Too many financial decisions are made without factoring in the time value of money. Whether providing financial planning advice related to a client’s retirement, advising a client about a business ...

Net present value (NPV) represents the difference between the present value of cash inflows and outflows over a set time period. Knowing how to calculate net present value can be useful when choosing ...

Calculate the present value of each year's cash flow by dividing by (1 + discount rate)^number of years. Sum all present values to find the total value of projected cash flows, which in this example ...

Julia Kagan is a financial/consumer journalist and former senior editor, personal finance, of Investopedia. Marguerita is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor ...

What Is a Payback Period? The payback period is the amount of time (usually measured in years) it takes to recover an initial investment outlay—as measured in after-tax cash flows. For example, if a ...

In the world of finance, an annuity is a contract between you and a life insurance company in which you give the company a lump sum or series of payments, and in return, the insurer promises to ...