Estimate your defined-benefit pension income based on final salary, years of service, and benefit multiplier. Includes COLA adjustments and survivor benefit.
A modest 2% annual cost-of-living adjustment sounds like a rounding error, yet on an $80,000 final salary and 30 years of service it lifts a 20-year payout from $960,000 to $1,166,273.75, about 21.5% more. The calculator exposes that gap by running the pension year by year instead of multiplying one number by the length of retirement. It is built for defined-benefit plans, where a formula based on salary and service sets the check, not for 401(k) or IRA balances.
Typical case: final average salary $80,000, 30 years of service, a 2.0% multiplier, 2% COLA, pension starting at 65, planning horizon 85, survivor share 50%. Annual pension = salary × (multiplier ÷ 100) × years = 80,000 × 0.02 × 30 = $48,000, which is $4,000 a month and replaces 60% of the final salary.
COLA enters as a growth factor. Year 1 pays the base amount, and year y pays 48,000 × (1 + 0.02)^(y − 1). Over the 20 payout years (85 − 65) the total is $1,166,273.75, against $960,000 with no COLA. By year 20 the annual figure has grown to $69,926.94, or $5,827.24 a month, which still has the buying power of the original $48,000 if inflation ran at the same 2%. The survivor line is a plain share: $4,000 × 50% = $2,000 a month.
Edge case, unit mismatch: type the multiplier as 0.02 (a decimal) instead of 2 (a percentage) and the page accepts it, since anything above zero passes. The result is 80,000 × 0.0002 × 30 = $480 a year, or $40 a month. If your estimate looks absurdly small, check that field first. Other inputs are guarded: a planning age at or below the start age is rejected, as are zero or negative salary, service years and multiplier. A COLA of 0 simply produces a flat pension.
No. The survivor figure is simply monthly pension × the percentage, and your own check stays untouched. Many plans do shrink the retiree's check when a survivor option is chosen. If yours does, the numbers here run high and your plan's quote is the one to trust.
It sets how many years the table runs, so it drives the lifetime total. 85 is a planning assumption, not a prediction. Change it to 90 in the typical case and the total rises to $1,537,454.39.
No. Year one pays the base amount and the first increase applies to year two. Some plans cap COLA, pay it on only part of the benefit, or grant it at the board's discretion, so enter a conservative rate if yours is not guaranteed.
No. It is a plain sum of future payments in nominal, pre-tax dollars. A payment 20 years out is worth less than one today, and nothing here discounts or taxes it.
There is no early-retirement factor. If your plan cuts the benefit for each year before normal retirement age, apply that cut to the annual result yourself, or use the multiplier your plan lists for your retirement age.
No. Those depend on account balances and investment returns, not a salary-and-service formula. For lump sums turned into income, see the annuity payout calculator instead.