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Got a pension buyout offer? Find out what it is really worth before you sign.
Companies offer lump sums because it saves them money. That does not automatically make your offer bad, but it means the math deserves a hard look. Start with the one number that frames the whole decision: the return your lump sum would need to earn to keep up with your checks.
Decide by these six factors, not by the size of the check
Live long, keep the pension
Your health and longevity
A monthly pension is longevity insurance. The longer you live, the more the annuity beats the lump sum. Family history of long lives leans annuity; serious health issues lean lump sum.
Run the number, not the feeling
The offer's implied value
A lump sum can look huge and still be worth far less than the stream of checks it replaces. The calculator shows the ratio and the return your lump sum would need to earn to keep up.
Who depends on this income?
Survivor needs
A single-life pension stops at your death. A lump sum rolled to an IRA passes to heirs. Joint-and-survivor elections change the math for married couples.
Who is standing behind the promise?
Employer and insurer strength
PBGC insures most private pensions up to legal limits. Once a plan is transferred to an insurance company, state guaranty associations apply instead. Different backstop, different limits.
Be honest with yourself
Your discipline with a windfall
Retirees who spend a lump sum early lose the comparison automatically. If a large rollover would get raided, the boring monthly check is a feature, not a bug.
Timing changes the check size
Interest rates at your calculation date
Lump sums are set using IRS segment rates from a lookback month. Higher rates mean smaller lump sums. The month your plan uses can move your offer by thousands of dollars.
The guides
All guidesLump Sum vs. Monthly Pension: How to Decide
A plain-English decision framework for pension buyout offers: when the lump sum wins, when the monthly check wins, and the math that settles it.
9 min read
How Pension Lump Sums Are Calculated (417(e) Segment Rates)
The exact mechanics behind your lump sum offer: IRS minimum present value segment rates, mortality tables, lookback months, and why higher rates mean smaller checks.
7 min read
Pension Buyout Tax Rules: Rollovers, Withholding, and Penalties
How lump sum pension buyouts are taxed: the direct rollover that avoids the 20 percent withholding, the 60-day trap, early withdrawal penalties, and what stays tax-deferred.
6 min read
Pension Risk Transfer: What It Means When an Insurer Takes Over Your Pension
What a pension risk transfer means for retirees: why employers hand pensions to insurance companies, what changes for your check, and what happens to PBGC protection.
7 min read
12 Questions to Ask Before Accepting a Pension Buyout
The exact questions to put to your plan administrator, your spouse, and yourself before signing a lump sum election, and the answers that should raise a flag.
6 min read
Pension Buyout Windows and Deadlines: How They Work
Why pension buyout offers come with short windows, what the typical timeline looks like, what happens if you miss the deadline, and whether offers come back.
5 min read
Is My Pension Safe? PBGC and State Guaranty Protection Explained
Who stands behind your pension check: what the PBGC insures, what it does not, and what protects you after a pension moves to an insurance company.
6 min read
How to Roll a Pension Lump Sum Into an IRA, Step by Step
The exact steps to move a pension buyout into an IRA with zero tax withheld: opening the account, the election form, the check, and the January 1099-R.
5 min read
Company buyout histories
GM, Verizon, IBM, AT&T, GE, and dozens of other employers have run lump sum windows or moved pensions to insurers. See what happened at yours and what it means for your benefit.
Quick answers
What is a pension buyout?
An offer from a pension plan to pay you a one-time lump sum in exchange for giving up your future monthly pension checks. Companies make these offers to reduce the pension obligations on their books.
Should I accept a pension buyout offer?
It depends on your health, longevity expectations, survivor needs, and how the offer compares with the value of the checks it replaces. Our free calculator shows the return your lump sum would need to earn to keep up, which is the right starting point.
What happens if I decline a pension buyout?
Nothing changes. Your pension continues under the plan's normal terms. Declining never forfeits your benefit.
Why did my company offer me a lump sum?
Employers offer buyouts to shrink pension liabilities, often ahead of transferring the plan to an insurance company. Paying you today usually costs the plan less than keeping the promise for decades.
Got a buyout offer on your desk?
Run your numbers in the free calculator, then get a second opinion before the window closes.