How to Calculate the Present Value in Microsoft Excel

In financial terms, the Present Value refers to the total amount that a series of future payments is worth at the present time. To calculate this value, you use the PV function which returns the present value of an investment.

Syntax of the PV function is as follows:

=PV(rate,nper,pmt,[fv],[type])

Rate refers to the interest rate per period, usually per annum. For example, if you invest in a fund, such as an education fund for your kids and the fund pays 10 percent annual interest rate with monthly payments, your interest rate per month is 10%/12, or 0.83%. You would enter 0.83%, or 0.0083, into the formula as the rate.

Nper is the total number of payment periods in an annuity. For example, if investment is over a 10 year period, and makes monthly payments, your investment has 10*12 (or 120) periods. Then enter 120 into the formula for nper.

Pmt is the fixed contribution payment you need to make each period. This amount cannot change over the life of the investment. If pmt is omitted, you must include the fv argument.

The fv and type arguments are optional arguments in the function (indicated by the square brackets). The fv argument is the future value or balance that you want to have after making your last payment. If this value is omitted, Excel assumes a future value of zero (0).

The type argument indicates whether the payment is made at the beginning or end of the period: Enter 0 (or omit the type argument) when the payment is made at the end of the period and use 1 when it is made at the beginning of the period.

Let’s assume you have the followings:

Interest Rate (Rate) is 10%

Total number of payment periods (nper) is 10 years or 12*10

Fixed contribution payment you need to make is $500 per month.

Then the formula would look like:

=PV(10%/12,10*12,500,,0)

And it produces a result of -$37,835.58

Excel produces a negative result because it represents money that you would pay, an outgoing cash flow.

What the result means is that if you’re asked to pay an up-front amount that is less that the present value, it’s a good deal. If this up-front amount is more than the present value, you should choose to pay an annuity or a series of payment. This is because the present value of the annuity, -$37,835.58 in this case, is less than what you are asked to pay.

Let’s look at another example and say you’re purchasing a vehicle. You have 2 choices to finance your purchase. You can either pay up-front which cost you $20,000. You can also finance the purchase of your car by paying $400 per month for 5 years at an interest rate of 10%.

To compare the true cost of this purchase, you need to compare the present value of the monthly payments to the $20,000 you would pay today. The formula in this case would look like:

=PV(10%/12,5*12,400,,0)

Which gives a result of -$18,826.15

This means paying $400 per month for 5 years is a better deal as you would be $1,173.85 ($20,000 – $18,826.15) better off.

Preparing a Great Presentation

Would you like to look like a professional speaker? Calm, in control, poised and confident?

The one sure way is to prepare. Prepare so thoroughly that nothing can throw you off balance

For a start, know your topic. If you are certain you know it inside out, fine. If not research it. Search the internet, ask local experts, spend time in the library. Make sure you’ve covered your topic thoroughly because lack of knowledge will show. You need to be so immersed in the topic that you are only telling your audience about 10% of what you know.

Often this research causes you to narrow your topic and this can be a good thing. Presenting a wider topic can leave you with some areas you’re not quite certain about. Better to have in depth knowledge about a narrow area than be vague and waffling about a larger topic.

How do you narrow a topic? You could narrow it by time – recent developments in…, or by geography – in this city or this country. you could take one part of it, for instance instead of ‘global warming’ you could take vehicle emissions, or, even narrower, truck emissions. You could talk about your personal experience of it, or the way one individual dealt with the issue.

As you write your speech – and, yes, you should write it out ahead of time – focus on explaining a few facts well. Don’t try to immerse your poor listeners with all the information you can find. Select the important, basic material and arrange the material in logical fashion. Then find ways to illustrate your points with stories or anecdotes so your listeners understand the meaning and see the information in context.

The next step is to work on a dynamite opening and conclusion. These are hugely important. The opening is what will (or will not) pull your audience into the speech and get them focused on you and listening to what you have to say.

The conclusion pulls the whole presentation together and wraps it into a neat package. You can remind people of what you have said, you can link back to your opening. your words here need to be strong. your voice should be strong too.

As you rehearse – in front of friends or a mirror – practice your opening and closing more than any other part. Prepare to leave your audience with strong words strongly spoken, with your voice gaining power towards the end of your final sentence.

Prepare to leave a strong impression.

Debt Negotiation Tips – Why Unsecured Debt is Easier to Negotiate Now

Did you hear about debt negotiation tips six months back? The answer is no. This is because debt negotiation tips were not required. People were earning stable incomes and paying their dues in an easy manner. The present situation is a completely different scenario. Do you know why credit card companies are finding it hard to recover their dues? The unemployment rate is one of the reasons. As people are losing their jobs, they do not have enough money to pay their bills. Use the right debt negotiation tips and get your liabilities eliminated. What kind of debt negotiation tips do you need?

Attractive deals require good debt negotiation tips

If credit card firms are passing through a bad phase, this does not mean that you will be offered the best package without making any efforts. You need to bargain about each and everything. Mostly customers argue about the payment period and the installment size with the money granting company. If they get more time, the installment size is large.

Key debt negotiation tips to handle your creditor

Let’s look at some important factors required to handle the creditor.

· Do not sound desperate at any stage. If you do then the money granting company will try to convince you for a low percentage. Be firm and show that you deserve a good deal. If an experienced consultant is representing you, you don’t have to take these pressures.

· Money granting companies are quite rigid if the customer hides a point from his consultant. Do not hide any kind of information from the firm which is representing you. If you have been a defaulter in the past, your consultant should be aware of this fact.

· Generally financial companies are going through a lean patch but all of them are not facing the same kinds of troubles. Some firms offering settlements but they are in a strong financial situation. Hence, you cannot expect them to offer large reductions. On the other hand, if the financial firm is in a weak situation, it will accept anything. You can even get a reduction of eighty percent in that situation. This is because the firm will be desperate to get money. As a customer, you should analyze the condition of your credit card company before you take any kind of a decision. Using the right negotiation tips is really important.