Why we built PensionMaxxer

Retirement planning usually stops at one number: the gross pension. It is the number on the statement, the number in the spreadsheet, and the number people quote to each other. It is also the number that tells you the least about the life you will actually live.

The same pension, three different lives

Two things happen to a pension the moment it crosses a border. It gets taxed under a new set of rules, and it gets spent at a new set of prices. Either one can move your standard of living substantially. Together they can turn a comfortable retirement into a stretched one, or the other way around.

PensionMaxxer exists to make that visible. You enter what you receive, where you are tax resident, and which passports you hold. We show what lands in your pocket, what it buys locally, and whether you are even entitled to live there.

What you get

• After-tax income under your current country's rules
• After-tax income if you were taxed in each destination instead
• Spending power up or down, adjusted for local costs
• Entry and residence rights for each passport you hold, plus any retiree tax concessions

Nothing to sign up for

There is no account and nothing to store. The figures you type are used to run the sums and then they are gone.

This is the first of a series of articles on retiring abroad — the tax traps, the visa routes, and the places where a modest pension goes further than you would expect.