Finance Reading: Time Value of Money

Core Curriculum Readings in Finance provide an understanding of fundamental concepts of finance that are relevant to both financial and non-financial managers. Readings include interactive illustrations that enable mastery of concepts through hands-on illustration of key concepts. This reading introduces the concept of the time value of money: the idea that money has earning potential, so the timing of a payment matters.

Given an interest rate, readers will learn to calculate the present value of a sum to be received in the future or, alternatively, the future value of a sum invested today. The reading covers compounding and discounting, the two types of calculations used to determine the future and present value of money. It concludes with more complicated calculations drawn from real-world examples, and a brief discussion of how the formulas in the reading relate to pre-programmed Excel functions. The reading includes eight interactive illustrations: "Time Value of $100 Cash" shows the value of $100 compounded or discounted over 1-, 2-, and 3-year periods; "Calculating the Present Value of Multiple Cash Flows" is an animated presentation of present value calculations involving multiple (equal) cash flows and multiple periods; "Present or Future Value of Multiple Cash Flows" covers multiple (equal) cash flows and multiple periods, and allows readers to choose whether to compute present values or future values and observe the results; "Time Value of $100 with Compounding Frequencies" allows the reader to observe the impact of varying the interest rate and compounding frequency on the present or future value of $100; "Effect of Compounding Frequency" visually illustrates the economic impact of compounding frequency on future value; "Mortgage as an Annuity" is a mortgage calculator which allows the reader to set the APR and mortgage term and see how each affects the monthly payment as well as the split between principal and interest over time; "Present Value of Perpetuities and Annuities by Term" illustrates the changing relationship between a perpetuity and annuities (which share the same annual payment stream but differ in their term lengths) as interest rates change; "Practice Questions for Time Value of Money" is a self-study tool which enables readers to check their comprehension.