What the model assumes about Switzerland

This page collects every Switzerland-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 CHF 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 65. The planner uses this both as your default retirement age and as the start age of your state pension.

Source: Bundesamt fuer Sozialversicherungen (BSV) (2025). See it.

With inflation, plus 0.3 points a year. The state pension is normally adjusted every two years using the average of wage growth and price inflation. Because wages usually rise a little faster than prices, pensions tend to grow slightly faster than inflation over time.

Source: Federal Statistical Office (BFS) (2026). See it.

What a surviving partner keeps: 30% of the deceased's pension. Switzerland does not let a pensioner keep both pensions. Instead the survivor's own state pension goes up: the cap that limited the couple's combined pensions is lifted and a widowhood supplement of 20 percent is added, up to the maximum single pension.

Source: AHV/IV information centre (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

CHF 7,290 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: Bundesamt fuer Gesundheit (BAG) (2025). See it.

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

Long-term care

CHF 80,946 a year out of your own pocket if you need residential care. Costs are split between the public system and you, by type of cost.

Source: Bundesamt fuer Gesundheit (BAG) (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

CHF 1,440 + CHF 613/mo for one person, CHF 2,729 + CHF 1,134/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 BFS HABE (Haushaltsbudgeterhebung) 2020-2021 pool, Einpersonenhaushalte ab 65 Jahren / Paare ab 65 Jahren ohne Kinder (mean CHF per household per month).

Source: BFS HABE (Haushaltsbudgeterhebung) 2020-2021 pool, Einpersonenhaushalte ab 65 Jahren / Paare ab 65 Jahren ohne Kinder (mean CHF per household per month) (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 Switzerland's own scales, allowances and thresholds for the 2026 tax year, last read on 2026-07-30. The answers are checked against their calculator. Couples are assessed together where the rules allow it.

How Switzerland 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.