The free checker
Enter the numbers from your offer letter. Everything is computed in your browser — nothing you type leaves this device. The free results give you the verdict, the implied guaranteed return, the break-even age, and the PBGC screen.
Mortality: Each year's pension payments are weighted by the probability of being alive to receive them. Survival probabilities are modeled with a Gompertz mortality curve (mortality rising ≈9% per year of age) calibrated so that average remaining lifetime matches the SSA Period Life Table (2021, total population) life expectancy at the relevant age. This is a standard approximation of the full table, not the table itself; your plan prices benefits with its own IRS-prescribed mortality and interest (IRC §417(e)), which is why your lump sum is what it is — our job is to value the monthly side on stated, public assumptions.
Discounting: Future payments are discounted at the investment return you select. The "implied guaranteed return" is the discount rate at which the pension's expected present value exactly equals the lump sum, solved numerically.
Break-even age is simple payback — cumulative monthly checks (with no discounting) reaching the lump sum — shown because it is the number most people try to compute by hand. The mortality-weighted break-even in the results also weights each check by survival probability.
PBGC screen: compares your monthly benefit with the PBGC maximum guaranteed benefit — $7,789.77/month for payments starting at 65 in 2026 — using PBGC's published age-adjustment pattern, approximated. The exact cap for your age and payment form is in PBGC's table; joint-and-survivor forms reduce it. The screen is a flag to investigate, not a guarantee determination.
Taxes are not computed here; they appear as mechanics only in the kit. A lump sum taken in cash is generally taxable income in the year received (plus a possible early-distribution penalty before 59½); rolled directly into an IRA it is generally not taxed until withdrawn. Pension payments are generally taxed as ordinary income. Your situation will differ — see a CPA.
This tool does not know you. Health, other income, debts, taxes, and your spouse's needs can outweigh any single calculation. Treat the output as the math, not the answer.