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Time value of money

 

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Time value of money



 
 
The concepts of present and future value hinge upon the premise that an investor
Investor

An investor is any party that makes an investment.The term has taken on a specific meaning in finance to describe the particular types of people and companies that regularly purchase stock or Bond Security for financial gain in exchange for funding an expanding company....
 prefers to receive a payment of a fixed amount of money today, rather than an equal amount in the future, all else being equal. In particular, the time value of money represents the interest
Interest

Interest is a fee paid on borrowed assets. It is the price paid for the use of borrowed money , or, money earned by deposited funds .Assets that are sometimes lent with interest include money, shares, consumer goods through hire purchase, major assets such as aircraft finance, and even entire factories in finance lease arrangements....
 one might earn on a payment received today, if held, earning interest, until that future date.

All of the standard calculations derive from the most basic algebraic expression for the present value
Present value

Present value is the value on a given date of a future payment or series of future payments, discounted to reflect the time value of money and other factors such as investment risk....
 of a future sum, "discount
Discount

A "Discount" is a "Charge" that is paid to obtain the right to delay a payment. Essentially, the payer purchases the right to make a given payment in the future instead of in the Present....
ed" to the present by an amount equal to the time value of money.






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The concepts of present and future value hinge upon the premise that an investor
Investor

An investor is any party that makes an investment.The term has taken on a specific meaning in finance to describe the particular types of people and companies that regularly purchase stock or Bond Security for financial gain in exchange for funding an expanding company....
 prefers to receive a payment of a fixed amount of money today, rather than an equal amount in the future, all else being equal. In particular, the time value of money represents the interest
Interest

Interest is a fee paid on borrowed assets. It is the price paid for the use of borrowed money , or, money earned by deposited funds .Assets that are sometimes lent with interest include money, shares, consumer goods through hire purchase, major assets such as aircraft finance, and even entire factories in finance lease arrangements....
 one might earn on a payment received today, if held, earning interest, until that future date.

All of the standard calculations derive from the most basic algebraic expression for the present value
Present value

Present value is the value on a given date of a future payment or series of future payments, discounted to reflect the time value of money and other factors such as investment risk....
 of a future sum, "discount
Discount

A "Discount" is a "Charge" that is paid to obtain the right to delay a payment. Essentially, the payer purchases the right to make a given payment in the future instead of in the Present....
ed" to the present by an amount equal to the time value of money. For example, a sum of FV to be received in one year is discounted (at the rate of interest r) to give a sum of PV at present: PV = FV r·PV = FV/(1+r).

Some standard calculations based on the time value of money are:
Present Value (PV) of an amount that will be received in the future.
Present Value of a Annuity
Annuity (finance theory)

The term annuity is used in finance theory to refer to any terminating stream of fixed payments over a specified period of time. This usage is most commonly seen in academic discussions of finance, usually in connection with the valuation of the stream of payments, taking into account time value of money concepts such as interest rate and fut...
 (PVA) is the present value of a stream of (equally-sized) future payments, such as a mortgage
Mortgage

A mortgage is the transfer of an interest in property to a lender as a security for a debt - usually a loan of money. While a mortgage in itself is not a debt, it is the lender's security for a debt....
.
Present Value of a Perpetuity
Perpetuity

A perpetuity is an Annuity that has no definite end, or a stream of cash payments that continues forever. There are few actual perpetuities in existence ....
 is the value of a regular stream of payments that lasts "forever", or at least indefinitely.


Future Value
Future value

Future value measures the nominal future sum of money that a given sum of money is "worth" at a specified time in the future assuming a certain interest rate, or more generally, rate of return; it is the present value multiplied by the accumulation function....
 (FV) of an amount invested (such as in a deposit account) now at a given rate of interest.
Future Value of an Annuity (FVA) is the future value of a stream of payments (annuity), assuming the payments are invested at a given rate of interest.


Calculations

There are several basic equations that represent the equalities listed above. The solutions may be found using (in most cases) the formulas, a financial calculator or a spreadsheet
Spreadsheet

A spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper worksheet. It displays multiple cells that together make up a grid consisting of rows and columns, each cell containing either alphanumeric text or numeric values....
. The formulas are programmed into most financial calculators and several spreadsheet functions (such as PV, FV, RATE, NPER, and PMT).

For any of the equations below, the formulae may also be rearranged to determine one of the other unknowns. In the case of the standard annuity formula, however, there is no closed-form algebraic solution for the interest rate (although financial calculators and spreadsheet programs can readily determine solutions through rapid trial and error algorithms).

These equations are frequently combined for particular uses. For example, bonds
Bond (finance)

In finance, a bond is a debt security , in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay interest and/or to repay the principal at a later date, termed Maturity ....
 can be readily priced using these equations. A typical coupon bond is composed of two types of payments: a stream of coupon payments similar to an annuity, and a lump-sum return of capital at the end of the bond's maturity
Maturity

Maturity may refer to:*Sexual maturity*Mature technology, a term indicating that a technology has been in use and development for long enough that most of its initial problems have been overcome...
 - that is, a future payment. The two formulas can be combined to determine the present value of the bond.

An important note is that the interest rate i is the interest rate for the relevant period. For an annuity that makes one payment per year, i will be the annual interest rate. For an income or payment stream with a different payment schedule, the interest rate must be converted into the relevant periodic interest rate, For example, a monthly rate for a mortgage with monthly payments requires that the interest rate be divided by 12 (see the example below). See compound interest
Compound interest

Compound interest is the concept of adding accumulated interest back to the principal, so that interest is earned on interest from that moment on....
 for details on converting between different periodic interest rates.

The rate of return in the calculations can be either the variable solved for, or a predefined variable that measures a discount rate, interest, inflation, rate of return, cost of equity, cost of debt or any number of other analogous concepts. The choice of the appropriate rate is critical to the exercise, and the use of an incorrect discount rate will make the results meaningless.

For calculations involving annuities, you must decide whether the payments are made at the end of each period (known as an ordinary annuity), or at the beginning of each period (known as an annuity due). If you are using a financial calculator or a spreadsheet
Spreadsheet

A spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper worksheet. It displays multiple cells that together make up a grid consisting of rows and columns, each cell containing either alphanumeric text or numeric values....
, you can usually set it for either calculation. The following formulas are for an ordinary annuity. If you want the answer for the Present Value of an annuity due simply multiply the PV of an ordinary annuity by (1 + i).

Formulae


Present value of a future sum

The present value formula is the core formula for the time value of money; each of the other formulae is derived from this formula. For example, the annuity formula is the sum of a series of present value calculations.

The present value
Present value

Present value is the value on a given date of a future payment or series of future payments, discounted to reflect the time value of money and other factors such as investment risk....
 (PV) formula has four variables, each of which can be solved for:
  1. PV is the value at time=0
  2. FV is the value at time=n
  3. i is the rate at which the amount will be compounded each period
  4. n is the number of periods (not necessarily an integer)


The cumulative present value
Present value

Present value is the value on a given date of a future payment or series of future payments, discounted to reflect the time value of money and other factors such as investment risk....
 of future cash flows can be calculated by summing the contributions of , the value of cash flow at time=t

Note that this series can be summed for a given value of n, or when n is . This is a very general formula, which leads to several important special cases given below.

Present value of an annuity for n payment periods

In this case the cash flow values remain the same throughout the n periods. The present value of an annuity
Annuity (finance theory)

The term annuity is used in finance theory to refer to any terminating stream of fixed payments over a specified period of time. This usage is most commonly seen in academic discussions of finance, usually in connection with the valuation of the stream of payments, taking into account time value of money concepts such as interest rate and fut...
 (PVA) formula has four variables, each of which can be solved for:
  1. PV(A) the value of the annuity at time=0
  2. A the value of the individual payments in each compounding period
  3. i equals the interest rate that would be compounded for each period of time
  4. n is the number of payment periods.


To get the PV of an annuity due
Annuity (finance theory)

The term annuity is used in finance theory to refer to any terminating stream of fixed payments over a specified period of time. This usage is most commonly seen in academic discussions of finance, usually in connection with the valuation of the stream of payments, taking into account time value of money concepts such as interest rate and fut...
, multiply the above equation by (1 + i).

Present value of a growing annuity

In this case the each cash flow grows by a factor of (1+g). Similar to the formula for an annuity, the present value of a growing annuity (PVGA) uses the same variables with the addition of g as the rate of growth of the annuity (A is the annuity payment in the first period). This is a calculation that is rarely provided for on financial calculators.

To get the PV of a growing annuity due
Annuity (finance theory)

The term annuity is used in finance theory to refer to any terminating stream of fixed payments over a specified period of time. This usage is most commonly seen in academic discussions of finance, usually in connection with the valuation of the stream of payments, taking into account time value of money concepts such as interest rate and fut...
, multiply the above equation by (1 + i).

Present value of a perpetuity

When , the PV of a perpetuity (a perpetual annuity) formula becomes simple division.

When this is an increasing perpetuity, this i becomes i’ 1+i’=(1+i)/(1+g) i’=(i-g)/(1+g)

so A/i’ =A x (1+g)/(i-g) not (A/(i-g))

Present value of a growing perpetuity

When the perpetual annuity payment grows at a fixed rate (g) the value is theoretically determined according to the following formula. In practice, there are few securities with precisely these characteristics, and the application of this valuation approach is subject to various qualifications and modifications. Most importantly, it is rare to find a growing perpetual annuity with fixed rates of growth and true perpetual cash flow generation. Despite these qualifications, the general approach may be used in valuations of real estate, equities, and other assets.

This is the well known Gordon Growth model
Gordon model

The Gordon growth model is a variant of the Discounted cash flow model, a method for valuing a stock or business. Often used to provide difficult-to-resolve valuation issues for litigation, tax planning, and business transactions that are currently off market....
 used for stock valuation
Stock valuation

There are several methods used to value companies and their stocks. They attempt to give an estimate of their fair value, by using fundamental economic criteria....
.

Future value of a present sum

The future value
Future value

Future value measures the nominal future sum of money that a given sum of money is "worth" at a specified time in the future assuming a certain interest rate, or more generally, rate of return; it is the present value multiplied by the accumulation function....
  (FV) formula is similar and uses the same variables.

Future value of an annuity

The future value of an annuity
Annuity (finance theory)

The term annuity is used in finance theory to refer to any terminating stream of fixed payments over a specified period of time. This usage is most commonly seen in academic discussions of finance, usually in connection with the valuation of the stream of payments, taking into account time value of money concepts such as interest rate and fut...
 (FVA) formula has four variables, each of which can be solved for:
  1. FV(A), the value of the annuity at time = n
  2. A, the value of the individual payments in each compounding period
  3. i, the interest rate that would be compounded for each period of time
  4. n, the number of payment periods




Future value of a growing annuity

The future value of a growing annuity (FVA) formula has five variables, each of which can be solved for:
  1. FV(A), the value of the annuity at time = n
  2. A, the value of initial payment at time 0
  3. i, the interest rate that would be compounded for each period of time
  4. g, the growing rate that would be compounded for each period of time
  5. n, the number of payment periods


Where i <> g :

Where i = g :

Derivations


Annuity derivation

The formula for the present value of a regular stream of future payments (an annuity) is derived from a sum of the formula for future value of a single future payment, as below, where C is the payment amount and n the period.

A single payment C at future time m has the following future value at future time n:

Summing over all payments from time 1 to time n, then reversing the order of terms and substituting : Note that this is a geometric series
Geometric series

In mathematics, a geometric series is a series with a constant ratio between successive term . For example, the seriesis geometric, because each term is equal to half of the previous term....
, with the initial value being , the multiplicative factor being , with terms. Applying the formula for geometric series, we get

The present value of the annuity (PVA) is obtained by simply dividing by : Another simple and intuitive way to derive the future value of an annuity is to consider an endowment, whose interest is paid as the annuity, and whose principal remains constant. The principal of this hypothetical endowment can be computed as that whose interest equals the annuity payment amount: + goal

Note that no money enters or leaves the combined system of endowment principal + accumulated annuity payments, and thus the future value of this system can be computed simply via the future value formula:

Initially, before any payments, the present value of the system is just the endowment principal . At the end, the future value is the endowment principal (which is the same) plus the future value of the total annuity payments . Plugging this back into the equation:

Perpetuity derivation

Without showing the formal derivation here, the perpetuity formula is derived from the annuity formula. Specifically, the term: can be seen to approach the value of 1 as n grows larger. At infinity, it is equal to 1, leaving as the only term remaining.

Examples


Example 1: Present value

One hundred euros to be paid 1 year from now, where the expected rate of return is 5% per year, is worth in today's money: So the present value of €100 one year from now at 5% is €95.23.

Example 2: Present value of an annuity — solving for the payment amount

Consider a 10 year mortgage where the principal amount P is $200,000 and the annual interest rate is 6%.

The number of monthly payments is

and the monthly interest rate is

The annuity formula for (A/P) calculates the monthly payment:



Example 3: Solving for the period needed to double money

Consider a deposit of $100 placed at 10% (annual). How many years are needed for the value of the deposit to double to $200?

Using the algrebraic identity that if:

then

The present value formula can be rearranged such that:

(years)

This same method can be used to determine the length of time needed to increase a deposit to any particular sum, as long as the interest rate is known. For the period of time needed to double an investment, the Rule of 72
Rule of 72

In finance, the rule of 72, the rule of 70 and the rule of 69 are methods for estimating an investment's doubling time. The number in the title is divided by the interest percentage per period to obtain the approximate number of periods required for doubling....
 is a useful shortcut that gives a reasonable approximation of the period needed.

Example 4: What return is needed to double money?

Similarly, the present value formula can be rearranged to determine what rate of return
Rate of return

In finance, rate of return , also known as return on investment , rate of profit or sometimes just return, is the ratio of money gained or lost on an investment relative to the amount of money invested....
 is needed to accumulate a given amount from an investment. For example, $100 is invested today and $200 return is expected in five years; what rate of return (interest rate) does this represent?

The present value formula restated in terms of the interest rate is:

see also Rule of 72
Rule of 72

In finance, the rule of 72, the rule of 70 and the rule of 69 are methods for estimating an investment's doubling time. The number in the title is divided by the interest percentage per period to obtain the approximate number of periods required for doubling....


Example 5: Calculate the value of a regular savings deposit in the future.

To calculate the future value of a stream of savings deposit in the future requires two steps, or, alternatively, combining the two steps into one large formula. First, calculate the present value of a stream of deposits of $1,000 every year for 20 years earning 7% interest:

This does not sound like very much, but remember - this is future money discounted back to its value today; it is understandably lower. To calculate the future value (at the end of the twenty-year period):

These steps can be combined into a single formula:

Example 6: Price/earnings (P/E) ratio

It is often mentioned that perpetuities, or securities with an indefinitely long maturity, are rare or unrealistic, and particularly those with a growing payment. In fact, many types of assets have characteristics that are similar to perpetuities. Examples might include income-oriented real estate, preferred shares, and even most forms of publicly-traded stocks. Frequently, the terminology may be slightly different, but are based on the fundamentals of time value of money calculations. The application of this methodology is subject to various qualifications or modifications, such as the Gordon growth model
Gordon model

The Gordon growth model is a variant of the Discounted cash flow model, a method for valuing a stock or business. Often used to provide difficult-to-resolve valuation issues for litigation, tax planning, and business transactions that are currently off market....
.

For example, stocks are commonly noted as trading at a certain P/E ratio
P/E ratio

The P/E ratio of a stock is a measure of the price paid for a Share relative to the annual net income or profit earned by the firm per share....
. The P/E ratio is easily recognized as a variation on the perpetuity or growing perpetuity formulae - save that the P/E ratio is usually cited as the inverse of the "rate" in the perpetuity formula.

If we substitute for the time being: the price of the stock for the present value; the earnings per share
Earnings per share

Earnings per share are the earnings returned on the initial investment amount.In the US, the Financial Accounting Standards Board requires companies' income statements to report EPS for each of the major categories of the income statement: continuing operations, discontinued operations, extraordinary items, and net income....
 of the stock for the cash annuity; and, the discount rate of the stock for the interest rate, we can see that:

And in fact, the P/E ratio is analogous to the inverse of the interest rate (or discount rate).

Of course, stocks may have increasing earnings. The formulation above does not allow for growth in earnings, but to incorporate growth, the formula can be restated as follows:

If we wish to determine the implied rate of growth (if we are given the discount rate), we may solve for g:

Time value of money formulas with continuous compounding

Rates are sometimes converted into the continuous compound interest rate equivalent because the continuous equivalent is more convenient (for example, more easily differentiated). Each of the formulæ above may be restated in their continuous equivalents. For example, the present value at time 0 of a future payment at time t can be restated in the following way, where e
E (mathematical constant)

The mathematical constant e is the unique real number such that the function ex has the same value as the derivative, for all values of x....
 is the base of the natural logarithm
Natural logarithm

The natural logarithm, formerly known as the hyperbolic logarithm, is the logarithm to the base e , where e is an irrational number constant approximately equal to 2.718281828....
 and r is the continuously compounded rate:

See below for formulaic equivalents of the time value of money formulæ with continuous compounding.

Present value of an annuity


Present value of a perpetuity


Present value of a growing annuity


Present value of a growing perpetuity


Present value of an annuity with continuous payments


See also

  • Net present value
    Net present value

    Net present value or net present worth is defined as the total present value of a time series of cash flows. It is a standard method for using the time value of money to appraise long-term projects....
  • Option time value
    Option time value

    In finance, the value of an option consists of two components, its intrinsic value and its time value. Time value is simply the difference between option value and intrinsic value....
  • Discount
    Discount

    A "Discount" is a "Charge" that is paid to obtain the right to delay a payment. Essentially, the payer purchases the right to make a given payment in the future instead of in the Present....
    ing
  • Discounted cash flow
    Discounted cash flow

    In finance, the discounted cash flow approach describes a method of valuing a project, company, or financial asset using the concepts of the time value of money....
  • Exponential growth
    Exponential growth

    Exponential growth occurs when the growth rate of a mathematical function is proportionality to the function's current value. In the case of a discrete domain of definition with equal intervals it is also called geometric growth or geometric decay ....
  • Hyperbolic discounting
    Hyperbolic discounting

    In behavioral economics, hyperbolic discounting refers to the empirical finding that people generally prefer smaller, sooner payoffs to larger, later payoffs when the smaller payoffs would be imminent....
  • Internal rate of return
    Internal rate of return

    The internal rate of return is a capital budgeting metric used by firms to decide whether they should make investments. It is also called discounted cash flow rate of return or rate of return ....
  • Perpetuity
    Perpetuity

    A perpetuity is an Annuity that has no definite end, or a stream of cash payments that continues forever. There are few actual perpetuities in existence ....
  • Real versus nominal value
    Real versus nominal value

    In economics, nominal value refers to any price or value expressed in money of the day, as opposed to real value, which adjusts for the effect of inflation....
  • Time preference
    Time preference

    In economics, time preference pertains to how large a premium a consumer will place on enjoyment nearer in time over more remote enjoyment.There is no absolute distinction that separates "high" and "low" time preference, only comparisons with others either individually or in aggregate....
  • Earnings growth
    Earnings growth

    In investments, earnings growth refers to the annual rate of growth of earnings. When the dividend payout ratio is the same, the dividend growth rate is equal to the earnings growth rate....


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