Analyze a TSP life-annuity estimate without pretending a public interest rate can reproduce the insurer's complete pricing.
Annuity results
Enter the purchase amount and participant details, or load the illustrative sample to review how the analysis works.
Method
The TSP and its annuity provider determine the starting payment. This workbench makes the downstream schedule, protection, and retained-balance arithmetic visible.
Use the dated official reference only for its exact age-65, single-life, level, no-feature configuration. For every other choice, enter the monthly estimate from the official TSP calculator.
Traditional and Roth purchases become separate contracts. Every positive source must meet the $3,500 minimum, and joint-life, survivor, and protection choices must be compatible.
The workbench keeps level payments level or applies the regulation's fixed 2% annual increase, then totals rounded monthly payments across the selected horizon.
Survivor continuation, cash refund, ten-year-certain protection, retained TSP funds, and nominal break-even answer different questions. None is labeled a recommendation.
Precision boundary
An insurer quote and a payment analysis are different jobs. The first needs pricing factors the public sources do not expose; the second can be calculated transparently from the TSP estimate you enter.
| Result | Source and meaning |
|---|---|
| Starting payment | Dated reference or the official TSP scenario estimate you enter. |
| Payment schedule | Exact level or fixed 2%-increase arithmetic from that start. |
| Protection ledger | Survivor percentage, remaining cash refund, or months still certain. |
| Break-even | Nominal payments versus purchase only—not life expectancy or advice. |
Option dependencies
Joint life continues either 50% or 100% of the applicable payment to the survivor. A ten-year-certain feature belongs to single life, while cash refund can protect a remaining purchase amount under its contract terms.
Increasing payments rise by a fixed 2% each year. They are not an inflation index, a FERS COLA, or a forecast of purchasing power.
A nonspouse joint annuitant must be an eligible former spouse or person with an insurable interest. Additional age-difference rules can constrain a 100% continuation.
Scope & assumptions
The public rate is one input to TSP annuity pricing, not a complete payout formula. Mortality assumptions, option factors, and exact rounding are not published in the current canonical sources.
No shared data-platform feed is needed. One reviewed monthly reference is versioned with the tool, and every non-reference payment comes from the participant's own official TSP estimate. A data feed would not make unpublished insurer factors authoritative.
Canonical references
Regulation controls eligibility and option structure. The official TSP calculator controls the scenario-specific payment estimate.
Reference verified July 22, 2026. Recheck the rate and identical TSP scenario monthly; review the full rule set annually and after an FRTIB rule change.
Questions
No. A TSP life annuity is purchased from an outside insurer with money from your TSP account. A FERS or CSRS basic annuity is a separate federal pension benefit calculated under its own law and service rules.
Only for the narrow dated reference vector shown on this page, which is scaled as an illustration. The insurer's complete pricing factors and mortality assumptions are not public. For any other age or option, enter the monthly estimate produced by the official TSP calculator for that exact scenario; BeyondGov then analyzes the payment pattern and protection terms.
It applies to each annuity contract. If you use only Traditional or only Roth money, that positive source must be at least $3,500. If you use both, the TSP purchases separate Traditional and Roth contracts, so each positive source amount must independently be at least $3,500.
The current rule describes a fixed 2% annual increase. It is not tied to actual inflation or the federal COLA. This tool applies 2% to the entered starting estimate once per modeled year and keeps the user-entered inflation illustration separate.
Cash refund tracks the purchase amount not yet returned through payments and can pay a remaining amount to beneficiaries under the contract terms. Ten-year certain protects scheduled payments during the first 120 months, but it is available only with a single-life annuity. Neither feature is free: the official TSP estimate for that feature already reflects its pricing effect.
Generally no. The election becomes irrevocable after the annuity contract is purchased. Review the official estimate, source allocation, joint annuitant, survivor percentage, and protection feature before submitting the TSP request.
No. If a required minimum distribution applies, use the post-RMD purchase amount supplied by the TSP. Tax treatment depends on the Traditional/Roth source and your facts; this page gives context but does not calculate withholding, taxable basis, or a return.
A married FERS or uniformed-services participant making a total distribution generally needs spouse consent to choose something other than the regulatory default joint-spouse form. CSRS uses a spouse-notice process. The tool explains the modeled action but cannot collect consent, apply an exception, or adjudicate a court order.
Protect the transition runway
See federal-experience-matched private roles while you decide how much of your TSP should remain flexible.