CHAPTER 27 – 2
10. In general, viatical settlements are ethical. In the case of a viatical settlement, it is simply an
exchange of cash today for payment in the future, although the payment depends on the death of the
seller. The purchaser of the life insurance policy is bearing the risk that the insured individual will
live longer than expected. Although viatical settlements are ethical, they may not be the best choice
11. This is a trick question. The future value of a perpetuity is undefined since the payments are
12. The ethical issues surrounding payday loans are more complex than they might first appear. On the
one hand, the interest rates are astronomical, and the people paying those rates are typically among
the worst off financially to begin with. On the other hand, and unfortunately, payday lenders are
Solutions to Questions and Problems
NOTE: All end of chapter problems were solved using a spreadsheet. Many problems require multiple
steps. Due to space and readability constraints, when these intermediate steps are included in this
solutions manual, rounding may appear to have occurred. However, the final answer for each problem is
found without rounding during any step in the problem.
Basic
1. The time line is:
01234
50
To solve this problem, we must find the PV of each cash flow and add them. To find the PV of a
lump sum, we use:
PV = FV / (1 + r)t