Annuity Calculator

An ordinary annuity pays at the end of each period (the most common case — most loans, bonds, and mortgages work this way). An annuity due pays at the start of each period, like rent or insurance premiums. Because each payment in an annuity due arrives one period earlier, both its present value and future value are higher by a factor of (1 + r).

Enter the annual rate, but make sure it matches how the calculator periodizes your payments. If you are valuing monthly payments, the tool divides the annual rate by 12 to get the periodic rate. The key rule is that the rate period and the payment period must always line up.

Present value discounts each future payment back to today because money received later is worth less than money in hand now. A $500/month stream for 20 years totals $120,000 in nominal dollars, but its present value at a 6% discount rate is far less — roughly $70,000 — because most of those dollars arrive years in the future.

Yes. Enter the periodic payout, the discount rate you think is appropriate, and the number of payments to estimate the lump-sum value of a pension or annuitized prize. This is a useful first pass when comparing a lump-sum offer against a stream of payments, but it is an estimate, not financial advice — real offers involve taxes, inflation, and credit risk.

Not directly. The calculator uses a nominal rate. To work in today's purchasing power, enter a real (inflation-adjusted) rate instead — roughly your nominal return minus expected inflation — and the present and future values will be expressed in real dollars.

Just type your numbers. The answer shows up right away — there is no button to press. Change anything and it updates by itself.

Not at all — it runs in the browser with nothing to install and no account. After it loads once, it even works without an internet connection.

Yes. Everything happens in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to a server or saved anywhere.