Retirement Life Planner
Other apps ask your age and risk tolerance, then hand you an abstract number. RetireMap starts with the life you actually picture — the house, the place, the vehicle, the trips, healthcare covered — prices it honestly, and works backward to the capital or monthly income that funds it, anywhere on Earth.
🇺🇸 For US service members & veterans Serving — or served? Your benefits count here.Most retirement calculators ignore the benefits you earned. RetireMap counts them all, as the two separate programs they are: your DoD military pension, your VA disability pay (tax-free) and TRICARE — plus a map of where VA care actually works if you retire abroad, from Puerto Rico to Manila.
Calculate my military & VA benefits →No app to install and no account — RetireMap runs right in your browser, on any phone or computer. On a phone, your browser's “Add to Home Screen” keeps it one tap away; if a link ever opens inside another app and shows an error, open it in Chrome or Safari instead.
Photo library · 20 places · changes every 5 seconds
Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
Beach life in the Dominican Republic — tap below to price this exact place.
How this page works — follow the numbers, in order:
Answer four questions and we'll load the closest example plan into the builder — every number stays editable.
The example library
Each example is a complete, believable plan — a place, a home, a vehicle, a monthly life — with the money already worked out. Clone one, then change anything. Examples are starting points, not prescriptions.
The US library
Every state in the union (plus DC), each with a representative retirement town and the state's other well-known places listed right on its card — Florida's card, for example, covers Orlando, Miami, West Palm Beach, Tampa, Sarasota, Naples and more. Every place gets the same treatment: local build and land costs, healthcare bands and the state's retirement tax quirk. The monthly and target figures price the same standard life everywhere — a 2,000 sq ft home, a mid-size SUV, $4,500/mo spending — so states compare apples to apples. Figures are Tier 2 covered-destination estimates: solid starting points, and every number stays editable once you load a state into the builder. Every card also shows the two costs brochures hide — average property tax and homeowners insurance — because in states like Florida, insurance can cost more than the tax bill.
Latin America · South America · Europe
All 20 Latin American countries are now in the library — Mexico through Argentina — plus Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana so South America is complete, the Caribbean favourites, and a hand-picked set of Europe's strongest retirement bases: Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Montenegro, Malta, France, Ireland, Cyprus and Albania. Each country gets one well-known retirement town, priced on the same standard life as the states (2,000 sq ft home, mid-size SUV, $4,500/mo spending) so everything compares fairly. Figures are Tier 2 covered-destination estimates — editable the moment you load a place into the builder. Filter by region or search a country or town.
The plan builder
Change anything — the goal cost, the gap, your estimated retirement age, the probability and the recommendations all update instantly. The math is a transparent calculator, not an AI guess: every assumption is shown and editable. New here? Flip on Guided steps inside the form and take it five short screens at a time — and tap the small ? on any field for a plain-English explanation.
Bigger text, plainer words, same honest math. Made for anyone who hates forms — flip it on and the whole page breathes.
Type it (or tap the mic and say it) the way you'd tell a friend. We'll fill the builder for you — then you can adjust anything.
Step 3 · Your headline answer — read these 4 numbers first
Welcome — design the retirement life you want.
This space is yours. Pick the place you picture in the builder, add your numbers, and your own plan — your target, your date, your paycheck — appears here. No example plan is loaded: the first plan here should be yours.
Don't try to read everything at once. These four numbers are the whole plan. Everything below them is just the detail behind them.
Monthly spending vs. the income stack that pays it. The portfolio only has to cover the gap.
₿ + income stack
Growth asset for the long game, distributions for the monthly bills.
Plainly: Bitcoin (₿) is not a place in RetireMap — it is one investment amount you can include if you hold it. Enter how much you own in the builder under “…of which Bitcoin ($)” and it is counted on the growth side of your plan, alongside your other assets. The income stack — dividends & distributions — is the part that pays the monthly bills.
The exact same life — home, vehicle, spending, income — priced in —, next to your main plan.
Change your Plan B in step 1 of the builder — pick any place in the library, any US state, or name your own in Anywhere mode. Every figure above stays editable in the builder, and Plan B travels with your plan code and share card.
Calculated for your numbers — biggest lever first.
Your plan as entered — tap a shock to see what breaks and by how much.
Don't want to apply the levers one by one? Tap once and the app tests combinations — part-time years, a vehicle swap, claiming later, rent-first, saving more — and returns the easiest combo that lands your target age, with the before/after.
Your before/after will appear here.
“I retire at this age. Non-negotiable.” Lock it, and the app solves for the exact monthly savings that makes it happen on your current plan.
Your exact number will appear here.
People don't live in sliders; they live in events. Tap one and watch the whole plan re-price. Undo (in the bar below) takes any of them back.
Each event edits your real inputs above — nothing is hidden, and the headline, probability and recommendations all move with it.
The three numbers most planners hide
All three update live from your plan above. The coast date is the day saving becomes optional. The claiming table prices age 62 vs 67 vs 70 on your numbers — not a generic article. And the bridge prices the health-insurance years between retiring and Medicare, the gap that scares early retirees most.
Your entered benefit is treated as your full (age-67) amount. Claiming earlier cuts it for life; waiting grows it ~8%/yr.
| Claim at | Monthly | Capital target | Lifetime to 90 |
|---|
For US plans retiring before 65: marketplace (ACA) coverage until Medicare starts, estimated from your destination's private-tier pricing and your retirement age.
VA benefits around the world
This is the split every veteran retiring abroad needs to see clearly. The money follows you anywhere on Earth. The healthcare mostly does not — outside the US and its territories, VA care narrows to service-connected treatment only. Guidance only — verify your own eligibility with the VA before you move.
VA disability compensation is payable worldwide, tax-free, wherever you live — the VA deposits it the same as in Ohio. DoD military retired pay from DFAS is likewise payable worldwide. Living abroad does not reduce either check.
Full VA hospitals and clinics exist across all 50 US states and in US territories — so a veteran gets the same VA system there as on the mainland:
The VA Manila Outpatient Clinic in Pasay City is the only VA clinic on foreign soil. It serves veterans living in the Philippines, focused on service-connected care. It is a big reason the Philippines is a classic veteran retirement base — even though it is not yet a priced destination in this library, veterans ask about it by name.
In Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Portugal, Spain, Thailand and every other foreign country in this library, there is no VA hospital. The VA's Foreign Medical Program (FMP) reimburses care only for your service-connected conditions (and related care) — you usually pay up front, file a claim, and get reimbursed.
| Any US state, Florida & Orlando | Full VA system — hospitals & clinics statewide. Disability + retired pay deposited as normal. |
| Rincón, Puerto Rico | Full VA territory access — San Juan VA Medical Center. No visa, US dollars, and both checks pay exactly as on the mainland. The strongest VA setup outside the 50 states. |
| Philippines (Manila) | Only foreign-soil VA clinic (Manila). Disability + retired pay worldwide-payable. Not yet a priced library destination — use Anywhere mode to price it. |
| Dominican Republic, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama & the rest of Latin America | Both checks pay in full. Healthcare: FMP for service-connected care only — budget local/private care for everything else. |
| Portugal, Spain & Europe | Both checks pay in full. Healthcare: FMP service-connected only; most veterans pair it with the local public system once resident. |
| Chiang Mai, Thailand & the rest of the world | Both checks pay in full. Healthcare: FMP service-connected only — private care is low-cost locally, which is why the plan's healthcare line matters here. |
Guidance, not a VA ruling: FMP registration, Manila clinic eligibility and TRICARE Overseas rules change and depend on your rating and enrollment. Verify at va.gov (Foreign Medical Program) and with TRICARE before making a move that depends on them.
Your life, as a journey
Every date this app already computes — today, the day saving becomes optional, the move, Medicare, Social Security, and the long horizon — drawn as one road. It updates live with your plan above. This is the screenshot worth sending to your partner.
Same life, different map pin
How to read this table: every row is the same life — only the place changes. One-time cost is paid once. Capital target is the total pot you need — the one-time costs plus savings that then pay you a little every month; it is not a bill you pay once. “vs. your pick” tells you, in dollars, what you'd save or pay extra by choosing that place instead.
The home, vehicle, spending and income from your plan above — only the location changes. Tap + Compare on any example or state card (or add a place below) and it lands in your compare tray, pinned at the bottom of the screen. Tap Compare and this table rebuilds itself from your picks.
| Place | One-time cost | Capital target | vs. your pick |
|---|
Duel your own plans
Places are easy to compare — but real decisions are between your versions of the future. Save the plan as it stands, change anything in the builder, save again, and duel them here: “Beach plan at 61” vs “Mérida at 57” vs “the same beach plan, renting, at 59.” Saved plans live in this session; tap Load on any row to bring one back into the builder.
No saved plans yet — build one above, give it a name, and save it. Then change the plan and save a rival.
| Your plan | Place | Capital target | Monthly life | On track for | Success odds |
|---|
Reverse mode
Half of planners start with a number, not a destination. Enter yours and we'll rank places where a comfortable standard life fits it.
Best fit first. “Fits” means the standard life's full capital target is at or under your capital.
Move Manager
Premium preview The full 24-month Move Manager with reminders is a paid-tier feature — this working checklist is its free preview.
Generated from your plan's destination and target date — the paperwork, healthcare and logistics most people only discover mid-move.
Retirement is a two-person decision: one partner builds the plan, taps “Copy plan code,” and sends it over. The other pastes it here and opens the exact same plan — no starting from zero.
Every plan can be switched to “Rent first 12 months, then buy” in the builder. Smart movers test-drive a place for a year before committing capital — the trial year is costed into the plan, and if the place disappoints, almost nothing is sunk. It's the cheapest insurance in retirement planning.