Thousands of General Motors and Ford retirees must soon decide whether to take their pensions as a single lump-sum payment and manage the money themselves or continue with monthly payments for life.

Lump sum or annuity payments? Single-life benefits or joint-and-survivor benefits? Once you explore the risks and hidden ...

Most defined benefit pension plans have the option to take a one-time lump sum distribution in lieu of monthly payments for life.

In this case, when it comes time to retire, you might be offered the option to receive your pension benefits in one lump sum instead of getting lifetime monthly pension checks.

Of course, the biggest risk with a lump-sum distribution — be it from a pension or 401 (k) — is that sometimes it doesn’t last through retirement. People miscalculate their retirement needs ...

Some companies want to limit their pension obligations by offering employees a one-time payout. Here's what you should ...

Workers with defined benefit pensions may be offered the chance to collect a one-time, lump sum payment instead of monthly pension benefits for life. Making this decision involves evaluating a ...

Here's how to choose whether to take your company pension as a series of monthly payments or as a nice fat lump sum.

The biggest financial decision many people will ever make is whether to take their money from a defined-benefit pension plan in a lump sum or in monthly payments.

But how do you evaluate a one-time lump-sum offer against the possibility of lifetime payments that a pension offers? Should you take it or leave it?

The company will offer 42,000 retirees currently receiving monthly pension payments the option to instead receive a single lump-sum payment.