What the model assumes about Portugal

This page collects every Portugal-specific number the model starts from: when the state pension begins and how it behaves, what healthcare and long-term care cost, what a retired household spends, and how tax is worked out. The planner prefills each of them, and you can change any of them during setup. Amounts are in EUR at today's prices, and the same data files drive the simulation itself, so a figure you read here is the figure your plan runs on.

The state pension

Starts at 68. The planner uses this both as your default retirement age and as the start age of your state pension.

Source: CGTP-IN / Diario da Republica (2024). See it.

With inflation. Each January pensions rise broadly in line with inflation, and smaller pensions receive a little extra when the economy is growing well. Larger pensions can receive slightly less than inflation, and the very largest have been frozen in recent years.

Source: INE Portugal (2026). See it.

What a surviving partner keeps: 60% of the deceased's pension. The surviving spouse receives 60 percent of the deceased's pension for life, paid on top of their own pension.

Source: gov.pt (Portuguese government) (2026). See it.

How the simulation pays and raises pensions: the income section of the technical reference. What changes at the first death: the couples section.

Healthcare

€757 a year for each person, at 65. Health spending outside long-term care: visits, medicines, glasses, dental work and any premiums you pay yourself. The planner starts from this figure and moves it as you age.

Source: Instituto Nacional de Estatistica (INE), Portugal (2024). See it.

How the model ages this figure: the expenses section of the technical reference.

Long-term care

€22,224 a year out of your own pocket if you need residential care. You pay the full price until your savings run down far enough to qualify for help.

Source: OneValue, Government of Portugal (2026). See it.

The model does not add the whole charge on top of your budget: the groceries, and for renters the housing, that a care home replaces are credited back. How the care model works.

What a retired household spends

€511 + €120/mo for one person, €861 + €187/mo for a couple. Essential spending plus everything-else spending, each month, excluding housing and healthcare, which the planner asks about separately. The prefills come from INE Portugal IDEF 2022/2023 (Inquerito as Despesas das Familias), agregado '1 adulto idoso' 65+ / '2 ou mais adultos pelo menos 1 idoso' (annual EUR per household, COICOP 2018).

Source: INE Portugal IDEF 2022/2023 (Inquerito as Despesas das Familias), agregado '1 adulto idoso' 65+ / '2 ou mais adultos pelo menos 1 idoso' (annual EUR per household, COICOP 2018) (2026). See it.

What each budget covers and how spending changes with age: the expenses section of the technical reference.

Tax

The model recalculates your tax bill for every simulated year, using Portugal's own scales, allowances and thresholds for the 2026 tax year, last read on 2026-07-27. The answers are checked against their published tables. Couples are assessed together where the rules allow it.

How Portugal taxes a retirement plan lists every figure, the tax office page each one came from, and everything the model does not do there.

Everything we read

Every publication behind the pension, care, healthcare and budget figures above. The tax page carries its own references, one per figure.