Nicole Bohne — life insurance advisor.

Nicole is registered in the FINMA intermediary register as FINMA F01536402. She spent 7 years as a pension-planning and insurance specialist at Basler Versicherung, followed by 2 years at Zurich Insurance. She then became self-employed and joined Expat Savvy as a consultant for life-insurance, 3rd-pillar, and tax-optimization questions.

That insurer-side background matters because life insurance is rarely a simple product question. The useful question is whether the household has a real protection gap after BVG, accident cover, savings, children, debt, permit status, and likely time in Switzerland are read together. How she reads that gap — and what term cover costs when there is one — is set out on our page on life insurance in Switzerland.

She has seen from the inside how these products are built and priced, which is the quickest way to recognise one being oversold. Her most common recommendation is a smaller, cleaner structure than the one on the table — and, reasonably often, none at all.

Alongside the review desk she runs her own independent practice, Vision Bohne, in Lyss in the canton of Bern — for private clients and for companies, from liability, household, motor and life cover to occupational pensions and daily-sickness insurance for employers. Two habits from that practice carry into her reviews here. She checks contracts once a year, or whenever life changes: a move, a child, a new business. And she starts from an observation she makes on her own site — many people are insured twice over, while others are not insured enough.

Her entry in FINMA’s public register lists her as a natural person authorised as a non-tied insurance intermediary, first registered on 1 September 2025, for life and supplementary health business among other lines.

“Non-tied” is the register’s word for independent: she is bound to no insurer. The company her entry names is her own practice, Vision Bohne in Lyss, registered separately under F01536404. Both entries take a minute to check, and we would rather you checked.

Four families of question, run in 45-minute consultations. Protection first, tax second, product last.

The traps that turn up in life and 3a contracts, in the order Nicole checks for them.

• A gap smaller than the quote. Before any product: who depends on the income, and what BVG survivor benefits, accident cover and savings already pay. The honest answer is often that the gap is smaller than the quote assumed.
• Savings dressed as insurance. An insurance-wrapped 3a earns its place when the premium waiver or disability cover is genuinely needed. Otherwise a bank 3a with separate term cover is usually the cleaner structure — and the easier one to leave.
• The first years of a contract. Premium load and surrender value decide what an early exit costs. For someone who may leave Switzerland, that is not a theoretical question.
• Paper written for another country. Beneficiary clauses drafted under one legal system, disability definitions that change meaning across a border — the quiet failures that follow a move.
• Insured twice, or not at all. Overlaps between employer cover, a policy from home and a Swiss one are common; so are holes between them. Her annual check exists for exactly this.

Our client files run in one system, so what crosses Nicole’s desk can be counted rather than guessed. The figures cover her enquiries from January to September 2026.

Health insurance is still the most common way in — 80 of the 121 who named a topic — but pensions follow closely: 60 asked about pillar 3a and tax, 49 about life insurance and pensions, 48 about liability, household and legal cover. Of the 29 clients who completed the full questionnaire before their review, 19 wanted to discuss 3a and 15 life insurance. Of the 114 whose language is recorded, 107 chose English, five French and two German.

Of the 58 files with a Swiss address, 22 are in the canton of Zürich and 18 in Zug; Lucerne, Geneva, Basel and Vaud follow. Germany and France are the countries named most often, then Australia, Brazil, Italy and the United Kingdom.

The questions, as they arrive:

• Do I need life insurance at all — and if so, how much?
• Bank 3a or insurance 3a?
• My employer covers my health insurance. What about my partner and children?
• I already have cover from home. Do I need Swiss cover on top?
• What happens to my Swiss pension money when I leave?

Real reviews from 2026, stripped of anything that could identify the people in them — no names, no employers, no dates. What Nicole found, and what changed.

Two excerpts from Google reviews of our Zürich practice that name Nicole, quoted exactly. The full reviews are on our Google profile.

Nicole's archive will grow as the life-insurance and 3a pages move into her voice.

BVG buyback — buying into your Swiss pension

30 Aug 2026 · 3rd pillar & tax

Retirement planning in Switzerland — for foreign residents

30 Aug 2026 · 3rd pillar & tax

VIAC vs frankly vs finpension — the architecture-first read

27 Apr 2026 · 3rd pillar & tax

Nicole works in German, English, and French.

A first review with Nicole is free, in English, German, or French, by video call. Bring existing life-insurance contracts, 3a statements, salary and BVG information, and the household question you want answered.