Compare your pension options
Compare a lump sum with monthly income, explore survivor benefits, or see how retirement timing changes pension payments.
Use figures from your pension provider. Planning ages are your assumptions, not predictions of lifespan.Payment schedule
How this pension comparison works
Start with the lump-sum offer and monthly benefits quoted by your provider. For survivor benefits, enter both pension options and the percentage payable to the survivor. For retirement timing, enter the benefits quoted at each retirement age.
Income received and invested balances
Total received adds the payments over your chosen planning period. The lump sum is received at the start. Pension payments arrive at month-end. Optional COLA increases apply after each complete year of that pension’s payments.
When reinvestment is selected, the calculator grows the previous balance by the monthly equivalent of your effective annual return, then adds that month’s payment. Monthly rate = (1 + annual return)1/12 − 1. Investment growth is separate from income received.
Survivor and retirement assumptions
Single-life payments stop at the pensioner’s assumed end age. Joint payments continue at the quoted amount while the pensioner is alive, then at the selected survivor percentage while the spouse is assumed alive. If the spouse dies first, the joint pension does not increase. COLA continues on retirement anniversaries. The model has no guaranteed minimum payment period.
The retirement-timing comparison includes pension income only. Salary earned by working longer, contributions, taxes, investment fees, inflation-adjusted purchasing power and other benefits are excluded. Higher modeled totals alone do not determine which option suits you.
These are illustrations, not pension quotations or personalized advice. Confirm payment timing, increases and survivor terms with your provider.