The taxman moves your number.
Two countries, the same life, very different number. Most of Europe taxes you when you sell; a few tax the pot every year, just for existing. Across an exit that runs for decades, that yearly bite reshapes the whole target. Here's what it does to yours.
Explain it like I’m five
Countries take their bite differently. Some take a piece only when you sell an investment. Some take a small piece of everything you own, every single year, and over decades the yearly bite is far heavier. This page shows both shapes with your numbers, not any country’s real rates.
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Where You Live
A 3.33% draw before any tax.
Same life, two countries
No annual wealth tax
€900k
The classic target: your spending, times your multiple.
Taxed for existing
€1.3M
+1.0% a year on the whole pot.
That 1.0% a year means €385,714 more to save: 1.4× the pot for the same life. That’s the difference a border makes.
These are shapes, not countries. The real rules, country by country: The Europe atlas
Illustrative only: not tax advice, and not current rates. Wealth taxes, capital-gains rates and exit taxes vary by country and region and change often; check properly, and talk to a professional, before you move anything or anyone. The point here is the shape of the problem, not the number.
Regime presets last checked: July 2026. Tax rules move with national budgets.
The link carries these exact numbers. Anyone with it can read them, and opening it sends the address to the host.
Common questions
- Are these the real tax rates somewhere?
- No. The 0.5% and 1% are illustrative shapes, not any country’s actual rates. The point is what a wealth tax does to a plan, not to name a place. For the real, dated rules country by country, that’s the Europe atlas.
- What’s the difference between the two sides?
- One country taxes you when you sell investments (capital gains); the other taxes your pot every year just for holding it (a wealth tax). Over a retirement that runs for decades, being charged annually on everything is far heavier; that’s the gap the two pots show.
- Why does the wealth-tax side say “can’t hold”?
- It’s not a bug. When the yearly wealth tax gets close to the rate you can safely draw, the tax eats the pot faster than it can pay you, so no amount of money makes it work. That’s a plan being structurally impossible, shown honestly.
- Is this my full tax bill for moving?
- No. It isolates one thing: how a yearly wealth tax inflates the pot you’d need for the same life. It’s not your whole tax picture, and it’s not advice. Check the real rules, and a professional, before you move anything.
On the map: 04 · Keep more of it
Nothing here is financial, investment, medical or retirement advice: it’s arithmetic and education. The calculators use the numbers you enter, The Exit Rehearsal compares your own Plan and Reality without interpreting either, and The Spare Key prices the fallback you enter without recommending one. Some tools remember work in the browser, some can place a scenario in the page address, and the Rehearsal and the Spare Key stay in this browser unless you print them, download them, or keep them in your account. Each tool tells you what it keeps and where. Decisions about your money are yours, ideally with a licensed adviser. I’m happily not one.
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