The Annuity Calculator: explore what your savings could pay.

The Assumptions, Printed in the Open

• Same money in. The lump sum lands at the start; additions land at the start of each year until income begins, in all three approaches.
• Income payout factors are illustrative: 4.8% below 60, 5.2% at 60–64, 5.8% at 65–69, 6.5% at 70–74, and 7.4% at 75+. The same factors are applied to the FIA’s modeled income-start account value and the MYGA’s modeled annuitization value. This is a simplifying comparison, not an actuarial equivalence, a rider quote, or a current payout survey. Real rates depend on contract features, age, life or joint-life choices, and other applicable factors.
• FIA crediting and rider fee: the selected rate is a constant annual assumption, replaced by zero in designated down years. Actual strategies have caps, participation rates, spreads, and crediting periods. The model charges 1% of cumulative premiums as a fee base, while using account value at income start for the payout calculation. Those are deliberately separate assumptions, not a representation of any particular carrier’s benefit-base method. No roll-up, step-up, surrender charge, or excess-withdrawal rule is modeled.
• MYGA term and renewal. The initial selected rate applies for five model years; later years use one percentage point less, with a 0.5% minimum model assumption. Actual renewal rates can be higher or lower. Annual additions are treated as if accepted on the same schedule, though real MYGAs may require separate contracts with different terms. This is a pooled-rate approximation, not an available deposit program.
• Insurer risk: contractual annuity payments depend on the issuing insurer’s claims-paying ability and the actual contract. Annuities are not FDIC-insured bank deposits. Review insurer strength, liquidity, and payment conditions rather than treating a hypothetical payout as an insured investment return.
• Brokerage withdrawals: 4% of the balance at income start, held as a flat nominal annual dollar amount. This is not the classic inflation-adjusted 4% spending rule. Returns are credited before each withdrawal; any final partial withdrawal is counted at its actual amount.
• Down-year mode: brokerage returns are replaced by −12% every seventh model year, FIA crediting by zero, and MYGA crediting follows the rate assumption. The rider-enabled FIA is assumed to keep paying through age 90 after depletion. This is an imposed scenario, not proof that a particular contract or investment will perform this way.
• All figures are before tax. Traditional retirement-account, Roth, and nonqualified annuity rules differ. Brokerage withdrawals can include basis, gains, and other income with different tax treatment. No tax basis, holding period, withdrawal exception, or after-tax comparison is calculated; taxes could change the relative results in either direction.
• Not modeled: surrender charges and free-withdrawal limits (real annuities restrict access in the early years), inflation (flat income buys less over time), investment fees in the brokerage, and state taxes.