Pension vs. Annuity — What's the Difference?

A pension (, from Latin pensiō, "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments. A pension may be a "defined benefit plan", where a fixed sum is paid regularly to a person, or a "defined contribution plan", under which a fixed sum is invested that then becomes available at retirement age.

An annuity is a series of payments made at equal intervals. Examples of annuities are regular deposits to a savings account, monthly home mortgage payments, monthly insurance payments and pension payments.

A regular payment made by the state to people of or above the official retirement age and to some widows and disabled people

The annual payment of an allowance or income.

A small hotel or boarding house in France and other European countries.

The right to receive this payment or the obligation to make this payment.

Dismiss someone from employment, typically because of age or ill health, and pay them a pension

A contract or agreement by which one receives fixed payments on an investment for a lifetime or for a specified number of years.

A sum of money paid regularly as a retirement benefit or by way of patronage.

A right to receive amounts of money regularly over a certain fixed period, in perpetuity, or, especially, over the remaining life or lives of one or more beneficiaries.

A boarding house or small hotel in Europe

A sum of money, payable yearly, to continue for a given number of years, for life, or forever; an annual allowance.

Accommodations or the payment for accommodations, especially at a boarding house or small hotel in Europe.

Income from capital investment paid in a series of regular payments;

Room and board.

To grant a pension to.

To retire or dismiss with a pension

An annuity paid regularly as benefit due to a retired employee, serviceman etc. in consideration of past services, originally and chiefly by a government but also by various private pension schemes.

A boarding house or small hotel, especially in continental Europe, which typically offers lodging and certain meals and services.

(obsolete) A wage or fee.

(obsolete) A charge or expense of some kind; a tax.

A sum paid to a clergyman in place of tithes.

A regular allowance paid to support a royal favourite, or as patronage of an artist or scholar.

(obsolete) A boarding school in France, Belgium, Switzerland, etc.

(transitive) To grant a pension to.

(transitive) To force (someone) to retire on a pension.

A payment; a tribute; something paid or given.

A stated allowance to a person in consideration of past services; payment made to one retired from service, on account of age, disability, or other cause; also, a regular stipend paid by a government to retired public officers, disabled soldiers, the families of soldiers killed in service, or to meritorious authors, or the like.

A certain sum of money paid to a clergyman in lieu of tithes.

A boarding house or boarding school in France, Belgium, Switzerland, etc.

To grant a pension to; to pay a regular stipend to; in consideration of service already performed; - sometimes followed by off; as, to pension off a servant.

A regular payment to a person that iis intended to allow them to subsist without working

Grant a pension to