Goal: Calculate what a future amount is worth today.
PV pulls money backward through time. Money shrinks because of lost interest opportunity.
Present (Today)
Future (Goal)
FV
Ready...
💻 Formula Structure
=PV(rate, nper, pmt, [fv], [type])
- 1. Rate: Interest rate per period (e.g. 5%).
- 2. Nper: Number of periods (Years).
- 3. Pmt: Regular payments (use 0 if lump sum).
- 4. Fv: Future Value goal.
-- How much to deposit today?
=PV( 5%, 5, 0, 50000 )
⚠️ Common Pitfalls
🚫 Negative Result
PV usually returns a negative number. This means you must pay (outflow) that amount today to receive the positive Future Value later.
💡 Annuities vs Lump Sum
PV can value a stream of payments (use PMT) OR a single future lump sum (use FV). You can even mix both!