Annuity Calculator
Calculate the present value or future value of an annuity based on your payment schedule and interest rate.
Work out the present value or future value of a stream of regular, equal payments — such as a retirement annuity or structured settlement — for any payment amount, frequency, rate, and term.
How Annuity Calculator Works
For an ordinary annuity (payments made at the end of each period), present value is PV = PMT × [1 − (1 + r)⁻ⁿ] ÷ r, and future value is FV = PMT × [(1 + r)ⁿ − 1] ÷ r, where r is the annual interest rate divided by the number of payments per year, and n is the total number of payments (years × payment frequency).
If you select "annuity-due" instead — payments made at the beginning of each period, like most rent or insurance premium schedules — both formulas are simply multiplied by an extra factor of (1 + r), since each payment earns one additional period of interest.
Total payments is just PMT × n, the raw sum of every payment with no growth applied. The "total interest" figure is the future value minus that raw total, showing how much of the ending balance came from compounding rather than your own contributions.
See It In Action
Who Uses Annuity Calculator and Why
- Finding the present value of a stream of future payments, such as a structured settlement, expressed as a single lump sum today.
- Projecting the future value of regular contributions into a retirement annuity over a chosen term.
- Comparing an ordinary annuity (payments at period-end) against an annuity-due (payments at period-start), like rent or insurance premiums.
- Seeing how much of an annuity's ending future value comes from interest versus your own contributed payments.
Mistakes to Avoid
- Mixing up ordinary annuity and annuity-due when the payment timing actually matters — an annuity-due (payments at the start of each period, like rent) always produces a slightly higher present and future value than an ordinary annuity, since each payment earns one extra period of interest.
- Entering an annual rate without converting it correctly for a non-annual payment frequency — the rate used in the formula is the annual rate divided by the number of payments per year, so a monthly-payment annuity needs the annual rate divided by 12 as its effective r.
- Assuming the total-interest figure represents a return rate — it's simply future value minus the raw sum of contributed payments, useful for seeing dollar impact but not a percentage return.
Tips for Best Results
- If your payment schedule matches rent or insurance premiums (paid at the start of each period), use annuity-due rather than the default ordinary annuity for an accurate present and future value.
- Use this tool for retirement contribution projections or loan-payoff equivalent lump sums — the underlying math is the same for both use cases.
Fixing Common Problems
My present value or future value looks slightly lower than expected. — Check whether your payments are actually made at the start of each period (annuity-due) rather than the end (ordinary annuity) — switching to annuity-due raises both figures slightly since each payment then earns one additional period of interest.
Terms Explained
Ordinary annuity: A series of equal payments made at the end of each period.
Annuity-due: A series of equal payments made at the beginning of each period, such as rent or insurance premiums, which always produces a higher present and future value than an ordinary annuity at the same rate.