Future value is the amount your original deposit will be worth in the future based on earning a specific interest rate over a specific period of time. Figure out how much your savings will earn and grow by multiplying the principal by the annual interest rate and then adding that interest amount to the principal. (more…)

You can also use present value calculations to determine how much you would need to deposit so you can take a specific amount of money out of your savings account for a certain number of years. This is knows as series of deposit. If you want to take $400 out of your account each year for nine years, and your money is earning interest at 8 percent a year, how much money would you need to deposit now? Part D of Figure 1.4 will help you find the answer. Find Year 9 in the left column and look across to the 8 percent interest-rate column. The value given is 6.247. Multiply this value by the amount of money that you want to take out every year:

$400 X 6.247 = $2,498.80

You need to deposit $2,498.80 now to be able to take out $400 each year for nine years. This calculation is used for retirement.

Some savers and investors like to make regular deposits into their savings. You can also do the same to increase your savings. A series of equal regular deposits is sometimes called an annuity. Use Part B of the chart in Figure 1.4 (future value of a series of equal yearly deposits) to find out the future value of $1,000 a year at 5 percent annual interest for six years. At the end of the six years, you would have $6,802:

$1,000 X 6.802 = $6,802

Introduction

A lot has been said about finances and financial success, however if one does not have a basic understanding of the code used by the professionals you will be lost. In this article we will introduce some of the words and concepts that the non-financial expert often encounters.In order to ensure that the reader enjoy the maximum benefit from this article, the author tried to steer away from the traditional definitions in an effort to make the terms understandable to everybody. (more…)