Two Payments of $2,000 Each Are Scheduled for Six Months

question 155

Short Answer

Two payments of $2,000 each are scheduled for six months from now and two years from now. They are to be re-scheduled as follows: a payment one year from now and a second payment, half the size of the first payment, three years from now. What must the amount of each payment be for the replacement stream to be equivalent to the originally scheduled stream? Assume that money can earn 7.8% compounded semi-annually.

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Definitions:

Petty Cash Account

A small amount of cash on hand used for paying expenses too small to merit writing a check.

Cash Equivalents

Short-term, highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to known amounts of cash and have original maturities of three months or less.

Money Market Accounts

Interest-bearing accounts offered by financial institutions, combining the benefits of both savings and checking accounts, typically with higher interest rates.

Commercial Paper

An unsecured, short-term debt instrument issued by companies to finance their operational expenses.