Switzerland

Switzerland holds dollar reserves and settles trade in USD. Every time the Fed expands M2, that premium compounds against the CHF, on top of domestic inflation.

CPI: World Bank (FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG). US M2: Federal Reserve FRED (M2SL). Reserve premium = cumulative M2 growth − cumulative US CPI.

The Swiss franc is genuinely strange in the best possible way. While almost every other currency in the world loses ground to the dollar over time, the franc has spent decades doing the opposite — quietly appreciating while central banks everywhere else printed, borrowed, and inflated their way through crises. In 2000, one dollar bought about 1.70 francs. By 2023, that same dollar bought roughly 0.90 francs. That's not a rounding error. That's a structural shift in how the world prices safety.

Why does this happen? Switzerland runs persistent current account surpluses, maintains one of the world's lowest inflation rates — averaging around 1% annually over the past two decades compared to the US average of closer to 2.5% — and its central bank, the SNB, has an unusual mandate that includes actively managing currency strength. When global fear spikes, money flows into francs the way water flows downhill. It happened in 2008, in 2011 during the eurozone crisis, and again dramatically in 2020.

For dollar-based investors, this creates a genuinely interesting calculation. Holding Swiss assets — whether Zurich real estate, Swiss equities, or simply franc-denominated bonds — has historically provided a cushion against the slow bleed of dollar debasement. The reserve currency premium that quietly taxes every dollar holder doesn't apply here. In fact, it sometimes runs in reverse. A Zurich apartment that cost 1.2 million francs in 2010 cost more dollars to buy in 2023 even if the franc price barely moved.

The tradeoff is real: Swiss yields are low, Swiss assets are expensive, and the SNB has occasionally intervened aggressively to cap franc strength. But for wealth preservation across decades, the math has favored the franc more often than not. Run the numbers yourself — the calculator below shows exactly how much purchasing power shifted between dollars and francs over any period you choose.