indicator) more prominently than the monthly premium savings. Furthermore, simplified, risk-aligned default plan options should be developed to protect individuals with low Health Insurance Literacy.14
  2. Activate Pillar 3a Through Automation: The government, in coordination with financial service providers, should mandate the introduction of low-friction, automated digital enrollment strategies for Pillar 3a, prioritizing System 1 ease of use over System 2 informational campaigns.25 This includes automated contribution transfers tied to salary payments and immediate digital onboarding.
  3. Enhance Regulatory Oversight for Transparency: FINMA and related agencies must continue to enforce transparency requirements regarding costs and additional benefits in supplementary health insurance.8 This ensures that systemic cost inflation in the private sector does not continually pressure the baseline KVG premium, which disproportionately burdens the 18–30 cohort.
  4. Institutionalize Affordable Housing Models: Given that high rent is the most significant fixed-cost burden, policy measures must explore institutionalizing support for regulated and affordable shared living models (WGs) in urban centers, alongside targeted rent subsidies, to directly address the primary source of financial stress.1

Works cited

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  3. Financial Well-Being High in Switzerland | ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, accessed November 4, 2025, https://www.zhaw.ch/en/about-us/news/news-releases/news-detail/event-news/financial-well-being-high-in-switzerland
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