Tools

Annuity payout calculator

Estimates monthly income from an immediate annuity, paid for a fixed period or for life on average U.S. mortality, to sanity-check real quotes.

Runs entirely in your browser: nothing you enter is sent or stored by this site. Results are estimates for planning, not a quote or advice.

How to use it

  1. Enter the lump sum you would turn into income.
  2. Enter your age and choose male or female. The tool accepts ages 40 to 100 and adjusts anything outside that range.
  3. Enter an interest rate. The starting 4.5% is a placeholder the tool describes as roughly what insurers earn on high-grade bonds, so replace it with the level that matches current quotes.
  4. Enter a period certain in years.

Two kinds of income appear. The large figure is a life-only payment. The table repeats it beside a payment for the fixed period you entered.

How the math works

Period certain. This is an ordinary loan-style payment. The tool converts the yearly rate to a monthly rate, then finds the level monthly payment that uses up the lump sum in exactly the number of months you chose. No one's lifespan is involved, and payments stop at the end of the period.

Life only. The tool adds up the present value of one dollar a month for as long as you live. It weights each future month by the chance you are still alive, taken from the Social Security table, and discounts it at your rate. The monthly payment is the lump sum divided by that total.

Hypothetical example, using the tool's starting values: $200,000, a man of 67, 4.5% and 20 years. The period-certain payment is about $1,256 a month, or about $301,000 over 240 months. The life-only payment is about $1,498 a month, a payout rate of about 9.0% a year. Choosing female lowers the life-only payment to about $1,361, because the table gives women longer lives. These are estimates, not quotes.

What it assumes

  • Mortality comes from the Social Security Administration's 2023 period life table, used in the 2026 Trustees Report, which covers the general population.
  • Payments are level. There is no inflation adjustment, refund feature or survivor benefit.
  • There are no insurer expenses, commissions, profit margin or premium taxes.
  • The two payment types use slightly different timing. The period-certain figure assumes the first payment comes a month out. The life-only figure assumes it starts at once.

Where it stops being right

  • The tool's own warning says real quotes are usually lower than the life-only estimate. People who buy annuities live longer than average, and insurers add costs and profit.
  • The period-certain figure and the life-only figure are two separate products. The tool does not show a "life with period certain" payment or a joint and survivor annuity, both of which pay less per month than life-only.
  • A life-only annuity pays nothing to heirs after death. Cash-refund and survivor options cost monthly income.
  • Interest rates move, so quotes change from week to week. See how annuity rates are set and why they move.
  • Taxes are not included. See how annuities are taxed.

Compare the payout rate you see here with actual quotes for a SPIA, and use the life expectancy calculator to see how long the table expects someone your age to live. The Single premium immediate annuities (SPIAs): how they work guide explains how these contracts work.

Last reviewed October 4, 2026

Related guides

Single premium immediate annuities (SPIAs): how they work A SPIA turns a lump sum into income that starts within a year. How payout options, pricing, inflation and taxes work, and who a SPIA suits and doesn't. How annuity rates are set and why they move Annuity rates come from an insurer's bond earnings minus costs and profit, plus mortality for income annuities. Why they move with bond yields and competition. What is an annuity and how does it work? An annuity is an insurance contract that trades a sum of money for income, now or later. How the types work, what they cost, and who they suit and don't. Life insurance vs annuities: opposite tools for opposite risks Life insurance protects your family if you die too soon; an annuity protects your income if you live too long. How they differ on risk, tax and who each suits. How annuities are taxed Annuity earnings grow tax-deferred and are taxed as ordinary income at payout; rules differ for qualified, non-qualified, early and inherited annuities. Building an annuity ladder How laddering MYGAs or income annuities spreads interest-rate and longevity risk across staggered maturities, with a hypothetical example and the trade-offs.

Terms used here

SPIA An annuity bought with one lump sum that starts paying guaranteed income within a year, often for life, in exchange for giving up access to the money. Immediate annuity An annuity bought with a lump sum that starts paying income within about a year, for life or a set period, in exchange for giving up access to the money. Life-only annuity An annuity that pays income for one person's lifetime and stops at death, with no refund or payments to heirs, in exchange for the highest payout. Period certain An annuity payout feature that guarantees payments for a set number of years, paying a beneficiary if the annuitant dies before that time is up. Annuitization Converting an annuity's account value into a stream of guaranteed payments for life or a set period, usually giving up access to the lump sum. Joint and survivor annuity An annuity that pays income for as long as either of two people lives, often at a reduced amount after the first death, such as 50% or 100%.

Latest on this topic