My wife and I visited Lugano for an afternoon during our honeymoon while staying in nearby Como. Thought Lugano was very nice but I will say Como took the cake for me. I also remember our lunch out being as expensive as a nice dinner in Brunate was.
Question to OP - Are you are an expat and did your earning and saving in US and retired to Switzerland, or did you do some earning years there as well? When you moved, did you have more saved than you planned and thus decided you could handle the exchange rate hit effectively increasing withdrawal rates by 30% or whatever the number is? Or did you decide you can live a simpler life than planned and thus do so in a more expensive location?
Based on my limited experience there I had imagined saving Switzerland for late-retirement travel or living abroad if the portfolio does well, and instead traveling to or living abroad in Thailand or Ecuador or somewhere less expensive in the early years.
Como has a rich and very long history and is beautiful/well preserved, yes. A nice perk of living in Lugano is that it is a short train ride away. Sometimes my wife and I just go for lunch and a bit of shopping there. Some local folks go to Italy for haircuts or eyeglasses or even dentists. We try to spend locally as much as is feasible, but do take advantage of our proximity to the EU for some purchases.
We came to Switzerland in 2009 when I took a j*b here. My wife and I always hoped to retire somewhere in Europe, most likely Italy, so we saw moving here as a good transition strategy.We had been on the LBYM and ER path in the US since 1992, and had saved a lot of our income by the time we arrived here. I was rather aggressive in buying stocks during the 2008-09 downturn, and that helped our nest egg a lot.
So did the 6 years of a Swiss salary, which is tuned to the higher cost of living in Switzerland. For example, where I worked an admin assistant made upwards of 70,000 Swiss francs (right now about equal to same amount in dollars). The consensus here is you need about 120K Swiss francs annually, before taxes, to have a comfortable life in Switzerland. You can get by with less; but it means scrimping a fair amount.
We certainly do not live an extravagant life here; we eat out less than when we lived in the States and generally only for lunch, buy clothing at the twice yearly sales, shop for some things in nearby Italy, and have chosen not to own an automobile. Lucky for us, that is easily done, given the excellent train, bus, and rental car & bike networks. We live on Lake Lugano, so we pay more for our rented flat; however, by not owning we leave the option to move to cheaper housing further from the lake if necessary in the future.
Retiring here is not an easy option if you are not a citizen of an EU country. Switzerland, which by the way voted not to join the EU when it was formed, has agreements with the EU about free movement of EU & Swiss citizens among the countries, in return for access to the EU markets.
Unfortunately, the US, which used to have a preferred status, no longer does. This means that to retire here is nearly impossible unless you, as I did, worked here and gained permanent residency first. This requires a minimum of 5-10 years on a work permit, proof of language proficiency (Italian in my case) and evidence that you have integrated successfully. An exception is made if you are mega rich; then the rules are very different, like everywhere else I suppose. But that is for the tiniest strata of rich foreigners. Even working here is now pretty hard for non-EU citizens. Employers have to prove that no Swiss worker could be found to fill the role.
A better option for you might be to retire to northern Italy, Como for example. Then you could travel into the Swiss alps easily but without the higher day-to-day living costs. Of course, you have all of Italy at your doorstep as well. Also, Italy allows Americans to retire there with fewer barriers.
On the down side, Italy isn't as efficient and well organized as Switzerland, so there is the frustration cost. That said, we have considered moving across the border if/when finances might make living here impossible. That could happen if the dollar were to substantially fall against the franc for a long period. For now, income from our investments, which are mostly in the US, have kept pace with inflation here (which is negligible) and have been able to offset the Dollar/Franc disadvantage.
We stay because we now have a large group of friends here, really enjoy our community, and love the Swiss lifestyle, which tends to focus on family/friends and simpler pleasures. We can afford to live here with careful budgeting; so far, at least. As is said in Italian, "speriamo" (let's hope)!
-BB
