Frequently Asked Questions

RetireSmart AI is a planning tool that compares 54 retirement destinations around the world against your own income, pension, and savings. You tell us where you're from and what you have coming in, and we estimate monthly costs, visa pathways, tax treaty status, and a savings runway for each destination you're considering, then rank your best matches.

Generic lists rank countries the same way for everyone. We personalize the ranking to your actual numbers — your origin country, pension, savings, and risk tolerance — so a country that's a great match for a Canadian retiree on CPP might rank very differently for a UK retiree drawing a private pension. The visa difficulty, tax exposure, and cost estimates are all adjusted to your situation.

We maintain destination data — housing, food, transport, utilities, entertainment costs, and visa rules — that's reviewed and refreshed on an ongoing basis, including links to the relevant official government immigration site on every visa card. Costs are estimates meant for comparison and planning, not a guarantee of what you'll spend; always confirm current visa requirements directly with the relevant consulate or immigration authority before making a decision.

No. You can use the free tier — including 3 destination comparisons and your full income/pension breakdown — without signing up. Your scenario is saved automatically in your browser. An email is only needed if you upgrade to Pro, so your subscription can be restored on another device.

No. We're a planning and research tool to help you narrow down options and ask the right questions. For anything involving your specific tax position, pension elections, or visa application, we strongly recommend speaking with a licensed financial advisor and an immigration attorney qualified in your destination country.

They're a quick read on how accessible a country's retirement or long-stay visa pathway typically is for someone in your situation — factoring in minimum income thresholds, paperwork complexity, processing time, and whether a dedicated retirement visa exists at all. "Easy" doesn't mean zero paperwork; it means the path is well-established and the requirements are usually within reach for a typical retiree.

Most countries have more than one route in — for example a financially-independent residence permit, an investor or golden visa, a long-term/permanent residence route after years of stay, and a marriage-based route if you have a spouse who is a citizen or resident. We show every relevant pathway as a separate card so you can compare income requirements and benefits side by side.

Yes, often significantly. Most destinations have a dedicated marriage or family-reunification visa pathway with different income thresholds, processing routes, and timelines to permanent residency than the standard retirement visa. We include a marriage visa card for every one of our 54 destinations with country-specific requirements — look for the "Marriage visa" card on your selected destination's visa tab.

A tax treaty between your origin country and your destination determines how your pension, savings, and other income get taxed across both countries, and can prevent you from being taxed twice on the same income. We flag whether your origin country has an active treaty with each destination, since the absence of one can meaningfully change the real cost of retiring there even if visa access is easy.

No — we're a research and comparison tool, not an immigration service. Every visa card links to the official government site for that pathway so you can start the actual application, or work with a licensed immigration professional in that country.

Visa rules change, sometimes with little notice. We review and refresh destination data on an ongoing basis, but immigration policy can shift between updates. Treat our visa summaries as a strong starting point for research, and always verify current requirements with the official government source linked on each visa card before relying on them.

Every line on a visa's detail card is tagged with a small colour-coded icon so you can scan straight to what matters: The coloured banner across the top of each card also indicates the visa type — for example a retirement or long-stay route, a premium residency programme, or a marriage/family visa. Money amounts convert automatically into the destination's local currency, with a live estimate in your home currency shown alongside.

If you plan to claim your pension before or after your country's standard retirement age, the amount you actually receive usually changes — claiming early typically reduces it, deferring typically increases it. We apply your origin country's specific early-claim reduction and deferral bonus rates to estimate your real monthly pension at the age you tell us, rather than just using the standard full-age figure.

This usually means the claiming age you entered is too far before your country's minimum eligible claiming age — most pension systems simply don't pay out before a certain age, no matter how early you'd like to start. Adjust your planned claiming age and the figure will update.

Switching on couple mode scales estimated living costs to reflect two people (typically less than double, since housing and some bills are shared) and lets you add a partner's income or pension on top of your own. Make sure to enter your partner's income in their home currency — we handle the conversion.

Any regular money you expect to receive abroad: state or government pension, private/workplace pension, rental income, investment dividends, part-time work, or a partner's income if you're planning as a couple. Lump-sum savings are handled separately in the runway calculation, not as monthly income.

It's an estimate of how long your savings would last in a given destination if your monthly income didn't fully cover your estimated cost of living there — in other words, how many months or years you could draw down savings to cover the gap before running out, based on the numbers you've entered.

They're built from housing, food, transport, utilities, and entertainment benchmarks for each destination, and are meant to give you a realistic planning range rather than an exact figure — actual spending varies by city, lifestyle, and housing choice within any country. Use the cost adjustment controls to nudge categories up or down if you know your habits run higher or lower than average.

It lets you see how your numbers would hold up if the exchange rate between your income currency and your destination's currency moved against you by up to 30% — a real risk for retirees living on a fixed income abroad. It's a quick way to check whether a destination that looks affordable today still works if the currency swings.

We pull live daily rates where available; if a live rate can't be fetched, we fall back to a recent cached or built-in rate and flag it so you know it isn't live. Look for the rate-source badge next to any currency figure — it tells you whether the rate is live or a fallback.

Best Match scores destinations against your income, visa accessibility, cost of living, and currency risk together, then ranks the ones most likely to work for your specific situation — rather than just sorting by lowest cost or easiest visa alone. Free accounts see the top 2 matches; Pro unlocks the full top-5 ranking.

Yes — use the compare feature to pick a second destination and see costs, visa pathways, and key metrics next to your primary choice. This is one of the features included with Pro.

Free includes 3 destination comparisons, your top 2 best matches, all income/pension fields, a basic savings runway chart, and visa difficulty badges. Pro unlocks all 54 destinations, live daily exchange rates, the currency stress test, the full top-5 best-match ranking, tax treaty alerts, side-by-side comparison mode, and PDF export.

Pro is $8.50/month, or $75/year (about $6.25/month, a 26% saving versus paying monthly). Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled before the renewal date — you can cancel anytime through your Stripe customer portal, with no lock-in contract.

Open the upgrade panel and use "Restore Pro" with the email address you subscribed with. If that doesn't pick it up, use "Manage" to go to your subscription portal directly, or reach out to support@retiresmart-ai.com and we'll sort it out.

Use "Manage Subscription" in the footer, or "Manage" inside the upgrade panel, to open your billing portal — you can cancel, switch between monthly and annual, or update your payment method there directly through Stripe. Cancellations take effect at the end of the current billing period; no partial refunds are issued for unused time.

Refunds are issued at our discretion. If you believe you were charged in error, contact support@retiresmart-ai.com within 14 days of the charge and we'll review it. See our Terms of Service for the full billing policy.

Yes. Your income, pension, and scenario details are used only to generate your personal comparison and aren't sold or shared with third parties. See our Privacy Policy for full details on what's collected and how it's used.

Your inputs auto-save to your browser so you can pick up where you left off. Pro subscribers' data is also tied to their account email so it can be restored across devices.

Pro accounts are licensed per person rather than shared, so we limit active sessions to 3 devices at a time. If you need to switch a device out, sign out of one of the existing sessions first or contact support.

We'd genuinely like to know — email support@retiresmart-ai.com with the destination and what looks off, and we'll review it. Immigration and cost-of-living data changes often, and reports from people actually researching a move are one of our best sources for catching it early.