Payouts refer to the expected financial returns or monetary disbursements from investments or annuities. A payout may be expressed on an overall or periodic basis and as either a percentage of the investment's cost or in a real dollar amount.

A payout can also refer to the period in which an investment or a project is expected to recoup its initial capital investment and become minimally profitable. It is short for "time to payout," "term to payout," or "payout period."