Planning your retirement in Switzerland: the complete guide

Why plan your retirement?

Good planning answers three questions: will you be able to retire when you want? Will your standard of living last? And which levers can improve your situation? Without a plan, people often discover an income gap or an avoidable tax bill too late.

Planning also turns uncertainty into concrete decisions: retirement age, pension or lump sum, buy-ins, 3a contributions. These choices have a lasting impact — and most are irreversible.

When should you start planning?

Ideally 10 to 15 years before retirement: that is when the levers (LPP buy-ins, 3a savings, investment strategy) still have time to take effect. But it is never too late — even a few years out, planning lets you optimise the order of withdrawals and the taxation.

The right habit: review your situation every year, and at every major event (salary change, inheritance, divorce, property purchase).

The steps of retirement planning

A complete plan follows five steps: (1) estimate your retirement income from the three pillars (AVS, LPP, 3a); (2) budget your future expenses, including inflation; (3) identify any gap between income and expenses; (4) activate the optimisation levers; (5) decide — retirement age, pension or lump sum, staggering.

Each step depends on the previous ones, and cantonal taxation applies to the whole. That is why a tool that models everything at once gives a far more reliable picture than a separate calculation.

The key decisions to prepare

Four decisions shape your retirement: the retirement age (retiring early has a cost), the pension-versus-lump-sum choice for the 2nd pillar, LPP buy-ins (which raise capital and cut tax), and the 3rd-pillar withdrawal strategy. Each can be quantified, and their combination changes the net result.

Order and timing matter as much as amounts: staggering lump-sum withdrawals over several years can significantly reduce the total tax.

Stress-testing your plan

A good plan does not rely on a single 'ideal' scenario. You have to test it: what happens if markets fall just before you retire, if you live to 95, or if inflation stays high? A robust plan withstands these shocks.

RetirePlan includes a stress test: it replays your plan under different scenarios and shows your safety margin — so you can retire with peace of mind, not by hoping everything goes well.

Planning with RetirePlan

RetirePlan brings together your three pillars, your expenses and your canton's taxation, then projects your income year after year. You get a clear verdict — at what age you can retire, whether your plan holds, and which optimisations are available.

You can test several scenarios, compare and adjust as many times as needed. The first verdict is free.

Frequently asked questions

How do you plan your retirement in Switzerland?

Estimate your income from the three pillars (AVS, LPP, 3a), budget your future expenses, identify the gap, then activate the optimisation levers (buy-ins, 3a, pension/lump-sum choice, staggering). A tool like RetirePlan models everything and applies your canton's taxation.

When should you start planning your retirement?

Ideally 10 to 15 years before, when the levers still have time to act. But planning remains useful even close to retirement, especially to optimise the order of withdrawals and the taxation.

What is the difference between calculating and planning your retirement?

Calculating estimates your income at a point in time; planning is the full process: projecting over time, identifying the gap, optimising, deciding and testing the plan's robustness against the unexpected.

Is RetirePlan's retirement planning free?

You get a free first verdict in a few minutes, with no credit card. Detailed planning and scenarios are part of the paid offering.