Tomás & Ana, 41 and 39 — Rotterdam
A couple who did everything right, in a country that taxes the pot itself.
What does a wealth tax do to a couple's exit?
Between them they spend €3,400 a month, have €400,000 invested, and add €1,500 a month. On paper their number is fifteen years out, on the nose.
15 yrs at 56
Their numbers, in the tools
The Exit Calculator, prefilled Find your country the way they would The rules where they live: Netherlands · cost index 115.6Except they live where the state taxes wealth every year, not just gains. Feed a 1% annual wealth drag into the same maths and the pot that holds €3,400 a month isn't €1.2M any more — it's just over €1.7M, about €525,000 more. That's not a detail; that's the difference between fifteen years and a different plan: earn more, spend less, or exit somewhere the pot isn't the thing being taxed.
They did the hard half — the saving — and the plan still wobbles, because the tax code under it taxes having, not selling. That difference compounds against them every single year.
Their honest options are three, and only three: earn more, need less, or move the exit somewhere the pot isn't the thing being taxed. Pretending the drag isn't there is not one of the options.
Everyone here runs at a deliberately modest 5% real return (after inflation) and a ×30 number — the calculators default to showing you more of the range; drag the sliders yourself. The people are invented, the arithmetic is real, and none of it is advice.
Bring me a challenge.
The Exit Audit, then ninety minutes: a straight verdict, real alternatives with their pros and cons, and your first move. If you want someone to nod along, I’m the wrong person to pay.