68 Smart/Gitman/Joehnk • Fundamentals of Investing, Thirteenth Edition
with single sums, annuities, and mixed streams. The instructor should emphasize that present value
calculations provide a dollar value (in today’s terms) of future cash flows. The present value concept is a
powerful tool that makes it possible to compute the dollar value of any asset. Some assets that might be
profitably considered in class are stocks, bonds, other financial assets, physical assets (machines), real
estate, and even companies themselves.
Answers to Concepts in Review
4A.1. Time value of money refers to the fact that, with the opportunity to earn interest on funds, the value
of money depends on the point in time when the money received. Thus, the sooner one receives
money the better—the more valuable is that money.
Because money has time value, people who are willing to invest their money should be
able to earn a positive return. For example, an investor expecting to receive a $100 interest
At the end of year 2, the first investment has returned $100 interest; the second has
4A.2. a. Interest is the income you receive from placing available funds in a savings account, CD,
d. The true rate of interest (or return) takes the concept of compounding into account. When
4A.3. The true rate of interest rises as interest is compounded more frequently than annually. The true
4A.4. The future value of a cash flow represents the amount to which a current deposit will grow over a
given time period if it is placed in an account paying compound interest. Present value is
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