What the model assumes about the Netherlands

This page collects every Netherlands-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 65 to 70, depending on the year you were born. It is 65 if you were born in 1950 or earlier, 66 if you were born from 1951 to 1955, 67 if you were born from 1956 to 1966, 68 if you were born from 1967 to 1978, 69 if you were born from 1979 to 1991, and 70 if you were born in 1992 or later. For people born after September 1964 no law has set the age yet: these ages are what the legal formula gives on the official life expectancy forecast, so they may change. The law moves in steps of three months; the planner uses whole years. The planner uses the age for your year of birth both as your default retirement age and as the start age of your state pension.

Source: Rijksoverheid (2026). See it.

With inflation, plus 0.5 points a year. The Dutch state pension is tied to the legal minimum wage, which rises twice a year with negotiated pay deals. Over the last twenty years that kept it slightly ahead of inflation, helped by a large one-off minimum wage boost in 2023.

Source: Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB) (2026). See it.

What a surviving partner keeps: 46% of the deceased's pension. The AOW pension pays nothing from the deceased partner's record. The survivor's own AOW simply rises from the couple rate to the higher single rate.

Source: Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB) (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

€2,514 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: Staat van Volksgezondheid en Zorg (VWS / RIVM, on Vektis and NZa data) (2026). See it.

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

Long-term care

€36,742 a year out of your own pocket if you need residential care. The state funds the care. You pay a capped fee plus your room and meals.

Source: CAK (Centraal Administratie Kantoor) (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

€955 + €287/mo for one person, €1,604 + €470/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 CBS Budgetonderzoek 2020 (StatLine 83678NED amounts x 83679NED detailed shares), household types 'Alleenstaande man/vrouw vanaf AOW-leeftijd' and 'Paar zonder kind, vanaf AOW-leeftijd'.

Source: CBS Budgetonderzoek 2020 (StatLine 83678NED amounts x 83679NED detailed shares), household types 'Alleenstaande man/vrouw vanaf AOW-leeftijd' and 'Paar zonder kind, vanaf AOW-leeftijd' (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 Netherlands's own scales, allowances and thresholds for the 2026 tax year, last read on 2026-07-30. The answers are checked against worked examples. Each partner in a couple is taxed separately, on their own income.

How Netherlands taxes a retirement plan lists every figure, the tax office page each one came from, and everything the model does not do there. Accounts in Netherlands describes each kind of account and pension the planner offers there: when money can come out, how it is taxed, and where we read the rules.

Everything we read

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