I was 33 when I switched companies in January and took ~54K then rather than wait 27 years until I was 60. If I recall correctly, at that time the pension would have been worth ~1200/month.
My best estimate working the lump sum calculator showing the lump sum value at different points of time between now and 27 years from now had it growing at 4%
My reasons for taking the lump sum were
- I figured stock market average @ 7% would beat 4% long term
- And I didn't want to lock up that money with a single company and have the pension suddenly disappear like occurred with the Auto companies
And actually, when I plug it into the Net Present Value calculator here
https://www.calculatestuff.com/financial/npv-calculatorAssuming 12,000 per year from year 27-year 49 (age 60-82) it gets a 54,000 net present value when the discount rate is 4.5% At a discount rate of 6% it's only worth 32,000 now. So i'm happy with my decision to take the lump sum.
If I was much closer to getting the pension, I might have made a different decision, because then I would have considered the fact that the pension could be diversifying my income stream away from just equities (and bonds)