The Thrift Savings Plan offers three basic types of annuities:

• Single life - An annuity paid only to you during your lifetime.
• Joint life with spouse - An annuity paid to you while you and your spouse are alive.  When either of you dies, an annuity will be paid to the survivor for the rest of his or her life. 
• Joint life with someone other than your spouse - An annuity paid to you while you and a person chosen by you (but other than your spouse) are alive.  This person must have an insurable interest in you. 

When either of you dies, an annuity will be paid to the survivor for life.  Joint life annuities may provide either a 100 percent or a 50 percent survivor benefit.  This means that monthly payments will continue in the same amount (100 percent) or be reduced by half (50 percent) for you or your joint annuitant when either one of you dies.

Annuity features

Several annuity features can be combined with the basic annuity types.  Those features are increasing payments, cash refund, and a 10-year certain payout:

• With increasing payments, the amount of the monthly payment may increase up to three percent each year, depending on the change in the consumer price index.
• With a cash refund, if you (and your joint annuitant) die before receiving enough payments to equal to the amount of the account balance used to purchase the annuity, your designated beneficiary will receive a cash refund equal to the difference between the sum of the payments made and the annuity purchase price.
• With a 10-year certain payout, you receive annuity payments for as long as you live.  However, if you die within 10 years of the start of your annuity, your beneficiary will receive the payments for the remaining portion of the 10-year period.

Not every feature can be combined with every basic annuity type.  The chart below shows the various annuity options from which you can choose.