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Suppose you have $100,000 cash today and you can invest it to become a millionaire in 15 years. What is the present purchasing power equivalent of this $1,000,000 when the average inflation rate over the first seven years is 5% per year, and over the last eight years it will be 8% per year?

User Dgan
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1 Answer

5 votes

Answer:

$38,227.86

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the present purchasing power equivalent of $1,000,000 in the future, taking into account inflation rates, we need to discount the future value by the cumulative inflation over the respective periods.

Given information:

Initial cash investment: $100,000

Number of years: 15

Inflation rate for the first seven years: 5% per year

Inflation rate for the last eight years: 8% per year

First, let's calculate the future value of the initial cash investment after 15 years:

Future value = Initial investment * (1 + average annual return)^number of years

Using this formula, the future value after 15 years would be:

Future value = $100,000 * (1 + average annual return) ^ 15

Next, we need to calculate the cumulative inflation over the respective periods. We can do this by multiplying the inflation rates for each period:

Cumulative inflation for the first seven years = (1 + 0.05) ^ 7

Cumulative inflation for the last eight years = (1 + 0.08) ^ 8

Now, we can calculate the present purchasing power equivalent by dividing the future value by the cumulative inflation:

Present purchasing power equivalent = Future value / (Cumulative inflation for the first seven years * Cumulative inflation for the last eight years)

Substituting the given values into the equation:

Present purchasing power equivalent = ($100,000 * (1 + average annual return) ^ 15) / ((1 + 0.05) ^ 7 * (1 + 0.08) ^ 8)

Since the average annual return is not specified, I'll assume it to be 0% (no additional return on investment).

Present purchasing power equivalent = ($100,000 * (1 + 0%) ^ 15) / ((1 + 0.05) ^ 7 * (1 + 0.08) ^ 8)

Simplifying the equation:

Present purchasing power equivalent = $100,000 / ((1.05) ^ 7 * (1.08) ^ 8)

Calculating the value:

Present purchasing power equivalent = $100,000 / (1.40255 * 1.71709)

Present purchasing power equivalent ≈ $38,227.86

Therefore, the present purchasing power equivalent of $1,000,000 in the future, considering the given inflation rates, would be approximately $38,227.86.

User Martinwguy
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