is it payout or pay out 
according to merriam webster payout is a noun that means the act of paying out or payoff 1the bottom linea payout is typically what you receive as an investor as a return on your investment it may come in the form of dividends or share buybacks or as a periodic distribution during retirement such as from a pension or an annuity with retirement income you ll have to choose whether you want a single life payout or a joint life payout with the former the payouts stop when the recipient dies with the latter the payments stop when the beneficiary dies a payout may also refer to a budgeting tool that is used to determine how long it will take for a project to pay for itself a payout ratio describes how much income you receive as an investor as a distribution it s something you might want to monitor to assess not just how well your investments are doing but what it will really mean for your bottom line 