Future Value: Formula, Examples and How to Calculate It
Where FV = PV(1 + r)^n actually comes from, how the contribution term attaches to it, and how to check a result by hand.
All 10 articles
Present Value vs. Future Value: Compare, Calculate and Understand the Difference
Present value is what a later amount is worth today. Future value is what today's amount becomes later. One equation solved in opposite directions: use present value to price an offer you are given, future value to project a plan you are making, and move both cash flows to the same date before comparing them.
Future Value of an Annuity: Regular Payments Explained
Each deposit compounds for a different length of time. Summing that series is what the annuity factor does.
Compound Interest vs. Future Value
One is how the balance grows, the other is what it grows to. Confusing them makes rate quotes hard to compare.
How Inflation Changes the Future Value of Your Money
A projection in future dollars answers a question nobody asked. Converting it to today's money is one division.
How Much Should I Save Each Month to Reach My Goal?
The target and the deadline determine the deposit. Here is the arithmetic, and what to change when the answer is too large.
Beginning vs. End-of-Period Contributions
The whole difference is one period of growth, applied to every deposit. That makes it small, predictable and free.
How Interest Rates Change Future Value
A one-point change in an assumption nobody can observe moves a 30-year projection by a quarter. That is a reason to run scenarios.
Future Value of Retirement Savings
Retirement projection is future value on a long horizon, with two complications: inflation, and the fact that the target is an income rather than a sum.
Future Value Examples: $10,000 After 5, 10, 20 and 30 Years
A single reference table for what $10,000 becomes, with the arithmetic shown so you can check any cell.
How these articles relate to the tools
Each article explains one part of the math that the calculators apply, with worked figures produced by the same engines that power the tools. Where an article shows a table, that table was generated from the calculation modules rather than typed by hand.
If you want the number rather than the explanation, start with the future value calculator or browse the full tool list.