Lump-Sum vs. Regular Pension Payments: What’s the Difference?

Lump-Sum vs. Regular Pension Payments: An Overview

So you are on the verge of retirement, and you are faced with a difficult choice regarding your pension plan: Should you accept the traditional, lifetime monthly payments or take a lump-sum distribution instead?

Understandably, you might be tempted to go with the lump sum. After all, it may be the largest single disbursement of money you will ever receive. Before you make an irrevocable decision about your future, take the time to understand what the options might mean to you and your family.

Lump-Sum Payments

A lump-sum distribution is a one-time payment from your pension administrator. By taking a lump sum payment, you gain access to a large sum of money, which you can spend or invest as you see fit.

“One thing I emphasize with clients is the flexibility that comes with a lump sum payment,” says Dan Danford, CFP, Family Investment Center of Saint Joseph, Missouri. A pension payment annuity “is fixed (occasionally COLA-indexed), so there is little flexibility in the payment scheme. But a 30-year retirement probably faces some surprise expenses, possibly large. The lump sum, invested properly, offers flexibility to meet those needs and can be invested to provide regular income, too.”

Your decision may affect your children, as well. Do you want to leave something to loved ones after your death? Once you and your spouse die, the pension payments might stop. On the other hand, with a lump-sum distribution, you could name a beneficiary to receive any money that is left after you and your spouse are gone.

Income from pensions is taxable. However, if you roll over that lump sum into your IRA, you will have much more control over it when you remove the funds and pay the income tax on them. Of course, you will eventually have to take the required minimum distributions (RMDs) from your IRA, but that won’t happen until age 73.

“Rolling your pension into an IRA will give you more options,” says Kirk Chisholm, wealth manager at Innovative Advisory Group in Lexington, MA. “It will give you more flexibility of investments that you can invest in. It will allow you to take distributions according to your required minimum distribution (RMD), which in many cases, would be lower than your planned pension payments. If you want to minimize your taxes, rolling your pension into an IRA will allow you to plan when you take your distributions. Thus you can plan when and how much you want to pay in taxes.”

Regular Pension Payments

A regular pension payment is a set monthly payment payable to a retiree for life and, in some cases, for the life of a surviving spouse. Some pensions include cost-of-living adjustments (COLA), meaning payments go up over time, usually indexed to inflation.

Some argue that the main feature people like about lump-sum payments—flexibility—is the very reason to avoid them. Sure, the money is there if you have a financial need. However, it also invites overspending. With a pension check, it is harder to splurge on purchases you might later regret as you don’t immediately have access to as many funds.

A 2020 report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that retirees with pension income were far more likely to remain financially stable than those who had cashed out the lump sum. 73% of those with regular payments could maintain the same spending levels after five years, compared to only 56% of those who had chosen the lump sum.

A lump sum also requires careful asset management. Unless you are putting the money into ultra-conservative investments (which probably will not keep pace with inflation), you are putting yourself at the mercy of the market. Younger investors have time to ride the ups and downs, but folks in retirement usually do not have that luxury. Plus, with a lump sum, there is no guarantee the money will last a lifetime. A pension will pay you the same check each month, even if you live to a ripe old age.

“In an environment with low fixed-income interest rates and generally expanding life expectancies, the pension stream is generally the better way to go,” says Louis Kokernak CFA, CFP, founder of Haven Financial Advisors, Austin, TX. “It is no accident that private and public employers are paring back those benefits. They are trying to save money.”

You also need to think about health insurance. In some cases, company-sponsored coverage stops if an employee takes the lump sum payout. If this is the case with your employer, you will need to include the extra cost of health insurance or a Medicare health supplement in your calculations.

Possible Downside

One downside of pensions is that an employer could go bankrupt and find itself unable to pay retirees. Certainly, over a period of decades, that is a possibility.

Should this affect your decision? Absolutely. If your company is in a volatile sector or has existing financial troubles, it is probably worth taking into consideration. But for most individuals, these worst-case scenarios need not be a major worry.

Keep in mind, though, that your pension benefits are safeguarded by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the government entity that collects insurance premiums from employers sponsoring insured pension plans. The PBGC only covers defined-benefit plans, not defined-contribution plans like 401(k)s.

The maximum pension benefit guaranteed by the PBGC is set by law and adjusted yearly. In 2023, the maximum annual benefit is $81,000 for a straight-life annuity for a 65-year-old retiree. (The guarantee is lower for those who retire early or if the plan involves a benefit for a survivor. It is also higher for those who retire after age 65.)

Therefore, as long as your pension is less than the guarantee, you can be reasonably sure your income will continue if the company goes bankrupt.

Special Considerations

You should ask yourself why your company would want to cash you out of your pension plan. Employers have various reasons. They may use it as an incentive for older, higher-cost workers to retire early. Or they may make the offer because eliminating pension payments generates accounting gains that boost corporate income. Furthermore, if you take the lump sum, your company will not have to pay the administrative expenses and insurance premiums on your plan.

Before choosing one option or the other, it helps to keep in mind how companies determine the amount of lump-sum payouts. From an actuarial standpoint, the typical recipient would receive approximately the same amount of money whether choosing the pension or the lump sum. The pension administrator calculates the average lifespan of retirees and adjusts the payment schedule accordingly.

That means if you enjoy a longer-than-average life, you will end up ahead if you take the lifetime payments. But if longevity is not on your side, the opposite is true.

One approach might be to have it both ways: Put part of a lump sum into a fixed annuity, which provides a lifetime stream of income, and invest the remainder. But if you’d rather not worry about how Wall Street is performing, a stable pension payment might be the better way to go.

The Bottom Line

For some, a lump-sum pension payment makes sense. For others, having less to upfront capital is better. In either case, pension payments should be used responsibility with the mindset of having these resources support you throughout your retirement. If you’re not sure which option is best for you, consider speaking with a financial advisor to see whether a lump-sum or regular payment schedule is the best strategy for you.